Marriott International has signed a pair of all-inclusive agreements with the Spanish company Catalonia Hotels & Resorts, and one of them puts a Marriott-branded resort on the Montego Bay shoreline in Jamaica. The agreements were signed on July 22 in Barcelona and reported by trade and Jamaican outlets on July 23 and 24, 2026. For travellers watching how Jamaica’s resort map is changing after Hurricane Melissa, it is one of the more significant long-range items, even though guests will not be able to book it for a couple of years.
What was announced
The Jamaica project is a conversion of the former Catalonia Montego Bay, a beachfront property near Sangster International Airport. It will operate under the Marriott Hotels brand, and the reported opening year is 2028. The resort is described as having 522 rooms, 13 restaurants and bars, three pools, a spa, tennis and pickleball courts, and a lazy river. Reports put its beachfront at a little over 2,100 feet, and one trade report gives the figure as more than 2,130 feet, so the exact measurement varies by source.
The second agreement is separate and sits outside the Caribbean: a new-build, 271-room Autograph Collection all-inclusive in Zanzibar, Tanzania, with a wellness focus and a reported 2027 opening. Together the two deals add 793 rooms to Marriott’s all-inclusive pipeline. Both resorts are planned to connect guests to Marriott Bonvoy, the company’s loyalty program, which Marriott says has close to 283 million members.
Why the Montego Bay site matters
Reports describe the Montego Bay property as a former Catalonia resort that closed following Hurricane Melissa, and one outlet notes that the site was earlier known as a Holiday Inn SunSpree. Converting an existing beachfront building is generally a faster route to a new brand than building from bare land, but the 2028 date shows that a full repositioning still takes time. Nothing in the published material gives a month, and the opening year should be read as a target rather than a promise.
Marriott’s all-inclusive footprint in the region has been growing steadily. As of July 2026, the company said it had 38 all-inclusive hotels in nine Caribbean and Latin American markets, with another 16 in development, together representing about 5,600 rooms in the pipeline. This would be its first all-inclusive in Montego Bay. Our earlier coverage of Marriott’s first all-inclusive in Curacao and of the company’s growth in Mexico shows the same pattern: established owners bringing their buildings under a major brand and its loyalty program.
What it means for guests planning now
For anyone booking in the next two years, very little changes. The resort is not open, there are no published rates, and no room categories, meal plans or dining lineup have been confirmed beyond the headline amenity list. Treat the number of restaurants and the pool count as the operator’s current plan. Details like these often shift between announcement and opening.
The more useful takeaway is about the direction of travel. Montego Bay’s hotel zone is being rebuilt and rebranded in stages. Some resorts are already reopening, others have set dates in December, and several new brands are moving in. If you are comparing the area against other bases, the guide to choosing between Montego Bay, Negril and Ocho Rios covers how the three areas differ, and our running summary of Jamaica’s hotel reopenings after Hurricane Melissa tracks which resorts have confirmed dates.
Practical points before you plan around it
- Do not book against it yet. There is no reservation inventory for a 2028 opening, and any site offering one should be treated with caution.
- Watch for the operator’s own announcement. Marriott and Catalonia will need to confirm a final name, a sub-brand if any, and an opening month. Until then, the year is all that is published.
- Keep the airport in mind. The property is reported to sit near Sangster International Airport, which can mean a short transfer. That is convenient on arrival day, though you should check flight paths and noise once rooms are bookable, as you would with any resort near an airport.
- Compare against what is open. Resorts that have confirmed reopenings, such as Sandals South Coast on November 18 and Bahia Principe Explore Jamaica on December 1, are the ones you can actually plan a trip around today.
What is not known
The announcement does not say how the resort will be priced, whether it will be adults-only or family oriented, or how many of the 522 rooms will be suites. It also does not state whether the existing buildings will be extensively rebuilt or refreshed. Catalonia, which operates 82 hotels with more than 12,000 rooms across 25 destinations, mostly in Europe and the Caribbean, is the partner named in both agreements, but the sources we reviewed do not spell out the ownership or management structure.
We will update this page if Marriott or Catalonia publishes a firm opening month, a brand name or room details. Until then, treat the project as a signed intention for 2028 and use the date as a planning horizon only.