Spanish Court Hotel

A Georgian Facade at the Centre of Uptown Kingston

Saint Lucia Avenue runs through the middle of New Kingston, the uptown grid of banks, embassies and restaurants that most visitors end up using as their base. The hotel announces itself quietly there: arched Georgian windows, Spanish roof tiles, a courtyard plan that reads more like a townhouse than a tower. Step inside and the register changes. The lobby is contemporary, with exposed beams and Far East inspired seating, and the noise of the avenue drops away. It has long been one of the addresses Kingstonians themselves use for a business lunch or an evening drink, which says more about the place than any star rating does.

Why It Works

Kingston is not a resort town, and hotels here are judged on different things: whether you can walk out for dinner, whether the room still works after a long day, whether the staff know the city. This one earns its place on all three. The building has a real architectural identity rather than a corporate one, the rooms are generous where it counts, with large marble bathrooms and oval soaking tubs, and the ground floor functions as a meeting place for the city rather than a lobby you cross. It is a proper hotel with a point of view, in a capital where that is rare.

Why This Location

New Kingston is the most walkable quarter of the capital, and the hotel sits at its core. A supermarket is a minute away on foot, Emancipation Park with its morning joggers and its evening crowds is about a quarter of an hour, and the restaurants and bars around Knutsford Boulevard are close enough to leave the car where it is. The Bob Marley Museum on Hope Road is a short drive, as is the National Stadium. Norman Manley International Airport sits roughly half an hour out, across the harbour. The trade off is the avenue itself: this is a working business district, and the lower floors hear it.

Fast Facts

• Price: Premium

• Vibe: Uptown, polished, quietly colonial

• Rooms: Standard Deluxe, Junior Suites and Penthouse Suites, king or twin

• Best For: Business travellers, couples doing Kingston as a culture city, families using the capital as a base

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The elevated lap pool and the open air bar beside it, at the hour when the light leaves the Blue Mountains

• Dining: A restaurant serving Jamaican and international dishes, a cafe for espresso and light plates, and the bar at pool level

• Amenities: Spa, fitness centre, elevated lap pool, meeting rooms on site and a conference facility nearby, family friendly

• Attractions: Emancipation Park (about 15 minutes on foot), Sunshine Amusement Park (about 10 minutes on foot), Bob Marley Museum and the National Stadium (both a short drive)

Rooms Built Around the Bathroom

Three categories, from Standard Deluxe through Junior Suites to the Penthouse Suites, in king or twin configurations. The rooms are calm and contemporary, with a desk that is actually usable and enough floor space to unpack properly. What people remember, though, is the bathroom: large, marble lined, built around an oval soaking tub, and generous in a way that city hotels of this size rarely are. Ask for a room away from the avenue if you sleep lightly. The higher floors are the quieter ones, and they take the view over the uptown rooftops with them.

The Pool Deck Is the Best Room in the House

The pool is an elevated rectangular lap pool rather than a lounging pool, which makes it genuinely useful to anyone who swims. The deck opens out around it, and the open air bar takes over at the end of the afternoon, when the light turns and the Blue Mountains behind the city go violet. It is one of the few places in New Kingston where you can sit outside above the traffic. The spa and the fitness centre sit on the same side of the building, so a swim, a session and a treatment string together without going far.

Working From Kingston

A good share of the guests are in town on business, and the hotel is organised for it: meeting rooms on site, a larger conference facility within reach, and a cafe where an informal meeting needs no booking. The real advantage is the address. Banks, embassies and corporate offices sit inside a few blocks, so most of a working day in Kingston can be done on foot.