Blessing in disguise

WHEN Hurricane Melissa swept through Jamaica last October it left tourism businesses counting losses and racing to recover. But nearly a year later, Half Moon resort and Chukka Jamaica are looking beyond the devastation, using the disruption to refresh their properties, redesign experiences, and rethink their operations.

For Half Moon, the forced recovery has gone beyond repairing hurricane damage. The Montego Bay resort has used the interruption to undertake a broad refresh of its property, while Chukka Jamaica says the experience forced it to examine its processes and find ways to operate more efficiently. Speaking during a Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) 2026 Partner Media Update on Tuesday, director of sales and marketing for the Half Moon resort Sharon Logan said the hurricane created an opportunity for the resort to undertake work that would otherwise have been difficult to complete while guests were on property. “One of the things that I look on is the silver lining behind the cloud, which is that we got the opportunity to do a complete refresh and regrowth of the property since the reopening,” said Logan. She explained that while some projects, including renovation work on some of the resort’s villas, had already been under way before the hurricane, other major improvements came directly out of the damage caused by the storm. “The villas were already a project that we were working on. But the other parts of the property, like the original part of the hotel, that has a complete refresh and that is all as a result of the hurricane,” added Logan. The result, she said, has included improvements across much of the 400-acre property, including its rooms, meeting spaces, lobby, roadways, and pool areas. One of the more unusual benefits, she identified, came from the movement of sand during the hurricane.

Group Digital Platform Manager for Chukka Jamaica Ilia Tomlinson speaks on Tuesday, during a partner media update at the 2026 Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX), held at Moon Palace Jamaica in Ocho Rios, St Ann. (Photo: Aceion Cunningham)

“There are so many open spaces. All the plants have been sprung up fresh and nice…We even got new beaches because we got sand that washed up. That would have cost the hotel millions of dollars to purchase. We got 30 truckloads of sand, free, so we have expanded beaches, so we’re excited about that,” explained Logan. The resort, which reopened on April 2, is continuing a phased reopening of its facilities. Logan said half of the original Founders’ Cove section is already open, with the remaining section scheduled to open on October 1. The hurricane also gave the resort an opportunity to tackle work that had previously required interruptions to operations. Logan pointed specifically to the pool at the Eclipse section, which had experienced problems with its tiles. But while Half Moon’s gains have been visible in its physical transformation, Chukka Jamaica’s experience has produced a different kind of reset. The attraction operator, which describes itself as a nature adventure company, was particularly exposed to the effects of the hurricane because its business depends heavily on the natural environment. Group Digital Platform Manager Ilia Tomlinson said the recovery was especially difficult at Chukka’s river locations. At Good Hope in Trelawny, for example, the site was inundated and its river operations were disrupted. Chukka began reopening locations in November, according to Tomlinson, with its final reopening taking place in June. She said the river-based operations were among the hardest to restore because of the overflow of the waterways. But the disruption also prompted the company to scrutinise how it worked, with greater productivity emerging as one of the main lessons from the recovery. “I would say the silver lining is...we operated a little bit more efficiently. We have had to. Nobody wants to cut back, it’s hard decisions to make, but cutting back and being efficient almost go hand in hand where there’s a middle spot where it’s productivity,” said Tomlinson. “We have had to look at things we have never thought we have had to look at, and in a way we’re thankful for that. You know, it really has had us reflecting on our own processes and procedures and being more efficient in how we deliver our experiences,” added Tomlinson. That reassessment has taken place alongside changes to Chukka’s tourism products. In Ocho Rios, the company has redesigned parts of its offering following the hurricane and has expanded its portfolio through its acquisition of the Green Grotto Caves, which it took over just two days before Melissa struck Jamaica on October 28. The caves, located near Discovery Bay in St Ann, are being incorporated into Chukka’s wider network of experiences in the resort area, adding a stronger history and culture component to its nature and adventure products. Meanwhile, at Good Hope, the company has rebranded the attraction as a river outpost reflecting its location and the experiences offered there, including river tubing, bamboo rafting, ziplining, and dune buggies. Tomlinson said the storm also reinforced the importance of preparation, particularly for a company whose operations are so closely tied to Jamaica’s landscape. “We didn’t know we were so good at preparing. That was the lesson learned on the value of our standards of procedures and policies that we put into place that we probably otherwise take for granted,” she added.