reviews

Gourmet Traveller (Australia), "Caribbean Dream," January 2006
"It's clear from the start that Rockhouse is made for romance. The sets of twin chairs placed strategically around the resort – on rocky bluffs, by the pool, under tiny thatched gazebos – hint that the owners may have taken Jamaica Tourism's Bob Marley-inspired slogan, "One Love," to heart. Not surprisingly, the hotel has played matchmaker to its fair share of love affairs as well (several staff members have met and married their partners here).The resort was originally built in 1972, and attracted a swinging, post-hippie clientele that memorably included The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Marley. In 1994, it was taken over by a group of Australians: Fabian Ippoliti, Peter Scutt, Lionel Hunt, Lisa Schnepf, Paul Salmon and Damian Salmon, many of whom worked together at nightclubs in Melbourne. French-Australian Jean-Henri Morin was behind the hotel's clean, sparse design.

"It had quite a rich history," explains Melbourne-born Paul Salmon, who divides his time between Rockhouse and a restaurant and performance space that he owns in Manhattan "but by the time we bought it, it was pretty much in disrepair." The new owners gutted and remodeled the existing 12 villas and extended (there are now 34 rooms altogether), putting in a restaurant, swimming pool, and expansive gardens. Recently, a luxury spa – featuring a new range of local spa wraps, scrubs and oils, cliffside cabanas, decks fitted with ‘Caribbean drench,’ a Jamaican version of the Vichy shower, and an exciting spa menu – was opened. And early in 2006 a new sunset bar will be added to the property.

The philosophy of the partners is an impressive one that stretches well beyond the boundaries of the bottom line. As Salmon explains: "It revolves around obviously giving the guests a great stay, but also treating the staff fairly, making them partners in the thing, and only employing local staff. We set Rockhouse up to be a responsible developing-economy hotel: responsible to the guests, the staff, the environment and the community."

The company put its money where its mouth is, setting up the Rockhouse Foundation, a non-profit organization aimed at tackling endemic poverty in Jamaica. Recent projects include work on the dilapidated Negril All Age and Negril Basic schools. Three new classrooms, a breakfast and lunch canteen, new bathrooms, re-roofing, electrical and plumbing work and a resurfaced playground later, and the schools are back on track. "It's been a great project," enthuses Salmon, "really rewarding for everybody involved."

While the hotel offers several accommodation options, including studios and standard rooms, there's really only one way to go if serenity and romance are on the agenda: your very own villa. Each one is a study in understated chic, set into volcanic rock above the aptly named Pristine Cove. A four-poster bed draped with mosquito netting beneath a lazy ceiling fan, the Caribbean sea glimmering just beyond, cool sandstone walls and a private open-air rock-walled shower are all the accoutrements you'll need. There's a phone by the bed, sure, but why bother using it? The modern world may as well not exist once that gate closes. It's just sunshine, cross breezes and lazy days contemplating the marine life so psychedelically visible in the cove below. Red metal ladders descend into the water, inviting guests to treat the sea as their swimming pool. It's the complete Caribbean dream, and at very down-to-earth prices: room rates start from $130.

Indolence is positively encouraged here, but other activities do beckon. There's a wealth of water sports, early morning yoga classes by the pool (which looks its breathtaking best at dawn), and walks on Seven Mile Beach, a few kilometers down West End Road. Guests can arrange for massages and body treatments, either in their rooms or in one of the new spa's cabanas. Snorkeling is popular: try a reef tour with ‘Famous Vincent,’ who motors in on a small launch to the Rockhouse jetty to pick up hotel guests. The shallow coral beds are home to a kaleidoscopic array of marine life. Priceless experiences – like spotting a green turtle within arm's reach, lazily munching a strand of seaweed –happen here every moment. A school of zebra fish crowds around swimmers like school children, while stingrays drift by like small flying saucers.

After close underwater encounters, Vincent will zip guests back to the resort, where they can spend dreamy, torpid afternoons doing – well, not much. Before too long, "Jamaica Time," begins to take hold, and this is the perfect place to let it wash over you. Unlike many resorts, there are no rules at Rockhouse. As Salmon says, "We wanted to create a distinctly Jamaican experience here; a certain vibe. We didn't go in with a whole bunch of rules." Instead, there's balmy weather, an infinitely flexible cocktail hour and a whole lot of love."