The resort where Sandals started is coming back. Sandals Montego Bay, the brand's original all-inclusive, reopens December 18, 2026 under a new name — Sandals Jamaica Montego Bay — with a redesigned pool and a debut restaurant built around island ingredients. Bookings are already open.
The timing fits into a wider reopening push across Sandals' Jamaica portfolio: Sandals South Coast returns first on November 18, with the Montego Bay properties following about a month later, just in time for the winter holiday season.
The headline changes focus on where guests spend their days. The main pool has been completely redesigned, and the resort lists seven pools and three whirlpools in total, plus a swim-up bar. On the dining side, Buccan makes its first Montego Bay appearance — a family-style restaurant centred on Caribbean ingredients, where dishes arrive for the table to share. It joins a lineup of nine restaurants and six bars covering Jamaican jerk, seafood and international cooking, with breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks all included.
The all-inclusive package runs deep. Top-shelf spirits, Robert Mondavi Twin Oaks wines, stocked in-room minibars, gratuities, taxes, roundtrip airport transfers and an arrival airport lounge are all covered. On the water, snorkelling gear, kayaks, paddleboards, Hobie Cats, water skiing and wakeboarding come standard, and certified divers get scuba at no extra cost. Tennis, pickleball, a fitness centre and nightly entertainment round it out.
Room categories number 25, spread across the Sandals Luxury, Club Sandals and Butler Elite tiers. Even entry-level rooms come with a balcony and a Tranquility Soaking Tub. The interesting decisions sit further up: swim-up suites on both the Crystal Lagoon and the beachfront, oceanfront penthouse junior suites with elevated views, and the top-tier Beachfront Swim-up Millionaire One Bedroom Butler Suite, which combines beachfront positioning, a separate bedroom, butler service and swim-up pool access. For couples torn between sand and pool, the beachfront swim-up categories solve that argument.
Why it matters: this is the property that launched the Sandals concept, and the refresh targets returning guests as much as first-timers. If you last visited years ago, the new pool and Buccan give you a concrete reason to go back; if you've never booked it, the December reopening lands right at the start of peak Caribbean season, when Montego Bay's white-sand beach is at its most convincing.
Extras like Red Lane Spa treatments, private candlelight dinners and guided island excursions cost extra, but the core stay — meals, drinks, transfers and watersports — is bundled into the rate.
