Rondel Village Through the Years

Rondel Village – Wright Family 1990 at Joyce Wright’s 90th birthday Celina -Operations Manager, Carolyn Wright – General Manager, Mum -Joyce Wright (Chairman), John Wright – Managing Director and Frances Peterson, Marketing Manager
As we enter our 34th year in 2019, we wanted to take a brief moment to reflect on the enjoyable experience we’ve had hosting our guests. We also wanted to take this opportunity to walk you back through the years in pictures since we opened Rondel Village in 1985.
Rondel Village is an exclusive family owned and operated beachfront resort on Negril’s seven mile beach offering spacious, elegant accommodations amid lush tropical gardens.
1980s – Early Beginnings
The hotel opened in 1985 with three unique octagonal shaped beach villas and now offers a total of fifty six rooms including eight deluxe villas with private Jacuzzis and fully equipped kitchens. The name “Rondel” originates from the French word for an eight sided building, our room blocks are octagonal in shape.
Rondel Village property comprises two acres in total, one acre on the beach side and one acre on the land side. Development on the beach side started in 1985 with the completion of three one bedroom villas. The five remaining villas were built between 1986 and 1988, along with the restaurant, bar, lobby and office building.
1990s: Sustainable Growth
All rooms are named after individual Jamaican fruits and those fruit trees are located in close proximity to the rooms. Facilities include the white sand beach, two outdoor pools and Jacuzzis, wireless internet, Rondel Restaurant and The Village Spa and Salon. Intimate weddings as well as wedding and reception packages for large and small groups are also offered.
The land side of the property (across the street from the beach) was started in 1992 and consisted of four room blocks housing eight garden rooms, swimming pool, Jacuzzi, utility building with staff facilities and laundry, general managers apartment, and resident managers cottage. Rondel Village then offered eight villas and eight rooms, a total of 16 units.
2000s: Major beach side expansion and personalized wedding packages
November 2002 a major expansion and refurbishing project on the beach side of the property was completed increasing the room count from 16 to 40 rooms. The expansion created three new room categories – 3 bedroom villa, beachfront room and superior room categories. The new rooms are located atop the existing villas which were completely refurbished.
2004 an extensive refurbishing of the entire property was undertaken including the addition of an Internet Cafe and enclosure of the lobby. The air conditioned lobby now offers cool and comfortable check in and check out. Our renovations are in keeping with our aim to offer a superb product to our guests.
2005 a roof was added to the open air terrace and we now have a very attractive covered restaurant seating up to 50 people. This is perfect for all type of meals, group dining etc.
2007 the air conditioners in the bedrooms of the 1 bedroom villas were upgraded to split units, as well the laminate flooring in the 2 and 3 bedroom villas was changed to wooden floors. Villas were each supplied with a DVD player. The water quality at the hotel was upgraded by the installation of a water softener on the beach side and the land side pool was refurbished. A 4 colour wedding brochure was also published to market our personalized wedding packages.
2008 saw the upgrading of the 2 bedroom villa air conditioners to split units and a new water softener installed on the landward side. As well a new beach bar was constructed along with an attractive new stone wall with wooden frame insets. Wireless internet was added and we started replacing the window air conditioners with split units. All beachside rooms are being done on a phased basis. Hair dryers were also added to all rooms and ice machines were installed on both sides of the property.
2010s: Restaurant Revitalization, Luxury Spa & More Garden Rooms
2011 saw the addition of new “Rondel Village” signs at the beach gate, a directional sign by the lobby; flat screen televisions, iron and ironing boards to all beach side rooms and villas. All the one bedroom villas and two of the 2/3 bedroom villa master bedrooms were upgraded to king size beds. New porcelain tiles were fitted in the bedroom of one villa and veranda of two villas, as well the beach shower was upgraded using porcelain tiles. Inverter energy saving air conditioners replaced window units in four of the superior rooms.
2012 we completely modernized and expanded the kitchen at the restaurant including the addition of storage facilities and new kitchen equipment to allow for a higher level of efficiency and raise the standard of the operations. New guest restrooms and changing rooms along with staff facilities were also added
2012 also saw a major expansion on the landward side of the property by the addition of 16 garden rooms and complete upgrading of the existing eight garden rooms. The garden side now offers four three story buildings with six rooms in each building – a total of 24 new garden rooms. All garden rooms have either one king size bed or two double beds, flat screen televisions, hair dryers, refrigerator, iron and ironing board. The project also included the addition a new state of the art luxury spa with sauna and plunge pool, as well as a salon for hair and nails. The existing pool deck was increased in size to accommodate the new rooms and a pool rain shower was added. Energy efficient inverter air conditioners, solar water heaters and other energy saving items were used throughout the expansion project.
2013 & 2014: Weatherproofing and Upgrading the Villas
In 2013 both beachfront buildings underwent extensive upgrading and refurbishing. The beachfront villa balcony doors were upgraded to new UPVC weather resistant sliding glass doors, all windows were also changed, doors and windows now have screens. The veranda deck was extended to the Jacuzzi and both were completely re-tiled. The master bathroom was also re-tiled and outfitted with a vessel basin and special faucet, new cabinetry and a new bath. Many of the fixtures in the villas were also upgraded. The two beachfront rooms were also completely upgraded including changing the windows to new UPVC weather resistant sliding glass with screens, re-tiling of the bathrooms and balconies, replacement of the wooden balconies and staircase railings with new aluminium epoxy coated rustproof railings and new interior soft furnishings in the rooms.
Upgrading in 2014 year focused on both one bedroom villa buildings consisting of two villas and four superior rooms. Balcony doors and windows were upgraded to new UPVC weather resistant sliding glass doors and windows with screens. Villa master bathrooms have new vessel basins along with new cabinetry, new baths with rain shower heads and bathroom wall tiles. Rooms, bathrooms and balconies were re-tiled. Villa verandas were extended to create a larger deck for the private whirlpool spas. Balcony and staircase railings were fitted with new aluminium epoxy coated rustproof railings. Furthermore, new drapes and soft furnishings were put in both the living room and bedrooms. Bedrooms and bathrooms were redone and the rooms were attractively furnished in theme colours to match the room names.
2017 – present: Ongoing Continuous Improvements
Following the same pattern as 2014 and 2013, in 2017 we upgraded and refurbished two of the two/three bedroom villa buildings. 2018 saw the completion of the upgrading and refurbishing on the beach side, when the last 2 buildings were finished.
Rondel Village is committed to continually improving its services, attaining the maximum quality level required by our guests, developing our activities with respect for the environment, employees and customers and contributing to the communities we live and work in by developing sustainable tourism and by encouraging personal, economic and professional development.