Rockhouse Hotel Transforming Children’s Lives and Environment for the Better in Jamaica
Green Globe recently recertified Rockhouse Hotel in Jamaica. The property currently holds Gold status marking over five consecutive years of certification. Established fifty years ago in 1974, the award-winning boutique hotel lies perched over Pristine Cove on Negril’s west end. A long-cherished destination for discerning travelers, Rockhouse has an impeccable thirty year commitment to regenerative travel.
Paul Salmon, Chairman of Rockhouse Hotel, said “As a Caribbean nation, Jamaica acutely feels the environmental challenges of a warming planet. At Rockhouse, we strive to give more than we take, in service of our team, guests, community and the environment. Now, more than ever, we’re doubling down on our efforts with plans for new technologies that reduce our carbon footprint and ones that bring us closer to net positive, including technologies that harness the power of the sun and aid in regenerating the oceans. It is our hope that our conservation initiatives will be used as tools to teach guests and the community about the threats facing our land and seas and our collective role in recovery. It’s also imperative that we continue to be responsible to our team members and the surrounding community by creating opportunities for growth and leadership, and by supporting the education system because our people are also our greatest resource."
The Rockhouse Foundation and Sav Inclusive Academy
The charitable arm of Rockhouse Hotel -The Rockhouse Foundation - is dedicated to transforming places where Jamaica's children learn and supporting the wonderful people who teach there. Over its twenty year history, the Foundation has invested over $10 million USD in its projects and programs. The Rockhouse Foundation has upgraded and modernized six schools on the island, in addition to the complete renovation and expansion of the Negril Community Library.
Promoting harmony and equity, Savanna-la-Mar Inclusive Academy (Sav Inclusive) was the first school the Foundation conceived and built entirely from the ground up, following a conversation with a hotel employee about the lack of services for her autistic son in western Jamaica. This inspired the Foundation to create a school that welcomes children with and without disabilities in a fully inclusive, mixed ability environment. Sav Inclusive opened in 2017 with thirty Grade 1 three-year-olds. In 2025, the school now has over 250 students enrolled ranging from Grade 1 through to Grade 5. Future plans include expansion with one additional grade to be added per year. Essentially, the final goal is for all school years to be covered from the start of primary school until the final year of high school.
Rockhouse's Hydroponic Greenhouse Farm
The hydroponic greenhouse was first opened in 2022, adjacent to the hotel’s garden. The greenhouse has over 5,000 square feet of horizontal and vertical gardens. Created in partnership with Gro N Green Organic Farms, the hope is that this hydroponic approach to farming might help revolutionize the future of Jamaican agriculture and provide a solution to problems like drought, erosion and heavy rain typical of life on a tropical island. The hydroponic farm yields up to 300 pounds of lettuce weekly alongside tomatoes and other aromatics.
Like most things at Rockhouse, the hotel seeks to bring its practices to the broader community. With the aim to inspire a future generation of farmers, Rockhouse and Gro N Green host school children at the hydroponic farm to give them a first-hand look at the cutting edge of farming technology. The majority of Rockhouse's garden waste will be composted or reused as ground cover in garden beds. The Rockhouse team also uses over 30,000 gallons of harvested rainwater that is channeled, collected and stored in tanks around the property to water the gardens, plants and herbs as well as launder linens.
Supporting Sustainable Development and Local Businesses
Rockhouse prides itself on forging local partnerships and incorporating a holistic approach to reduce the environmental impact of the hotel. Rockhouse has its own onsite woodworking shop where a talented team of local craftsmen manufacture all of the timber furniture at Rockhouse and its sister hotel, Skylark Negril Beach Resort. Every bed, bedside table, desk and restaurant table is built at the property which also supports job creation in the community. Nearby the woodworking shop sits the Caribbean Essential Spa container, where the Spa Team handmake all of the hotel's wholesale and retail spa products. Next door to the spa, is the Negril Candle Company workshop which recycles restaurant candles and produces a line of retail candles made from upcycled glass bottles that adorn hotel rooms.
In efforts to remove plastics across the property, Rockhouse Hotel has partnered with local Negril venture Discovery Spring Water, an environmentally focused water company whose product is sourced from the Dolphin Head mountains, thirty minutes outside of Negril. In doing so, Rockhouse supports a local business and has eliminated over 30,000 plastic bottles from going to landfill from the Rockhouse and Skylark properties each year. This initiative has inspired a recycled bottle program that has spread to other hotels in the area.
Contact
Jasmine Pierce
JLP Consulting
PR Representative (for)
Rockhouse Hotel & Spa
W End Rd, Negril
Jamaica W.I.
E: jasmine@jasminelpierce.com
T: +1 240-305-2875