Casa Montego → Club Casa Montego → Fantasy Hotel → Fantasy Resort → closed and decaying
Casa Montego. An exterior corridor hotel with 8-stories and 119 rooms. Across the street from the beach. Set back from the road with a lawn in front. Then shops in front.
- Opened January 1958.
- In 1959, Jim Tapson, a Canadian, was appointed the hotel manager. A job he held for at least five years.
- In 1965 a 2-story convention hall (second floor) and dining room (first floor) was constructed. (The circular building.)
- In the Fall of 1972 they closed for some renovations and conversion into a condominium. The project was estimated to cost $750,000.
- In February 1976, National Hotels and Properties purchased the hotel from Gresham Trust Limited, London for £1,250,000 (price may have included White Sands Inn). To keep it from closing.
- In 1979 the hotel reopened its 12 room annex.
- On December 1, 1981 Burt Wright formed Sunset Resort Limited and leased the hotel (and the White Sands Inn) from the government.
- In 1985 it was closed for refurbishing between September and December, and then became the Club Casa Montego and was all-inclusive. $2 million was spent. They also leased a strip of beach land between Cornwall Beach and Jack Tar Hotel for the exclusive use of the hotel's guests.
- In September 1986 it closed again for more refurbishing. A reopening date was not set.
- In early 1988, Vacation Concepts Ltd spent J$11 million to refurbish and renovate the hotel. It formally opened in May. It was 'modified inclusive'. While planning it was the Fantasy Hotel, but by the opening it became the Fantasy Resort. Every night they had a different themed entertainment. Plus a separate disco open every night.
- In July 1989 the hotel was divested by the Government to Jamaican interests (Godfrey Dyer, Dennis Morgan and Lionel Reid) for 22.4 million. It had 130 rooms.
- Days later the new owners announced construction to add 20 two and three bedroom apartments to yield another 50 rooms.
- In May 1991 the hotel, still operated by Vacation Concepts Ltd, owed J$1,187,894.40 in room taxes for the period January-December 1990.
- Closed around 1995. But shops in front have continued.
- In January 1997, the hotel was reported to have closed.
- Hotel is still there, closed up and decaying. In 2024, Streets has the property fenced off and scaffolding around the building. See aerial below.