About The Mabella
Built on purpose.
Named for a woman who deserved it.
The Mabella isn’t a hotel that happened to find a building. It’s a place that was conceived, fought for, and finished — with a specific person in mind, for a specific reason. This is that story.
The Mabel nook — a quiet corner of the lobby, and the heart of the property.
The Name
Mabel. Mama May. The reason all of this exists.
She was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother — and a quiet force. When life forced her to start over in midlife, she didn’t ask for help. She built a home. She raised five children. She taught the people around her what love without conditions actually looks like.
She never got to see The Mabella. But she is everywhere here — in the way guests are welcomed, in the nook built in her memory just off the lobby, in the name above the gate.
The Mabella carries what she started. A place where family gathers. Where celebrations happen. Where people feel held.
The Mabel Nook
Just off the lobby, there’s a small corner filled with the things she held dear — personal objects, simple treasures, a quiet story told in fragments.
Guests are invited to pause here. To sit for a moment. To remember someone they love — or simply to be still.
It’s a gentle space. Much like she was.
The Build
Six years. One hurricane. No plan to quit.
One of Mabel’s granddaughters left Jamaica in her twenties. She built a career — 35 years of it — and never stopped thinking about home. When she finally stepped back from corporate life, she wasn’t looking for a retirement project. She was looking for a place that didn’t exist yet.
She found it in Runaway Bay: a quarter-finished structure with good bones and a lot of work ahead.
Work began in 2019. Then the pandemic. Supply chains collapsed. Contractors disappeared. Timelines stretched. Furniture sat on the wharf. Then, on the verge of opening — Hurricane Melissa, Category 5, made landfall in Jamaica.
She didn’t close the project. She finished it. The Mabella opens in 2026 — six years, one storm, and a lot of the same resilience Mabel herself would have recognized.
2019
Construction begins. A quarter-finished structure in Runaway Bay becomes the project.
2020–2022
The pandemic, supply chain delays, unreliable contractors. Progress slows. Work continues.
2023–2025
The property takes shape. 20 rooms. 8 event spaces. A saltwater pool. A pavilion. Gardens.
Late 2025
Hurricane Melissa, Category 5, makes landfall. On the verge of opening.
2026
The Mabella opens. Events from May. Rooms from May/June.
“She quietly built a life that held others. We built The Mabella to hold you and yours.”
What This Place Believes
Not a resort. A place with a point of view.
🕯
Celebrations are sacred.
The people who come here aren’t looking for a venue. They’re marking something real — a milestone, a marriage, a reunion that finally happened. We treat that seriously. Every booking is handled like it matters, because it does.
🌱
Community is part of the design.
The Mabella is a Jamaican property. That means it invests in Jamaican artists, runs a free youth camp each year, hosts cultural events that the neighborhood attends. Guests aren’t separate from that — they’re part of it.
🤝
Hospitality is personal, not procedural.
There is no wristband. No buffet. No “check-in window.” When you arrive at The Mabella, someone is expecting you. The gate opens. The place feels like it was ready for you specifically — because it was.
Rooted in Community
Legacy means leaving the door open for others.
The Mabella was built in a community — Cardiff Hall, Runaway Bay — and it doesn’t pretend to be separate from it. What happens inside the gate connects to what’s outside it.
These programs aren’t marketing. They’re what the property does because of who built it and who it’s named for.
Ready When You Are
The place is built. The gate is open.
Whether you’re planning an event or booking a room — or you’ve been on the fence and just needed to understand what this place is — the next step is the same. We respond within 24 hours.
+1 (561) 320-2110 · +1 (876) 404-1766 · Runaway Bay, Jamaica