The History of Couples Resorts Jamaica
Every Couples Resorts guest stays at a place with a story that begins not in 1978, not in the all-inclusive era, but on an undeveloped stretch of Jamaican coastline in 1949 — and with a family whose connection to Jamaica started half a century before that.
The Issa family and the roots of Jamaican tourism
The story of Couples Resorts is inseparable from the story of the Issa family. Abraham Issa’s family arrived in Jamaica from Jerusalem in 1893, eventually establishing themselves as one of the island’s most prominent business families. Their first hotel venture was the Myrtle Bank in Kingston, where they broke with British colonial convention by welcoming Black Jamaicans as guests — a quiet act of principle that set the tone for everything that followed.
It was Abe Issa, Abraham’s son, who would go on to define Jamaican tourism as the world knows it today.
1949: building Jamaica’s first year-round resort
In 1948, responding to repeated requests from guests at the Myrtle Bank for a resort on Jamaica’s north coast, Abe Issa began construction on a new property. After 365 continuous days of building, Tower Isle Hotel opened its doors in January 1949 — the first resort on Jamaica’s then entirely undeveloped north coast.
Word spread quickly. Tower Isle became a magnet for Hollywood’s golden age. Walt Disney stayed there. So did Errol Flynn, Debbie Reynolds, Eva Gabor, boxer Joe Louis, and playwright Noel Coward. Princess Margaret visited on more than one occasion. The resort had the kind of old-world charm and genuine Caribbean warmth that attracted people who could have stayed anywhere in the world.
In 1955, Abe Issa was appointed the first chairman of the Jamaica Tourism Board — an acknowledgement that no single person had done more to put the island on the international map. The title that followed — Father of Jamaican Tourism — was not an honorary one. It was simply accurate.
“The Father of Jamaican Tourism.” Abe Issa served as the first chairman of the Jamaica Tourism Board in 1955 and built the island’s first year-round resort six years before that.
1978: the all-inclusive concept changes everything
By the late 1970s, Abe Issa had been running Tower Isle for nearly three decades. His next idea was more radical than building a resort on an empty coastline. He wanted to create a holiday where every element — meals, drinks, activities, excursions — was included in a single rate, and where the entire experience was designed exclusively for couples.
In 1978, he turned that idea into reality. Tower Isle was transformed into Couples Ocho Rios: the first all-inclusive, couples-only resort in Jamaica, and one of the first of its kind anywhere in the Caribbean. Everything was included — meals, drinks, watersports, excursions to Dunn’s River Falls, even shopping trips to Ocho Rios. The concept that resorts across the Caribbean would spend the following decades imitating was born on Jamaica’s north coast.
The Couples Resorts brand had found its defining identity: luxury, romance, and genuine value, all under one roof, for two people.
A family business across generations
Couples Resorts has always been a family business, and that has never changed. Abe ran the brand alongside his brothers, each contributing to its development over the decades. When Abe stepped back, his son Lee took the helm — and Lee remains chairman today, alongside other members of the Issa family.
That continuity matters. It means the values Abe built into Tower Isle in 1949 — the personal service, the authentic Jamaican warmth, the refusal to treat guests as interchangeable — are not corporate policy inherited from a distant founder. They are living family values, maintained by people who knew the man who created them.
Jane Issa serves as the designer across all four resorts, which is why the properties have a coherent visual identity that feels considered rather than generic. The family touch runs through every corner of the Couples Resorts experience.
Growing the collection: four resorts, two coastlines
The original Couples Ocho Rios was eventually renamed Couples Tower Isle, returning it to a name closer to its origins. Over the following years, the Issa family expanded carefully — adding properties that complemented each other rather than competing, each with its own distinct character.
Couples Sans Souci joined the collection in Ocho Rios, occupying a dramatic cliffside setting between mountains and sea that gave it a completely different atmosphere from Tower Isle. In Negril, on Jamaica’s west coast, Couples Negril and Couples Swept Away brought the brand’s philosophy to the island’s famous Seven Mile Beach and the quieter waters of Bloody Bay.
Today Couples Resorts operates four properties: Couples Tower Isle and Couples Sans Souci in Ocho Rios, and Couples Negril and Couples Swept Away in Negril. Each has its own personality. All four share the same founding logic: a couples-only, all-inclusive experience on Jamaica’s most beautiful coastlines, built on a foundation of genuine Jamaican hospitality.
The Issa Trust Foundation
In 2005, Couples Resorts established the Issa Trust Foundation as a non-profit organisation. The foundation focuses on paediatric healthcare and education for children and families in Jamaica, conducting annual medical missions to Ocho Rios and Negril and supporting schools including the Free Hill Primary and Infant School near Ocho Rios. Guests at Couples Tower Isle can visit the school as part of a Friday excursion, with the fee donated directly to the school.
The foundation reflects something consistent in the Issa family’s approach to Jamaica: a belief that the island’s hospitality industry and the island’s communities are inseparable, and that success in one creates an obligation to the other.
What stays the same
More than 75 years after Tower Isle opened and nearly 50 years after Abe Issa introduced the all-inclusive couples-only concept to the Caribbean, Couples Resorts remains privately owned by the family that built it.
The resorts have been renovated, expanded, and refined over the decades. The coastlines are different, the facilities are more extensive, the rooms are more comfortable. But the founding logic hasn’t changed: a place where two people can arrive, set everything else aside, and be entirely present with each other. No distractions, no compromises, nothing to manage.
That was Abe Issa’s idea in 1978. It remains the reason guests keep coming back.
Frequently asked questions
When was Couples Resorts founded?
The Couples Resorts brand was founded in 1978, when Abe Issa introduced the all-inclusive, couples-only concept at what became Couples Ocho Rios. The property itself — originally Tower Isle Hotel — opened in 1949 as Jamaica’s first year-round resort.
Who founded Couples Resorts?
Couples Resorts was founded by Abe Issa, a Jamaican hotelier and businessman known as the Father of Jamaican Tourism. He also served as the first chairman of the Jamaica Tourism Board in 1955.
Is Couples Resorts still family owned?
Yes. Couples Resorts remains a family business, currently led by Abe’s son Lee Issa alongside other members of the Issa family.
How many Couples Resorts are there in Jamaica?
There are four: Couples Tower Isle and Couples Sans Souci in Ocho Rios, and Couples Negril and Couples Swept Away in Negril.
What makes Couples Resorts different from other all-inclusive resorts?
Couples Resorts pioneered the all-inclusive, couples-only concept in the Caribbean. Unlike adults-only resorts that admit singles and groups, every Couples Resorts property accepts only two-person bookings — which creates a consistently intimate and romantic atmosphere that other all-inclusive formats can’t replicate.
Ready to be part of the story? Explore all four Couples Resorts properties at couplesresorts.co.uk/resorts — or call the UK team on 0207 749 9285 to start planning your stay.