Roatán's Kimpton Grand Opens Bêyabu, a Rooftop Made for Reef Views and Sunset Cocktails

There's a new vantage point over one of the Caribbean's best-known beaches. The Kimpton Grand Roatán Resort & Spa has unveiled Bêyabu Rooftop, an open-air space crowning the resort's main building and looking straight out over West Bay Beach and the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second-largest barrier reef system on Earth.

The name is a nod to the island's Garifuna heritage — it means "beach" in Garifuna, the language of a culture central to Honduras's Caribbean coast. The space holds up to 80 guests and is designed to flex with the day: sunrise views over the reef in the morning, cocktails and music as the sun drops behind West Bay, then a moodier, more intimate setting after dark with lighting and sound. The resort positions it for private dinners, weddings, wellness sessions and celebrations rather than standard conference business, adding to its existing 6,000 square feet of event space that includes a ballroom and boardroom.

The rooftop arrives in a strong year for the property. Opened on West Bay Beach in 2023, the 119-room resort became one of only two hotels in Honduras to earn a MICHELIN Key in September. Amenities include four restaurants, a destination spa and an infinity pool at the water's edge, with the reef just offshore — a serious draw for divers and snorkellers, which Roatán has long attracted.

The wider island is growing fast, too. West Bay has become the centre of Roatán's upscale hotel scene, with WorldHotels adding a beachfront property nearby earlier this year. Air Canada launches its first-ever nonstop flights to Roatán this winter from both Toronto and Montreal, opening a major new route for Canadian travellers. Kimpton is meanwhile pushing across the Caribbean, with recent openings including its first all-inclusive in the Riviera Maya and existing properties in Grand Cayman and Santo Domingo.

For anyone weighing a Roatán trip, this reinforces West Bay as the island's go-to strip for high-end stays — and Bêyabu gives Kimpton Grand guests a reason to be up on the roof at sunset rather than down on the sand.