Dated notes
What the trade and travelers are saying.
| Where | What it says | When and source |
|---|---|---|
| Cayman Islands Department of Tourism (ourcayman.ky licensing page, read Nov 2026) | A Tourism Accommodation Licence is required to run a short-term rental under the Tourism Law (1995), and operators must charge a 13 percent Tourist Accommodation Tax. | 2026-11 |
| Pax News (trade press, citing the Department of Tourism) | The Cayman Islands had 15,303 stayover visitors in September 2026, up 18.4 percent, the strongest monthly growth of 2026 and the 11th straight monthly rise, with 376,495 for January to September, up 11.3 percent. | 2026-09 · Source |
| Pax News (trade press, citing STR) | STR / a hotel data firm put September 2026 hotel occupancy at 31.4 percent, up six points on a year earlier, with average daily rate up 9.1 percent, showing how thin the soft season still is. | 2026-09 · Source |
| Pax News (trade press, citing the Department of Tourism) | Winter 2026-27 schedules starting in December bring a record 15 flights a week from Canada on Air Canada, WestJet and Porter. | 2026-09 · Source |
| Deep Arrival (travel news) | Grand Hyatt Grand Cayman, 382 rooms and suites, is reported to open on 28 November 2026 on Seven Mile Beach, with opening member rates from 1,767 dollars a night plus an 85 dollar resort fee. | 2026-09 · Source |
| Cayman Islands Department of Tourism (via Radio Cayman) | July 2026 brought 45,053 stayover visitors, up 10 percent, and 333,747 for January to July, up 11 percent. | 2026-09 · Source |
| Cayman Islands Department of Tourism (via Radio Cayman, citing STR) | STR reported July 2026 hotel occupancy of 66.7 percent, up 9.4 points, with average daily rate up 7.6 percent. | 2026-09 · Source |
| Cayman Islands Department of Tourism (via Radio Cayman) | US inbound seats for July 2026 rose 5.9 percent to 56,541, while Canadian arrivals fell 15.9 percent because nonstop service ran three days a week instead of four. | 2026-09 · Source |
| Caribbean Journal (trade press, citing STR and the Department of Tourism) | First-half 2026 hotel occupancy was 73.3 percent, up 6.4 points, with June occupancy at 61 percent and ONE GT opening in George Town in May without slowing the gains. | 2026-07 · Source |
| Cayman Islands Department of Tourism (gov.ky press release) | June 2026 stayover arrivals were 40,460, up 6.9 percent, and the January to June total was a record 288,694, up 11.3 percent. | 2026-07 · Source |
| Cayman Compass (local press) | Spirit cancelled its Fort Lauderdale to Grand Cayman route, launched 4 December 2025, effective 13 April 2026, removing more than 2,000 seats a month before the airline wound down. | 2026-05 |
| Cayman Compass (local press) | Sterling Global's two Hyatt hotels will add about 700 rooms on Seven Mile Beach, with the Grand Hyatt about 400 units, roughly half hotel rooms and half condos in the rental pool. | 2026-03 |
| Cayman Compass (local press) | Scheduled airlift for January to April 2026 was projected to grow 18.1 percent to about 358,512 inbound seats, with added American, United, Cayman Airways, JetBlue and Spirit flights. | 2026-02 |
| Cayman Compass (local press) | Cayman Airways will end its JFK / John F. Kennedy International Airport route after nearly two decades of service, redeploying capacity to new routes such as seasonal Austin. | 2026-02 |
| Cayman Compass (local press) | The unfinished Kailani hotel project on North Church Street was placed in receivership, with EY named joint receivers. | 2026-01 |
| Cayman Compass (local press) | September 2025 stayovers were 12,929, down 2.8 percent, and September and October are historically the two slowest months for arrivals. | 2025-11 |
Forums
Traveler posts, newest first, word for word.
| Where | What they said | When and source |
|---|---|---|
| A great find to celebrate this upcoming thanksgiving at the Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman! Take Advantage of this great Deal if you have MMP access. One of the best resorts in Marriott's portfolio. $1,000 off public rates! See the deal here | 2026-10-14 · Source | |
| The restoration of the eroded beachfront at the Grand Cayman Marriott Resort is already being hailed as a success and a blueprint for returning the Seven Mile shoreline to its former glory. Tourism Minister Gary Rutty said the project would be the “ultimate test” for how to... | 2026-09-10 · Source | |
| Planning 5 nights in Grand Cayman in January for just my husband and me, and I’m having a surprisingly hard time finding the sweet spot between genuinely luxurious and under about $1,200/night. Priorities are a beautiful pool, great beach or very easy beach access, nice design,... | 2026-09-07 · Source | |
| I'm looking to travel to Little Cayman and I'm looking specifically for a hotel or rental that has a PRIVATE outdoor shower (meaning a shower not just to rinse off but one that is fully closed off so that I can shower outside while smelling the air and looking at the open sky),... | 2026-08-02 · Source | |
| The Cayman Islands is once again offering travellers protection against hurricane-related disruptions through its Worry Free Hurricane Guarantee programme. The initiative covers travel between 1 June and 30 November and is available through participating hotels, resorts,... | 2026-07-08 · Source | |
| Unfortunately, I left my AirPods at a hotel in Grand Cayman. The hotel is willing to send them back to me in New York, but their shipping quote is $100–$150 USD. I’m looking for a more cost-effective option, like generating a prepaid international shipping label myself and... | 2026-07-06 · Source | |
| Cash payments will no longer be accepted at The Grand Cayman Marriott Resort from 1 July. The West Bay Road hotel announced on its social media channels that it is moving fully to a card-only operation, saying the decision was “part of our ongoing commitment to enhancing the... | 2026-07-01 · Source | |
| A few weeks ago some friends and I made it to Grand Cayman for a week. We had an amazing time, but definitely learned a few lessons that I wanted to pass along. We are all from the US for context. Just rent a car. If you want to go anywhere outside of your condo or hotel, it... | 2026-06-22 · Source |