Sandals Resorts Explores Sale for Over $6 Billion, WSJ Reports

Curated by Sean O’Neill

SOURCE: https://skift.com/ – Sandals Resorts, the Caribbean luxury all-inclusive operator, is said to be restarting sale efforts a few years after its founder’s death. The potential move comes as the brand makes a multi-million dollar marketing push.

Sandals Resorts International has renewed efforts to sell itself, and hopes to fetch between $6 billion and $7 billion, according to a report Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal.

The Jamaican-based luxury all-inclusive operator, which markets couples-only vacations across the Caribbean, has engaged bankers to explore a sale process, the Wall Street Journal said, citing anonymous sources.

People inside the company told the Journal that the goal was to solicit bids from major hotel groups and private equity investors. No decision has been finalized, and Sandals may decide against a sale.

The company last explored selling around 2019, but the plans were derailed by the pandemic and by the 2021 death of Gordon “Butch” Stewart, who founded Sandals in 1981 as one employee at a 99-room property.

Adam Stewart, Butch’s son, now serves as executive chairman.

Sandals owns and runs luxury properties in Jamaica, the Bahamas, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Barbados, Antigua, Curaçao, and Turks and Caicos.

It has acquired land that could potentially double its footprint, the company told Skift in December.

The renewed sale effort could be strategic. Major hotel groups like Hyatt, Marriott, and Accor are aggressively expanding their all-inclusive portfolios.

Exhibit A: Hyatt Hotels agreed last month to acquire Playa Hotels & Resorts for approximately $2.6 billion, including debt. Playa operates 24 resorts in the Caribbean and Mexico.

Stewart spoke with Skift in December about the company’s most ambitious brand overhaul to date, with a multimillion-dollar “Made of Caribbean” campaign running throughout this year.

The campaign is blanketing prime media real estate (Times Square, the Super Bowl, Golden Globes) and less traditional outdoor marketing, such as ads on rideshare vehicles in major cities. The saturation approach aims to reposition Sandals beyond its wedding and honeymoon associations as a gateway to authentic connections.

If it materializes, a Sandals transaction could rank among the largest real estate deals of the year. The company is the largest employer in the Caribbean, with about 20,000 workers.

Now that all the big hotel chains are muscling into the all-inclusive space, Sandals aims to stand out by reminding travelers of its Caribbean roots.

What am I looking at? The performance of hotels and short-term rental sector stocks within the ST200. The index includes companies publicly traded across global markets, including international and regional hotel brands, hotel REITs, hotel management companies, alternative accommodations, and timeshares.

The Skift Travel 200 (ST200) combines the financial performance of nearly 200 travel companies worth more than a trillion dollars into a single number. 

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