JAMAICA | Caribbean Giant Sandals Resorts Seeks $7 Billion Sale Amid Luxury Travel Boom

JAMAICA, Montego Bay, March 20, 2025 - Sandals Resorts International, the Caribbean hospitality powerhouse that transformed the concept of all-inclusive luxury, is quietly shopping itself to potential buyers with hopes of commanding a staggering $6-7 billion price tag, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The Jamaica-based operator has enlisted bankers to orchestrate what could become one of the year's largest hospitality deals, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The timing appears carefully calculated, coming just as the company unleashes its most ambitious marketing campaign in decades and as global hotel chains scramble to stake their claims in the increasingly lucrative all-inclusive market.

"Sandals Resorts does not comment on market speculation," a company spokesperson told Skift when questioned about the potential sale.

The renewed sales effort marks a strategic resurrection of plans first explored in 2019 but ultimately derailed by twin blows: the pandemic's devastation of global travel and the 2021 death of founder Gordon "Butch" Stewart, whose vision transformed a modest 99-room property in 1981 into the Caribbean's most recognizable luxury brand.

Now under the leadership of Butch's son, Executive Chairman Adam Stewart, Sandals commands an enviable empire spanning Jamaica, the Bahamas, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Barbados, Antigua, Curaçao, and Turks and Caicos. Even more tantalizing to potential suitors: the company has secured land reserves that executives claim could potentially double its already substantial footprint.

The timing of the sale exploration appears far from coincidental. Major hospitality groups including Hyatt, Marriott, and Accor have been aggressively expanding their all-inclusive portfolios. Just last month, Hyatt Hotels agreed to acquire Playa Hotels & Resorts for approximately $2.6 billion, including debt—securing 24 resorts across the Caribbean and Mexico in one fell swoop.

Against this backdrop of industry consolidation, Sandals has been methodically reinforcing its brand identity. In December, Stewart unveiled the company's "Made of Caribbean" campaign—a multimillion-dollar marketing blitz designed to reposition Sandals beyond its traditional wedding and honeymoon associations. The saturation approach includes high-profile placements in Times Square, during the Super Bowl and Golden Globes, and unconventional tactics like advertisements on rideshare vehicles in major urban centers.

"We're not just in the Caribbean—we are the Caribbean," Stewart told Skift in December, emphasizing the company's authentic regional roots as its key differentiator from multinational hotel chains now entering the space.

As the largest employer in the Caribbean with approximately 20,000 workers, any potential transaction would reverberate far beyond corporate boardrooms. Sources inside the company indicated to the Journal that bidding will be solicited from both major hotel groups and private equity investors, though they cautioned that Sandals may ultimately decide against a sale.

For now, as luxury travelers continue their post-pandemic splurge and all-inclusive resorts enjoy unprecedented demand, Sandals finds itself in an enviable position: a homegrown Caribbean success story being courted by the industry's giants, all while reinforcing the authentic regional identity that made it a powerhouse in the first place.

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