“This is a growth story”: Adam Stewart on Sandals’ Royal Caribbean deal

Following news that Royal Caribbean Group will acquire a 50 per cent stake in Sandals and Beaches Resorts for approximately US$3 billion, Sandals Resorts International executive chairman Adam Stewart and Gary C. Sadler, OD, executive vice-president of sales and industry relations at Unique Vacations Inc., spoke to nearly 5,000 travel professionals during a virtual call Wednesday (Sept. 23) about what the partnership could mean for the family-founded company.

As PAX previously reported, the transaction is expected to close in early 2027, subject to customary approvals and closing conditions.

Stewart said the deal is designed to accelerate growth while keeping the brands, management teams and travel advisor relationships intact, outlining plans that include upgrades across the existing portfolio, new resorts and, eventually, expansion beyond the Caribbean.

“If you hear nothing else, hear this: This is a growth story,” said Stewart. 

Stewart said the company sought a partner with the scale and resources to support its next phase of growth.

Sandals and Beaches currently operate 20 resorts, a portfolio Stewart characterized as boutique-sized compared with the world’s largest hotel groups. 

What the Royal Caribbean partnership provides, Stewart said, is a stronger foundation to pursue that growth.

Capital is one part of it. Stewart said Sandals will remain an asset-heavy business and that the transaction will put no new debt on Sandals. 

He also pointed to future connections between the companies’ loyalty programs, along with opportunities involving technology, supply chains and collaboration between their innovation teams.

Stewart repeatedly stressed that the partnership will not change what Sandals and Beaches are at their core.

“Sandals is not becoming a public company,” he said.

"Sandals remains Sandals and Beaches remains Beaches.”

Stewart said he will remain executive chairman and that the existing general managers and sales teams will remain in place.

“There's no plan to remove any of the people that you love. Our general managers remain, our sales team remain, everyone remains. This is not a slash and burn,” he said.

“This is a growth platform to grow further and faster and to continue to be exactly who we are.”

Travel advisors were a recurring focus of Stewart’s remarks. 

Stewart said travel advisors helped build Sandals from its beginnings with a 99-room hotel in Montego Bay and described their role in the company’s growth as fundamental.

That relationship, he said, will continue under the Royal Caribbean partnership.

“Your BDMs remain the same. You're not using Royal's BDMs; it's our BDMs and we're going to continue to support you,” Stewart said.

“I hope that we give you more products and you do more business and make more money.”

New resorts, new destinations

Stewart outlined the company’s growth plans in three stages.

First, Sandals is investing in its existing portfolio. 

Stewart said all 20 resorts are either currently being upgraded or are set to undergo improvements, with some renovations representing hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars in investment.

The second stage will be new hotels.

“There are new hotels, and some of them are going to come quickly, and some of them are in new destinations,” Stewart said.

He did not identify those destinations, but suggested some are places where travel advisors are already sending clients and have asked Sandals to establish resorts.

The third stage will focus on further expansion, including destinations beyond the Caribbean, something Stewart said he has been asked about repeatedly over the years.

“The time has come for us to go further than the four corners of the Caribbean.”

Stewart did not reveal where Sandals could go next, saying those announcements will come later.

He also said the company expects the expansion to create 7,000 new jobs tied to new hotels.

For Stewart, the partnership marks what he called “Sandals 3.0,” giving the company greater resources to grow while preserving the business and culture his father built.

He acknowledged that change can make people uneasy, saying he had received calls from people across the industry, including travel advisors and customers, but framed the deal as a new chapter rather than a departure from what Sandals has always been.

“Now we’re going to the world, and that is certainly an exciting thing for our company,” added Sadler.

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