Is Sandals planning to expand outside the Caribbean and take its all-inclusive model global

So Sandals is developing more resorts at the same time than ever before, with a US$1-billion Caribbean expansion for its Beaches chain.

That pipeline includes projects in Jamaica, The Bahamas, Barbados, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Executive Chairman Adam Stewart also revealed on Taking Stock that another, still-secret Caribbean destination is being planned.

Altogether, the company is developing seven resorts simultaneously—the most in its history.

But global destinations also want a piece of the Sandals brand.

Stewart said the company has been approached by investment agencies and invited to develop hotels in Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Qatar, the Maldives, South Africa and the United States—including Florida and the West Coast.

So, will Sandals finally expand beyond the Caribbean? Here’s what he told me.

“To be able to operate a hotel in the Maldives or Dubai or Saudi or the Florida Keys—or any one of the places that we’ve been invited to, South Africa—it’s not impossible. It’s absolutely possible to get there.”

Adam Stewart

However, Stewart said he doesn’t think the timing is right.  Right now, they’re developing seven resorts at the same time.

So it’s not that they don’t have the money or expertise. But their current pipeline is already stretching the infrastructure and workforce needed to preserve the brand’s standards.

But how will Sandals finance this ambitious expansion—and could ordinary investors eventually own a piece of the company?

However, he said an IPO is not being pursued today. Sandals remains family-owned, reinvests most of its earnings and carries debt equivalent to less than one year of EBITDA.

So, the world may eventually be next—but first, Sandals has to execute the biggest expansion in its history.

And that’s The Bottom Line.

Would you invest in Sandals if it eventually listed on the stock market?