Sandals has not been sold. That is the first thing to understand about the biggest business story in Caribbean tourism, and it is exactly why the story matters for Jamaica.

On Tuesday, October 27, Royal Caribbean Group used its third quarter earnings call to lay out fresh details of its agreement to invest approximately US$3 billion for a 50 percent stake in Sandals and Beaches Resorts. The numbers the cruise giant put on the record describe the scale of what the Stewart family has built from Montego Bay: a portfolio of 18 resorts in operation across the Caribbean, three additional resorts under development, and more than 1,000 acres of undeveloped land, including acreage beside existing resorts, land Royal Caribbean’s chief financial officer noted has been “curated brilliantly by the Stewart family.” Reuters reported the price at approximately US$3 billion in cash for the 50 percent stake, at approximately 10 times forward EBITDA, with financing committed by Morgan Stanley. That price puts an enterprise value of about US$6 billion on the whole business. Royal Caribbean expects several hundred million dollars in business benefits over time from bringing its cruise guests and Sandals guests into one vacation family.

The structure matters as much as the size. This is an equal partnership, not a takeover. The proposed transaction is expected to close in early 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, and when it does, Adam Stewart remains Executive Chairman of Sandals and Beaches Resorts, continuing to oversee the brands’ long term growth strategy, with the joint venture governed by a board under the shared leadership of Stewart and Royal Caribbean chairman and chief executive Jason Liberty, according to Reuters. Royal Caribbean’s leadership was just as clear about what it is not doing. “Sandals needs to be Sandals,” Liberty told analysts. “Beaches needs to be Beaches.”

Stewart said it himself when the partnership was announced in September. “Our home is the Caribbean,” he wrote. “What does change is the scale of what we can imagine next. This partnership gives us greater capacity to grow faster, reach more people and take two brands born in the Caribbean to more places around the world.”

What it means for Jamaica

For Jamaica, this is outside capital voting with real money on a Jamaican idea. Sandals employs more than 20,000 team members, 97 percent of them born in the Caribbean, and more than 80 percent of the products the company uses in Jamaica are sourced locally. The growth pipeline runs through home soil as well: a new 450 room Beaches resort is planned for Runaway Bay, part of a wider expansion Stewart has laid out across the region, and Royal Caribbean told investors the resort business generates enough cash to fund its own ambitious development plan. A company founded in 1981 with a 99 room hotel beside the Montego Bay airport is now the land based half of one of the largest vacation platforms on earth, and it is still chaired by a sixth generation Jamaican.

One year after the storm

The deal talk lands on an anniversary Jamaica will never forget. One year ago today, October 28, 2025, Hurricane Melissa made landfall. Stewart was on the ground from the first hours, and two weeks later he told thousands of travel advisors, “Jamaica is going to be okay,” adding that the spirit of Jamaica “has never been more alive.” Five of the company’s eight Jamaica resorts reopened on December 6, 2025. Through the closures that followed, Sandals kept 100 percent of its Jamaican team members on payroll with benefits and committed more than US$5 million to direct team member recovery support, according to the company.

Watch Adam Stewart tell the comeback story himself, speaking from Sandals Dunn’s River in the Sandals Resorts Back to Jamaica series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bodAK6tjE0E

The final chapter of the recovery opens within weeks. Under a US$200 million transformation the company calls Sandals 2.0, Sandals Jamaica South Coast reopens on November 18, and Sandals Jamaica Montego Bay and Sandals Jamaica Caribbean Cay, the former Sandals Royal Caribbean, with its private offshore island given a new beach club, reopen on December 18, carrying new restaurants, redesigned pools and reimagined spaces. Stewart explained the decision in Sandals’ own announcement: “We shouldn’t simply restore what was there. We should dream bigger.”

A year of work, recognised

The recognition has followed. On October 15, Sandals, Beaches and Island Routes collected 27 wins at the World Travel Awards for the Caribbean and the Americas. The next night in New York, the American Friends of Jamaica presented Stewart with its 2026 International Achievement Award at the 45th Hummingbird Gala, where Sheryl Lee Ralph received the International Humanitarian Award and the evening raised more than US$900,000, with the AFJ having mobilised nearly US$12 million for Hurricane Melissa relief and recovery, according to Caribbean360.

Put the year together and the picture is complete. A hurricane tested Jamaica, and a Jamaican family business answered by protecting its people, rebuilding its resorts bigger, and then bringing one of the largest travel companies in the world to the table as an equal partner. That is not a company being bought. That is Jamaica being valued.

Photo: Sandals Resorts