Wyndham Vacation Ownership Acquires Grand Beach Palace Resort in St. Thomas

Wyndham Vacation Ownership, the world’s largest vacation ownership company and a member of the Wyndham Worldwide family of companies announced that it has acquired the Grand Beach Palace resort (formerly the Renaissance Grand Hotel) located on the northeast side of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, with plans to convert the property into its flagship Caribbean timeshare resort. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The beachfront property, which has remained vacant for more than two years, will undergo a $40 million renovation including the conversion of its 290 existing hotel rooms into 143 fully furnished condominium-styled timeshare units. The resort is expected to welcome its first guests in late 2008 and will operate within Wyndham Vacation Ownership’s FairShare Plus portfolio of resort properties.

The newly acquired resort is situated within six hillside and seven poolside buildings that will be converted into a combination of studio condominium-styled units, as well as a select number of presidential suites. Other amenities include two on-site restaurants, boat dock, conference area and a nearly 5,000-square-foot beachfront pool overlooking the picturesque Water Bay harbor.

The 25-acre property, which boasts a thousand-foot stretch of palm-fringed white sand beaches, is located approximately one mile from the highly popular 300-room Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort & Spa.