Marriott will be debuting a pair of highly-anticipated new resorts in St Thomas, USVI this fall.
The new Frenchman’s Reef, St Thomas’ most iconic hotel property, will reopen this winter with a pair of resorts: the The Seaborn, part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection; and the Westin Beach Resort and Spa.
The two resorts are the product of a $425 million reconstruction and transformation project of the property, which was devastated in Hurricane Irma back in 2017.
The property is owned by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group, which purchased it from DiamondRock back at the beginning of last year.
It’s an “all-new Frenchman’s Reef,” the property says, with a broad slate of amenities including a full-service spa and a number of food and beverage concepts.
That’s along with something that was an essential part of the Frenchman’s Reef before the storms: meeting space.
The new-look Frenchman’s has a combined 25,000 square feet of flexible indoor space, joined by another 60,000 square feet of outdoor space for corporate events, weddings, birthdays and the like.
The Westin will have a total of 392 rooms, a number that will include 28 suites.
The Seaborn, which will be located on Morningstar Beach, will have a total of 94 rooms.
Both resorts are being managed by Aimbridge Hospitality, which has a broad portfolio in the wider Caribbean region.
It’s another significant step for a destination that has arguably been the biggest success story in the Caribbean since the onset of the pandemic.
Indeed, the USVI has been right at the top of the region’s fastest-growing destinations, with surging occupancy and some of the biggest growth new airlift in the wider region.
“We are especially excited to share the news of the reopening of two rebuilt and rebranded properties at Frenchmen’s Reef, restoring our accommodation capacity in St. Thomas to the levels prior to the devastating destruction caused by hurricanes Irma and Maria five years ago,” Joseph Boschulte, the US Virgin Islands’ Commissioner of Tourism, said this week amid the Caribbean Travel Marketplace conference in San Juan.
The USVI is also seeing a dramatic renaissance for its cruise industry, with what Boschulte called a “significant increase” in cruise stops in fiscal year 2023, with forecasts of more than 450 calls and almost 1.4 million passengers.
That represents almost a million more passengers than in the previous year, he said.