Vacation exchange giant RCI continues to grow in the Caribbean.

The worldwide leader in exchanges has added more than 150 new affiliated properties in the Caribbean in the last decade.

“The Caribbean is a highly desirable vacation location, and a region where we have seen tremendous growth,” said Gordon Gurnik, president of RCI. “Over the last decade in particular, we have significantly grown the vacation choices we offer travelers.”

One of the most recent affiliations is Eden Roc at Cap Cana, the luxury retreat in the Dominican Republic with 34 suites and a new beach club.

Eden Roc has joined the company’s “Registry Collection,” a luxury exchange portfolio.

RCI has also added the Breathless Montego Bay, through AMResorts’ Unlimited Vacation Club, along with the Marigot Beach Club & Dive Resort in St. Lucia.

RCI has more than 4,300 affiliated properties worldwide.

– CJ Staff

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By Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon
CJ Travel Editor

We love when hotels make an effort to incorporate a sense of destination into the vacation experience, whether that’s having in-suite Dark ‘n’ Stormy and Tequila set-ups (as at Rosewood Tucker’s Point and Grand Velas Riviera Maya, respectively) or patois proverbs placed on your pillow during turndown service, as they do at Jamaica’s Riu Reggae resort. And now there’s another hotel worth highlighting.

What is now the Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino (and was then the Aruba Caribbean Hotel) was built way back in 1959 and is, in fact, the first and oldest large hotel on the Dutch-Caribbean island. A groundbreaker of its time, the now 357-room resort, comprising three high-rise towers on 1,500 feet of Palm Beach, was designed by famed architect Morris Lapidus, the creative force behind Miami’s Fontainebleau and Eden Roc hotels.

“Too much is not enough,” Lapidus is reported to have said of his designs, which paired graphic shapes with over-the-top details and clever use of light and shadow. And today, more than a century later, even though the hotel is now managed by a multinational giant and has just completed a top-to-toe renovations, Lapidus’ legacy and the impact the resort had on Aruba’s (and, arguably the Caribbean’s) tourism, is still being recognized, respected and celebrated in the décor.

All over the hotel, from the lobby to hallways and rooms themselves, reminders of the resort’s legacy are everywhere in the form of vintage photographs from decades past. A life-size photo of comedian (and guest) Jack Benny graces one of the elevators in the Aruba tower. A blown-up black and white photo of models posing under a palm tree in bikinis and headscarves crowns a seating area. And even an image of Lapidus himself has pride of place in the Aruba lobby.

To stroll the halls of the resort is to take a trip down memory lane, and you don’t have to be one of the resort’s returning guests (we met many people who came here with their parents and now bring their own children) to appreciate it. Take a look at these photos and you’ll see that we mean.

The Hilton Aruba is among the top Aruba hotels.

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It’s one of the most famous stretches of sand in the Caribbean: Bavaro Beach, the white-sand strand that rims the edge of the tourism capital of the Dominican Republic: Punta Cana.

It’s home to some of the Caribbean’s most famous places to stay, and is the most popular destinaiton in the Caribbean.

This is what it’s like to walk on the beach.

— CJ

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Marriott has opened its first-ever AC Hotel in the Caribbean: the AC Hotel by Marriott San Juan Condado.

Set in the increasingly chic residential district of Condado, the design-heavy hotel has 233 brand new guestrooms, including 46 suites.

Onsite amenities include the AC Kitchen, AC Lounge restaurant, a fitness center, a business center and a rooftop bar and swimming pool.

A balcony at AC San Juan.

AC is Marriott’s European-inspired design brand, which has until now focused largely the United States, Europe and Latin America. (AC was founded by hotelier Antonio Catalan in Spain in 1998)

The new hotel is the result of a “comprehensive” renovation of what was the former Radisson Ambassador Plaza & Casino, a project that broke ground in the summer of 2016.

And it’s just the beginning of what could be a wider push for the brand in the Caribbean, led by a high-profile partnership Marriott signed with Sandals Resorts International to open an AC Hotel in Kingston.

And it’s part of a small but burgeoning trend in the Caribbean toward hipper, more “authentic” hotels, from the Curio Collection by Hilton’s expansion in Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Belize to the growth of Hyatt’s Centric brand, which is planning to expand to Barbados.

— Alexander Britell

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The Crowne Plaza Santo Domingo has completed a major renovation project.

The project included a complete revamp of the hotel’s 196 guestrooms, its Club Floor, conference rooms, reception and lobby, along with modernization of the property’s pool and popular Kaffeto’s coffee shop.

The hotel has also added a new lobby bar, Level1.

The project was part of a wider series of plans for a series of major renovations to its properties in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Crowne Plaza, which is part of InterContinental Hotels Group, said the plans were part of a wider $200 million investment into properties throughout the Americas.

The multimillion-dollar renovations include upgrades to guestrooms, lobbies, restaurants, facilities and public areas, including meeting rooms, business centers, gyms and technology.

“Owners of IHG hotels continue making significant investments to modernize their hotels because they trust and have tremendous confidence in the Crowne Plaza brand,” said Jorge Apaez, chief operating officer for Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean. “Today’s Crowne Plaza renovations, upgrades and implementation of new programs fall directly in line with the standards and hallmarks we offer our loyal guests: a brand promise and service designed to help modern business travelers accomplish what’s important both at a professional and personal level.”

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