Hilton Grand Vacations Makes a Major Investment in The Crane Resort

When Canadian born Paul Doyle first set eyes on the historic Crane Hotel in 1988, it was a tired 18-room property that had clearly seen better days. But, thanks to his astute entrepreneurial instinct, Paul saw way beyond the crumbling façade and recognized a major development ‘just waiting to happen’. Suitably motivated and brimming with self-belief, he took the bold step of selling his home in Canada to raise the required deposit, duly purchased The Crane, then set out to transform his compelling vision into a reality.

Now fast forward 30-years to 2018, by which time The Crane is widely acknowledged as being one of the world’s top, private residence resorts. Quite incredibly for an owner conceptualized, built and managed resort on a small island like Barbados, The Crane Resort’s fractional ownership programme has achieved the highest global ratings for both RCI and the exclusive Registry Collection, which only features the world’s most luxurious properties.

The Crane’s remarkable success story has captured the interest of several leading global timeshare brands over the years, ultimately resulting in the headlinegrabbing announcement in September 2018 that Hilton Grand Vacations Inc. had purchased timeshare inventory at The Crane Resort for an anticipated total transaction value of US$54.6 million.

Hilton Grand Vacations is one of the world’s largest luxury timeshare companies, with sales in excess of US$ 1 billion and over 295,000 Club Members, so the fact that they have chosen to invest so heavily in The Crane Resort is of enormous significance for Barbados.

Mark Wang, President and CEO, Hilton Grand Vacations: “Our owners tell us how much they love beach vacations, so we couldn’t be more excited to offer our first Caribbean destination with a world-class resort and spectacular location.”

Paul Doyle, Owner / Managing Director of The Crane Resort: “We are thrilled that Hilton Grand Vacations’ first timeshare offering in the Caribbean will be within The Crane Resort. Our parent company, Millennium Investments Ltd, still owns The Crane Residence Club and we will continue to provide all the on-site management services. We are confident that our relationship with HGV will bring consistently high occupancy levels and allow us to significantly accelerate our growth in Barbados. The plan is to start with The Crane, make sure that everything is functioning to the high standards we all require, then work together to open up more properties on the island, once again using the tried, tested and proven Crane model of operations and our existing construction and development team. It is a very good partnership and we have a lot to look forward to.”