This All-Inclusive Giant Is Quietly Returning to the U.S. Virgin Islands — on the Bones of an Abandoned Resort

Club Med is heading back to the U.S. Virgin Islands. The all-inclusive pioneer and its real estate partner, VICI Properties, have broken ground on the redevelopment of the former Carambola Beach Resort on St. Croix, formally starting a roughly $55 million project with a 15-month construction timeline.

The move revives a long-dormant property on St. Croix's lush northwest coast and gives Club Med a foothold in a U.S. territory where American travelers can vacation without a passport. That is a meaningful advantage in a region where entry requirements can complicate a beach trip, and it points the brand toward families and less-frequent international travelers.

St. Croix has been on an upswing. Cruise arrivals across the U.S. Virgin Islands have been climbing faster than anywhere else in the Caribbean, and the territory has posted a broad tourism boom through 2026. A recognizable all-inclusive flag on the island adds the kind of resort inventory St. Croix has lacked compared with busier neighbors like St. Thomas.

Club Med has spent recent years leaning harder into the premium all-inclusive space, refreshing its portfolio and courting travelers who want activities, dining and kids' programming bundled into one price. Rebuilding a shuttered resort rather than starting from raw land lets the company move faster and reopen a site that already carried a beachfront pedigree.

With a 15-month timeline now running, the redeveloped resort would be positioned to welcome guests in 2027, restoring a piece of St. Croix's hotel landscape that had gone quiet for years.