The hotel itself has now been purchased by Wyndham to be turned into timeshares. They are undertaking a $40 million renovation before opening it sometime in mid 2008 as of now.

Schultz

Thanks Shultz! Wow that's some renovation! I was sort of hoping it was going to be a hotel so that I would have another option as to where to stay.

Here is a link to a story that tells more about the plans for the old Ren property.

http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_home?id=17603006

Schultz

Kimberlysea,

This might be a good place to mention the fact that timeshare resorts often offer a nice alternative to regular hotels, even for those who are not timeshare owners. There are a few timeshares on St. Thomas: Bluebeard's Castle, Elysian Beach Resort, Magen's Bay Resort, Tropical Leisure Club, Bluebeard's Beach Club and a few units at Sapphire Beach Resort. Soon there will be the new Wyndham Vacation Club at the former Renaisssance. The Westin on St. John also has timeshare units as well as Sunset Ridge there. In St. Croix I know of Hotel on the Cay.

Very often timeshare units can be rented just like hotel rooms. Owners will not be using them and free them up for rental. They often want to just recoup their maintenance fees. You can contact the resort directly and ask about rooms or you can go to other sites, like myresortnetwork.com or redweek.com for rentals. (Other sites are out there as well, as a google search will reveal.) These units often go for a much lower price than hotel units and are usually larger and have full or partial kitchens. They don't always have restaurants, room service and other amenities that a hotel will have, however. They will usually have more amenities than a condo.

In December, during Christmas week, my boyfriend and I and his two teens went to Florida to visit my dad. He suggested we stay at the Marriott just down the road. That was $230 a night for two double beds, a bathroom, a coffee maker and a microwave. I searched on google for timeshares in his area and found a two-bedroom unit for $1100 for seven nights. This place was bigger than my dad's two-bedroom condo! Full kitchen with all appliances and necessities for preparation of any meal, two bathrooms, dining room, living room (with pull-out), huge terrace, two televisions with dvd players, etc. This was right on the beach on Florida's Atlantic Coast. There was also a pool, game room, activity room, and on and on. This was during what's typically most expensive week of the year.

Whenever I travel I always look to see if there's a timeshare resort in the area.

I just wanted to pass this on to anyone who might not realize that timeshare resorts can be considered for rental.

Gerie

Gerie-Thanks! I did not realize that ....