In what could be penciled in as one of the most sophisticated and ambitious operations ever carried through by a Spanish hotel chain, Majorca-based company Barceló is just within an ace of launching one of America´s largest real-estate trusts, an effort that has made the Spanish chain partner with a number of major U.S. investors. The goal is plain and simple: to propel Barceló past the rest of Spanish hotel groups in the promising and profitable Caribbean region.

Belfonti Capital Partners, LLC announced this week the purchase of the Wyndham Aruba Resort Spa & Casino and its renaming to the Aruba Resort, Spa & Casino. Caribbean News Digital also learned that Belfonti Capital Partners, LLC has hired Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide to manage the property. According to a brief press release, the new owners explained that their hiring of Starwood Hotels & Resorts to manage the resort has to do with the latter´s “well-known management skills and traditions of superior service” that make the company the perfect match to clinch the kind of top-notch service the Aruba Resort, Spa & Casino wants to deliver.

Hotel News Resource Playa Azul Golf & Beach Hotel Receives MLT Vacations Inc. Quality Assurance Award at 2006 Tianguis Turistico The Playa Azul Golf & Beach Hotel in Cozumel, Mexico, was presented with MLT Vacations Inc.´s celebrated Quality Assurance Award at the 2006 Tianguis Turistico, Mexico´s annual international travel trade exposition.

A name change has taken place at the Grand Bahama resort formerly known as The Westin and Sheraton at Our Lucaya since February 2003. The new name, the Westin and Sheraton Grand Bahama Island Our Lucaya Resort, is aimed to more effectively communicate the resort´s location.

W Hotels, the world´s fastest-growing luxury hotel brand, announced last week plans to build its first hotel in South America, W Santiago Hotel scheduled to open in 2008. W Santiago, the brand´s fifth international property scheduled to open in the next three years, following Barcelona, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Dubai, will be ideally located across from Plaza Peru, in Santiago de Chile.

Host Hotels & Resorts, an American hotel chain, announced that its joint venture in the Netherlands wrapped up the purchase of four hotels from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. The Company also announced that it contributed the Sheraton Warsaw Hotel & Towers to the joint venture.