Travel & Tourism

Westin Hilton Head Island sold to Colorado-based private equity firm

A screen shot of the Westin Hilton Head Island Resort & Spa from the hotel’s Facebook page. The property has been sold to a Colorado private equity firm.
A screen shot of the Westin Hilton Head Island Resort & Spa from the hotel’s Facebook page. The property has been sold to a Colorado private equity firm. Facebook

One of Hilton Head Island’s premier resorts has been sold to a Colorado-based investment firm.

The Westin Hilton Head Island Resort & Spa has been acquired by affiliates of KSL Capital Partners, LLC, an investment group that owns travel and leisure properties in Europe, the Americas and Asia. KSL was interested in the Hilton Head resort, the company said, because of its quality and prime location.

“It’s one of the grand dames of the region, and we’re focused on building on the resort’s legacy and finding new ways to further elevate this beloved coastal destination,” Dan Rohan, partner and head of KSL’s Tactical Opportunities fund, said in a statement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The waterfront resort, which opened in 1985, is a 420-room property with direct beach access, three outdoor pools and about 40,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space and several “farm-and-sea-to-table” restaurants, according to KSL. Last year, the hotel announced it completed a $13.8 million renovation project, including the addition of four new rooms and suite redesigns incorporating the island’s coastal landscape.

The resort has seen more than $47 million in upgrades since 2012, according to KSL, and the property can host events with up to 1,000 guests.

KSL is involved in dozens of leisure properties in North America, including WellBiz Brands, which owns and manages companies like Drybar and Amazing Lash Studio. The firm is also behind Southern Marinas, which owns and operates marinas across the U.S., and Under Canvas, an upscale hospitality provider offering “safari-inspired” accommodations near American national parks and monuments.

Hotel properties include the Charleston Place Hotel in Charleston, the InterContinental Buckhead in Atlanta, Asheville’s Omni Grove Park Inn, the Royal Palm South Beach Miami and Silverado Resort in Napa Valley. KSL’s U.S. portfolio spans everywhere from the Berkshires in Massachusetts to Kauai in Hawaii.

Although hotel occupancy across Hilton Head softened in the second quarter of the year, upscale resorts like the Westin fared better, according to the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce. Occupancy, average daily rates and revenue per available room at the island’s upscale resorts were all up in summer 2025, even as occupancy dipped island-wide.

Laura Finaldi
The Island Packet
Laura Finaldi is an award-winning reporter and editor whose career has taken her everywhere from manufacturing companies in Massachusetts to dairy farms in rural Florida. Before joining the Island Packet in 2025, she was an editor at Homes.com in Richmond, Virginia and covered retail and tourism in Sarasota, Florida for five years. She has been published in the Worcester Business Journal, the Richmonder, Virginia Business, the Boston Globe and USA Today. 
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