(Bloomberg) -- Sandals Resorts International, which operates all-inclusive resorts throughout the Caribbean, has restarted an effort to sell itself, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Jamaica-based company could fetch as much as $4.5 billion in a sale, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter was private.

Sandals “is exploring options to take advantage of the growing global demand for the brand,” a representative for the company said in an email, adding that the sale effort had been reported in 2017. The company declined to comment further.

Sandals, whose website offers luxury vacations for “two people in love,” was founded in 1981 by Chairman Gordon “Butch” Stewart.

The company is working with an adviser on the sale process, which would help resolve estate-planning issues, one of the people familiar with it said.

The company operates 24 properties in the Caribbean under the brands Sandals, Beaches, Grand Pineapple, Fowl Cay Resort and Your Jamaican Villas. Its properties in the Bahamas, Jamaica, Barbados and four other countries book more than 400,000 guests and host 6,000 weddings a year, according to a document reviewed by Bloomberg.

In the all-inclusive segment of the hospitality industry, guests pay a single price for lodging, food and other services.

Large hotel brands, which had stayed out of the niche for decades, have begun to respond to demands of their frequent guests. Marriott International Inc. has announced plans to offer all-inclusive packages following initiatives by Hyatt Hotels Corp. and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.

--With assistance from Scott Deveau.

To contact the reporters on this story: Gillian Tan in New York at gtan129@bloomberg.net;Patrick Clark in New York at pclark55@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Goldstein at agoldstein5@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha, Matthew Monks

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