Time-share operator Wyndham Vacation Ownership plans to expand its Hawai'i operations after recently buying the Royal Garden at Waikiki hotel.

Florida-based Wyndham paid $43 million for the 140-room hotel at 440 'Olohana St., near the Ala Wai Canal, according to property records.

Wyndham said the Royal Garden will continue to be operated as a hotel until it begins renovations anticipated to begin in November.

The company said it plans to convert rooms into two-bedroom, one-bedroom and studio units. Some of the existing rooms will be combined to make larger time-share units. Amenities will include a swimming pool, sauna, fitness center and restaurants. Wyndham did not disclose prices or a timetable for sales.

"Hawai'i continues to be a highly desirable destination for our owners," Franz Hanning, Wyndham Vacation president and CEO, said in a statement. "We are pleased to acquire a property in an outstanding location as we continue to expand our presence in the Hawaiian Islands."

Wyndham is the world's largest time-share operator, having developed or acquired more than 17,000 units that have roughly 800,000 owners at about 135 projects in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and South Pacific.

In Hawai'i, the company operates about a dozen time-share properties, including Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk on O'ahu, Wyndham Mauna Loa Village and WorldMark Kona on the Big Island, WorldMark Kihei and WorldMark Valley Isle on Maui, and Wyndham Shearwater and Wyndham Kaua'i Beach Villas on Kaua'i.

Wyndham Vacation, a unit of Wyndham Worldwide, in 2006 acquired Kaua'i time-share companies PAHIO Resorts Inc. and PAHIO Vacation Ownership Inc. to give it five properties on the Garden Isle. Last year, Wyndham acquired Maui time-share sales and marketing firm Activities-4-Less, and also opened Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk after a $54 million renovation of the former Ohana Reef Towers.

The Royal Garden acquisition was made from an affiliate of private investment firm Jupiter Holdings Group. According to property records, Jupiter bought the hotel for $31 million in 2006 from Japan-based Nichiei USA Inc.

The 25-story hotel was once known as the Pleasant Hawaiian Hotel and had 220 rooms, though Nichiei sold many units to individual buyers over the years before selling about 140 units to Jupiter.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.