The owners of the Viceroy resort on the Caribbean island of Anguilla are preparing to put the posh getaway into bankruptcy court in a deal that would hand the hotel suites and villas to real-estate mogul Barry Sternlicht's Starwood Capital, people familiar with the matter said.

The Viceroy, owned by a partnership of Viceroy Hotels & Resorts and Lubert-Adler Real Estate Funds, plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware as soon as Thursday, these people said. Starwood, the resort's largest secured creditor, would then aim to take over the Viceroy, which has hosted celebrities such as Paul McCartney, Ellen DeGeneres, John Mayer and Sandra Bullock.