Jun 25
In 1984, Marriott became the first hospitality company to enter the timeshare industry. Since then, Marriott Vacation Club has redefined the timeshare ownership experience. Timeshare owners enjoy the assurance of a program from a recognized leader in the timeshare industry.
Marriott Vacation Club just launched the points-based Marriott Vacation Club Destinations program in North America and the Caribbean. The program offers more flexibility and a more personalized experience.
This new program will allow timeshare owners to redeem points to travel within any of four Vacation Collections.
- Marriott Vacation Club Collection: Access to more than 50 luxurious resorts and including added benefits such as: any day check-in, varied lengths of stay, variety of accommodation sizes, and more choice of travel season at resorts in North America and the Caribbean.
- Marriott Collection: Choose from more than 3,000 hotels.
- Explorer Collection: Travel to new places or take a cruise with exchange for travel packages.
- World Traveler Collection: Access to over 2,500 resorts in more than 75 countries through Interval International.
Timeshare owners will receive their points annually to redeem for their customized vacation. They will also be able to save, borrow or buy additional points. This new program also provides timeshare owners with a personal Vacation Ownership Advisor that will help with travel arrangements in the four Collections.
Keep coming back to this blog to learn about how this change will affect timeshare owners. In short, Marriott grants flexibility to its timeshare owners, but at the same time creates a marketplace for the points and opens their timeshare units to be sold more than 50 weeks per year.
Tagged with: Marriott • Marriott Vacation Club • timeshare • Timeshare Industry • timeshare owner • timeshare ownership • timeshare vacation • vacation clubs
May 03
Over the first quarter of 2010, the major hotel chains with significant marketshare in the timeshare industry - Marriott, Wyndham, and Starwood – have all been able to rebound from a dismal 2009. Marriott posted an $83 million profit. Wyndham increased 11% up to $50 million and Starwood posted a $24 million profit in the first quarter of the year.
As a whole, timeshare contract sales were up about 10% from the previous year, a sign that the economy is on the rise. Timeshare purchases occur when consumers feel that they have enough in current or impending disposable income that can cover the cost of the expense. This is especially true when considering the timeshare costs at these major chains which tend to be higher than the average timeshare in both upfront cost and in maintenance.
Interestingly, the rise in earnings for Wyndham did not equate to a rise in stock price. FBR Capital Markets analyst Patrick Scholes pointed out, “The only negative I can find is that perhaps investors don’t like that the guidance raise was all from timeshare. Compared to its two other businesses (hotel franchising and vacation exchange and rental), generally, timeshare is not valued as highly.” Profit-taking could have also been a factor since shares have tripled in the past year.
Tagged with: earnings • first quarter 2010 • Marriott • Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide • timeshare earnings • timeshare sales • Wyndham Resorts
Feb 06
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., operators of popular brands like Westin and Sheraton, announced that it had taken a $362 million write-down in the fourth-quarter of 2009 due to its timeshare business. The high profits and multiple ways of revenue generation that expanded during good economic times, dissolved quickly when the global economy became tight.
Like Marriott nearly 5 months ago, Starwood decided to cease construction of new timeshare properties. It is lowering prices on some existing timeshare units and writing off expenses used to develop its timeshare division.
In 2009, the timeshare contracted nearly 40% back to 2004 levels. Potential buyers no longer had the disposable income and could not qualify for loans from sources that had tightened their lending criteria. The big developers like Starwood and Marriott also lost avenues to the secondary loan market as the real estate market bubble burst.
Starwood still maintains 22 timeshare properties around the world. It’s timeshare business brought in $321 million in sales in 2009, down from $528 million in 2008. Starwood profits plummeted 78 percent to $73 million from $329 million the prior year.
Sources:
Wall Street Journal Blogs – Starwood Takes It Lumps in Time-Shares by Kris Hudson
Associated Press – Time-share charge pushes Starwood to a 4Q loss
Tagged with: $326 million writedown • 2009 • 4th quarter • Marriott • Starwood • Timeshare Industry • Timeshare Relief
Oct 08
Wyndham Worldwide and Marriott International Inc. both announced their earnings yesterday. Marriott did better than analysts predictions despite a $760 million writedown from their timeshare business. Wyndham’s stock price rose 7.4% when Goldman Sachs raised its rating to ‘outperform’ based on the fact that the company is selling off its existing timeshare inventory.
Both large hotel chains have been significantly reducing the scale of their timeshare businesses given the current economic conditions of less disposable income and increased difficulty to available credit for financing. By decreasing their supplies, they can keep prices stable and wait for a time when times are better.
Tagged with: earnings • Marriott • timeshare • Wyndham
Sep 26
In case you want to reference some other articles about the Marriott de-emphasis of their timeshare operations, we have listed them here:
From the Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125371358595033997.html
From Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/ousivMolt/idUSTRE58M3A920090923
Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn
From the Examiner.com: http://www.examiner.com/x-9185-Denver-Travel-Industry-Examiner~y2009m9d24-Marriott-Halting-Development-of-Time-Shares
by Joseph Sobin
Tagged with: Marriott • references • timeshare development
