Is Hilton Grand Vacations Buying out Diamond Resorts?
Hilton Grand Vacations has announced they are to purchase Diamond Resorts, the largest of the timeshare operators with 92 resorts and just under 400,000 members worldwide. The purchase is being made through stock sales with a value of £1.4 billion. Apollo, which owns Diamond will receive 34.5 million shares of Hilton Grand Vacations stock. With this acquisition, the two timeshare giants believe they can corner the timeshare market as together they will hold the largest inventory and membership programme as HGV also has an impressive 325,000 owners across 62 properties.
Announcing the agreement, CEO and president of Hilton Grand Vacations said: “I’m excited to announce our transformational agreement to add Diamond Resorts to the Hilton Grand Vacations family, accelerating our next phase of growth. This strategic combination will leverage the strengths of each company, positioning us to drive significant Net Owner Growth while enhancing efficiencies of scale and generating significant shareholder value. Diamond’s extensive regional, drive-to network of resorts and expanded demographics uniquely complement HGV’s best-in-class lead generation, world-class hospitality, and premier destinations backed by the strength of the Hilton brand. For our valued team members, owners and guests, this combination creates new opportunities to provide exciting destinations and memorable vacation experiences while continuing to provide exceptional levels of service.”
“Through this agreement, HGV and Diamond will create a new global standard of vacation ownership hospitality,” said Mike Flaskey, CEO of Diamond Resorts. “Together, we will expand Diamond’s unique events and concert platform and deliver the broadest range of world-class experiences. We are thrilled to join the HGV family and look forward to achieving new heights of excellence.”
RCI adds Vacations Club to portfolio.
In a separate news release, RCI the world’s largest vacation exchange programme operator has announced they have added Capital Vacations Club to their list of affiliated resorts. It means that members of Capital Vacations Club will have access to an additional 4,200 resorts across 110 countries. RCI currently has 3.7 million members globally and has been operating for more than 45 years.
Richard Duff, Senior Vice President at RCI said in a statement: “We warmly welcome the Capital Vacations family to RCI and look forward to serving their owners with the respected customer service our travel guides provide each and every one of our 3.7 million members. This year we introduced the new RCI, which is evolving beyond its storied history as the timeshare industry’s most renowned exchange partner. We are expanding our services as the trusted travel advisor to our members and affiliates — not just once a year, but every time members leave home for their personal or business travel. Capital Vacations recognised that RCI affiliation helps improve their owner experience and enhances their timeshare product offerings, which will strengthen their business in the long term.”
RCI market themselves as a ‘one stop shop’ for vacation options and has affiliation programmes with timeshare resorts across the globe, because of this they can offer members greater choice. Members can use their points to book vacations at a variety of resorts, however many people complain that through the RCI membership programme they are often charged additional fees that they were not told about when first signing up to the scheme. In fact, in some cases these fees are extortionate and well out way the value of booking your own holiday online and simply not worth the money. In addition to these members often complain that their membership does not give them enough points to book the holidays they want at the locations they would like to visit.
