Wyndham Is Spinning Off Its Timeshare Business Like Marriott, Starwood and Hilton Before It
Photo Caption: A timeshare unit at the Margaritaville Vacation Club by Wyndham in Puerto Rico. Parent company Wyndham Worldwide is spinning off its timeshare units from its hotel division to create two separate publicly traded companies. Margaritaville Vacation Club by Wyndham
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We had a hunch this would happen, but who knew it would happen so quickly? And how will Wyndham pursue that "blue thread" of loyalty strategy between its hotel and timeshare businesses? And what will happen to its vacation rental business?
Parsippany, New Jersey-based Wyndham Worldwide is following in the footsteps of its hotel peers Marriott, Starwood, and Hilton, as it announced the planned spin off of its Wyndham Vacation Ownership unit, which will be combined with the company's Wyndham Destination Network unit, which owns RCI.
The result would be two publicly trade companies, one a pure-play hotel company and the other combining vacation rentals and timeshares. The latter public company would be the world's largest timeshare company, as it already is today.
The two new public companies to be formed after the spinoff would enter into long-term licensing agreements so that Wyndham can continue what CEO Stephen P. Holmes described during the company's first quarter 2017 earnings call in April as his "blue thread" strategy. That's a reference to maintaining an interwoven loyalty program.
Holmes said, "The customer staying in our hotels is a timeshare customer. It's the average consumer that's out there that bu
