Marriott Vacations CEO Weighs in on the Timeshare Rollup During the Recovery
Skift Take
Early Check-In
Editor’s Note: Skift Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill brings readers exclusive reporting and insights into hotel deals and development, and how those trends are making an impact across the travel industry.The timeshare sector emerged as one of the hospitality industry’s earliest comeback stories during the pandemic — and one of the most active in terms of mergers and acquisitions.
Hilton Grand Vacations acquired Diamond Resorts for $1.4 billion. Wyndham Destinations became the Travel + Leisure Co. after acquiring the media and travel club brand for $100 million. Marriott Vacations Worldwide took over Welk Resorts earlier this year for $485 million.
The takeovers are unlikely to stop there.
“We will continue to look and see if there are other [mergers and acquisitions] opportunities out there,” Marriott Vacations CEO Stephen Weisz said in an interview with Skift. “But, you know, we're pretty selective about what we look at.”
The criteria for the timeshare company, which encompasses seven brands like Marriott Vacation Club and Hyatt Residence Club, boils down to three things: The takeover target has to expand the company’s footprint. It has to benefit shareholders, and it has to be a good cultural fit.
“That's one of the things about the Welk acquisition that has been really important to see,” Weisz said. “We thought it was going to be the case, and it's proven out to be everything that we wanted it to be because the culture of the organization and ours dovetails very nicely.”
The eight-res
