In timeshare, nothing is constant except change. Lately, the industry has seen a number of mergers and acquisitions that affect hundreds of thousands of owners.
Knowing that it’s imperative for owners to get up to date information, I sat down for a quick interview with Jason Gamel, President of The American Resort and Development Association, the trade association for the timeshare industry in the United States.
Thanks Jason for your time. There’s been a number of large merger and acquisition transactions in the past few years. Is this a good thing for consumers?
Let’s start by recognizing consolidation is a natural occurrence in maturing industries. Especially as companies look to grow, they will do so by either growing organically or through mergers and acquisitions. The timeshare industry is no exception.
The latest transactions include MVWC's acquisition of Welk Resorts, HGVC's purchase of Diamond Resorts, and Capital Vacations acquiring VRI. But there are small resort acquisitions to consider as well.
Regardless of the parties involved, I believe consumers will generally benefit overall from consolidation activity. That is not to say that what consumers had before those consolidations was a bad situation. I am focused on the fact that consumers will likely receive more vacation options in a "consolidated system" and access to benefits beyond what they originally purchased. And in other cases, there might be some cost savings that are recognized when consolidation takes place, which could lead to savings at the HOA level.
Some of these mergers and acquisitions take a year or more to complete. Do you have any advice for the owners affected by these changes?
That is a great question, Lisa, as these transactions and integrations might take months or years for all of the changes to take hold. My advice to owners is that they need to be patient throughout the process. However, I encourage them to ask questions and read everything they can to keep up to date about the change which might affect their ownership.
What is the best way for owners to get up-to-date and accurate information about the effect that these mergers have on their current and future ownership? And do they have to attend a sales presentation to learn about these changes?
The best way to get information is always straight from the developer itself. Sometimes, that will include updates you might receive in writing or even those from a salesperson. However, as with any decision regarding your timeshare, you must do your homework and insist on seeing things in writing to evaluate how any possible changes might affect your current and future ownership.
Great information, however from what I have seen the best way to get information is not through a sales agent. Rampant misinformation is being handed out left and right because sales agents are not being held accountable for what they say! Apparently, Jason is aware of this, hence the comment "However, as with any decision regarding your timeshare, you must do your homework and insist on seeing things in writing to evaluate how any possible changes might affect your current and future ownership."
ReplyDeleteI agree with LKelso, a salesperson would not be the best entity to get this informatiin. Firstly the National Timeshare Council or what this body is called by needs to be fully understood by the enity that represents firstly the owners of Timeshare then the Managers of Timeshare and then the Developers. This body usually is all of these whjch in itself problematic as each has a vested interest and represents all but has or can have a biased due to their own conflict of interest which such a body can then be quite weak in it's abilitg to help bring the right change for owners and their best interests. They in my ooinion tend to be a hidden or less successful entity that really has no real power fir a positive change. Often they tend to be elected chairpeople or BCC members that are often biased toward their own management comkany that lokk after their resort and remember the management company also have themselves represented on this council. Owners need their own independent representation to obtain factual and honest advice and any infirmation needs to be importantly shared to a owners.
ReplyDeleteA former Wyndham timeshare executive is advising the buying public to get their information in writing. Maybe that's because the basic timeshare contract has a "verbal representation" clause written into it. What does that mean? It means that you cannot rely on anything the salespeople said to be true and accurate. Pretty crafty.
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