Breaking News
“InterContinental Hotels’ Holiday Inn brand is stepping into the timeshare market with the launch of a new venture with The Family of Orange Lake Resorts.
The new venture, a licensing and marketing arrangement called Holiday Inn Club Vacations, comes at a difficult point.
IHG rivals Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. and Wyndham Worldwide Corp. both reported declining second-quarter timeshare sales in some markets, particularly Hawaii. Wyndham has also seen higher level of defaults by buyers.
“It is indeed a challenging time, given the economy,” said Christian Hempell, who will direct the new Holiday Inn timeshare brand as vice president of Holiday Inn Club Vacations.
He said the market for timeshares “seems to be very, very resilient,” however.
IHG stressed that its deal with Orange Lake requires no capital investment. Orange Lake will continue to own, operate and develop its four timeshare resorts, all of which are included in the deal.
Orange Lake, which has more than 120,000 owners, has seen 20 percent sales growth this year without a jump in default rates, he said.
Holiday Inn Club Vacations will launch in December 2008 with Orange Lake’s 2,412 villa property in Orlando, Fla. The 1,400-acre resort is next to Walt Disney World Resort.
Later, Orange Lake’s three smaller resorts in Vermont, Wisconsin and Panama City, Fla., will convert to the Holiday Inn brand. ” (via finance.yahoo.com) by Kristen A. Lee
Pointswizard.com Spin: Read more about Holiday Inn brand enters the timeshare business
