# Interval buys VRI



## krj9999 (Feb 29, 2012)

Not sure of best forum to post, but saw this headline:

Interval Leisure Group (ILG) (Nasdaq: IILG) today announced that it has acquired Vacation Resorts International (VRI). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 

"With the acquisition of VRI and ILG's existing management interests, Interval Leisure Group becomes the largest independent provider of resort and homeowner association management services to the shared ownership industry. ILG companies now deliver these services to more than 180 timeshare resort and club locations and 325,000 owner families," said Craig M. Nash, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Interval Leisure Group. "The purchase supports our strategic focus on asset-light, fee-for-service businesses and further positions us as a leading source for shared ownership management and membership expertise."


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## vacationhopeful (Feb 29, 2012)

I wonder WHAT will happen with VRI internal trading platform? 

I wonder if this is going to mess up my RCI Points accounts at my VRI resorts.

I wonder if this is going to make it better to trade from VRI resorts in Marriotts and Sheratons?

I KNOW this will INCREASE fees as a asset-free but revenue generator for II.


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## Carol C (Feb 29, 2012)

krj9999 said:


> Not sure of best forum to post, but saw this headline:
> 
> Interval Leisure Group (ILG) (Nasdaq: IILG) today announced that it has acquired Vacation Resorts International (VRI). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
> 
> "With the acquisition of VRI and ILG's existing management interests, Interval Leisure Group becomes the largest independent provider of resort and homeowner association management services to the shared ownership industry. ILG companies now deliver these services to more than 180 timeshare resort and club locations and 325,000 owner families," said Craig M. Nash, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Interval Leisure Group. "The purchase supports our strategic focus on asset-light, fee-for-service businesses and further positions us as a leading source for shared ownership management and membership expertise."



No wonder II has given Foxrun such strong trade power in recent years. They must have been priming the pump to enhance some of the value in VRI timeshare properties. Btw, is Craig Nash the same Craig from Interval who used to have a forum and answer questions on TUG?


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## chalee94 (Feb 29, 2012)

hope this doesn't mean higher MFs.

not optimistic...


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## stanleyu (Feb 29, 2012)

this is truly amazing - VRI has been very closely linked to RCI. Hard to believe this is going over to Intervals. We just converted to RCI Points. OUCH!!


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## e.bram (Feb 29, 2012)

Probably means II is getting into the management business like Wynhdam/RCI. Maybe II points conversions in VRI managed resorts. Right now Wtndham/RCI is eating VRI's lunch.


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## Passepartout (Feb 29, 2012)

This will be an interesting development. Crap! Now I'll have to start paying attention to all those II posts to figure out how to use it. Not to mention that there's little doubt that MFs are arisin'.

Think I'll go on vacation now.

Wake me when it's settled down.

Jim


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## malonem68 (Feb 29, 2012)

Well that gets me worried about MF's and trading power.  Hopefully not too much changes and they are just looking for the existing cash flow.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Feb 29, 2012)

e.bram said:


> Maybe II points conversions in VRI managed resorts. Right now Wtndham/RCI is eating VRI's lunch.



How so??? 

It appears to me that VRI is doing quite nicely.  They are the pretty much the premier management property for non-developer controlled resorts.  They continue to grow and add resorts to the portfolio of sites that they manage.

RCIM, the arm of RCI that provides management services, in contrast appears to be the one sucking wind.  The only management contracts they seem to be able to bring in are for captive RCI resorts.


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## timeos2 (Feb 29, 2012)

As the affiliation(s) with RCI/II are resort based not Management based the change should have zero effect on that. It may mean there will be a push to dual affiliate any RCI only VRI resorts with II - always a good thing to have options - and maybe a slightly tougher time for any II only VRI resort to decide to add RCI (but I'm not even sure any II only VRI resorts exist). 

Hopefully this will mean an even stronger VRI with more financial backing.  Time will tell. II had no management arm so VRI will be it.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Feb 29, 2012)

link to news story:

Interval Leisure Group Acquires Vacation Resorts International

Here's a part that I found interesting:



> The company’s primary business segment is Membership and Exchange, which offers travel and leisure-related products and services to approximately 2 million member families who are enrolled in various programs. Interval International, the segment’s principal business, has been a leader in vacation ownership exchange for 35 years. With offices in 15 countries, it operates the Interval Network of more than 2,600 resorts in over 75 nations. ILG delivers additional opportunities for vacation ownership exchange through its Trading Places International (TPI) and Preferred Residences networks.
> 
> ILG also has a Management and Rental business segment that includes Aston Hotels & Resorts and TPI. These businesses provide hotel, condominium resort, timeshare resort, and homeowners’ association management, as well as vacation rental services, to travelers and property owners at more than 60 locations in North America.


I did not realize that Trading Places was owned by Interval.  All these years I've been thinking of TPI as an independent exchange company that also provided some management services.

Things begins to drop into place a bit more now for me.

VRI used to be closely linked to RCI, but when they set up VRI*ety exchange they choose TPI to actual operate the exchange system.  So it appears that II and VRI have actually been working together for quite a few years now, through the TPI relationship.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Feb 29, 2012)

timeos2 said:


> Time will tell. II had no management arm so VRI will be it.


Per my note above, and the quote from the article, that apparently isn't true.


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## tschwa2 (Feb 29, 2012)

TPI, Trading Places International, was also acquired and TPI both manages a dozen or so resorts and has an exchange platform.  They have said over and over that nothing would change.  Anyone own at a resort they manage?  Has there been any changes?


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## theo (Feb 29, 2012)

*Say WHAT now? (...or, "why is my 'ignore' function not working"?)*



e.bram said:


> Right now Wyndham/RCI is eating VRI's lunch.



A truly absurd and baffling non-sequitor of a statement --- at best...  

VRI currently (successfully and profitably) manages about 130 resorts in the U.S., thus far without any of the corporate / ownership relationship complexities or gyrations such as exist between Wyndham and RCI.

These are, quite simply stated, two very different entities with entirely diffferent corporate structures and objectives; certainly neither one has been (nor is now) eyeing, sharing (...or eating) the other's lunch.


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## pedro47 (Feb 29, 2012)

Will this mean that all VRI resorts will now be part of II for exhange purposes ?


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## theo (Feb 29, 2012)

*Only time will tell...*



pedro47 said:


> Will this mean that all VRI resorts will now be part of II for exhange purposes ?



Methinks it would be premature speculation to guess on any future procedural changes. After all, the acquisition itself has only just been announced and even those details are likely not yet fully concluded...


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Feb 29, 2012)

pedro47 said:


> Will this mean that all VRI resorts will now be part of II for exhange purposes ?


They already are, since all of them trade through TPI.


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## aandmrun (Feb 29, 2012)

*Own Timeshares in these managing companies*

We own timeshares associated with both, Trading Places and VRI.  What I like about these management companies is that we do not currently pay a membership fee.  If we own a resort with their management, and use it every year (as we do), there are no charges.  We also belong to II, for which we pay a membership and use for trading our Marriott Property.  
I hope that this will all remain the same.


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## timeos2 (Feb 29, 2012)

theo said:


> Methinks it would be premature speculation to guess on any future procedural changes. After all, the acquisition itself has only just been announced and even those details are likely not yet fully concluded...



It just happened that I was scheduled to be in Irvine, CA to meet with VRI at their headquarters today.  I heard fro the top that the RCI / II / TPI / VRI*ETY relationship, as well as dual affiliation at all resorts, will not be changing. It was a key to the process.  They really believe this will be a change for the good and I have every reason to believe it will be true.


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## dundey (Mar 1, 2012)

pedro47 said:


> Will this mean that all VRI resorts will now be part of II for exhange purposes ?



I believe they already are.  At least I know that the 2 VRI resorts I own have always been dually affiliated with both II and RCI.  VRI resorts used to get a discount for exchanging into other RCI properties, as well as an internal preference into other VRI managed resorts through RCI weeks exchange.  Both benefits disappeared when RCI went to TPU's for their week based trades.

Since then I've traded through II, and have seen a big improvement over what I can trade into.  As a matter of fact I just got a Marriott in Orlando for Thanksgiving week.  I know its Orlando, but I would have needed about 30 TPU's to trade into Sheraton Vistana that same week through RCI.  I could have gotten a 2 BR at the Sheraton through II but chose the Marriott instead.

It will be interesting to see if they maintain both Vari-ety and TPI exchange systems.  Does not seem to make too much sense to do so, especially with the 2 being intergrated not that long ago.


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## DaveNV (Mar 1, 2012)

tschwa2 said:


> TPI, Trading Places International, was also acquired and TPI both manages a dozen or so resorts and has an exchange platform.  They have said over and over that nothing would change.  Anyone own at a resort they manage?  Has there been any changes?




I own MROP, which is managed by VRI.  They are vehemently insistent that MROP is not owned by VRI, just that VRI handles the management of MROP.  Okay... The VRI website is hosted by TPI.  They are insistent that VRI is not owned by TPI, just that their website is hosted on TPI servers.  Okay...  So then my last exchange confirmation of an MROP week deposited to VRI said it was a week provided by SFX.  Really?

Confused?  Me too.  I'll be curious to see how this II thing sorts itself out.

Dave


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Mar 1, 2012)

BMWguynw said:


> I own MROP, which is managed by VRI.  They are vehemently insistent that MROP is not owned by VRI, just that VRI handles the management of MROP.  Okay... The VRI website is hosted by TPI.  They are insistent that VRI is not owned by TPI, just that their website is hosted on TPI servers.  Okay...  So then my last exchange confirmation of an MROP week deposited to VRI said it was a week provided by SFX.  Really?
> 
> Confused?  Me too.  I'll be curious to see how this II thing sorts itself out.
> 
> Dave


Dave - I'm not quite sure what you're saying here, so let me check.

I think you're saying that you deposited your MROP week into VRI*ety and got an exchange for that MROP week.  And it was the exchange week that you pulled out of the pool that said it was a week provided by SFX.  Is that correct?

If that's correct then there's an easy probably explanation.  All of the smaller exchange companies swap inventory when they're trying to fill an exchange request.  So it's very likely that there was a week in the TPI system that VRI wanted.  So TPI gave that week to SFX in exchange for a week in the SFX pool.  And you were the person who got that week that SFX provided.


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## LLW (Mar 1, 2012)

Carol C said:


> Btw, is Craig Nash the same Craig from Interval who used to have a forum and answer questions on TUG?



No, that was Craig Urbine. (I also checked Nash's bio to make sure that he didn't just change last name.  )


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## chalee94 (Mar 1, 2012)

dundey said:


> Since then I've traded through II, and have seen a big improvement over what I can trade into.  As a matter of fact I just got a Marriott in Orlando for Thanksgiving week.  I know its Orlando, but I would have needed about 30 TPU's to trade into Sheraton Vistana that same week through RCI.  I could have gotten a 2 BR at the Sheraton through II but chose the Marriott instead.



i know my VRI resort has primarily steered owners toward RCI in the past, which meant most of the deposits went to RCI.  since there was a smaller supply of lake lure, NC deposits in II compared to RCI, it would make sense that II valued the lake lure deposits more highly.

if the VRI resorts start pushing II membership, it might change that balance.

we'll see how it goes...


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## DaveNV (Mar 1, 2012)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> Dave - I'm not quite sure what you're saying here, so let me check.
> 
> I think you're saying that you deposited your MROP week into VRI*ety and got an exchange for that MROP week.  And it was the exchange week that you pulled out of the pool that said it was a week provided by SFX.  Is that correct?
> 
> If that's correct then there's an easy probably explanation.  All of the smaller exchange companies swap inventory when they're trying to fill an exchange request.  So it's very likely that there was a week in the TPI system that VRI wanted.  So TPI gave that week to SFX in exchange for a week in the SFX pool.  And you were the person who got that week that SFX provided.



Yes, Steve, that was how it worked out.  I did it all over the phone.  The first/only time I saw SFX in the mix was on the printed confirmation I got.  I only brought it up in reply to tschwa2's question.  Just seems like a lot of different cooks in the kitchen here.  I'm not looking for any trouble, and hope this II thing doesn't cause any.  

Dave


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