I'm simply regurgitating what the Sr VP told me several months ago (that the deal was expected to close the 2nd week of June). So I'm only expecting people to be held to their word, nothing more. Personally, I'd rather see this take YEARS to complete as the longer it takes, the longer I know I'm safe from takeover shenanigans.
I am simply referencing the completion of the purchase, not the merger of the systems. Until the completion of the purchase is signed, this whole fiasco can still go down like the burning of Rome, something I would be happy to see.
Then get ready for disappointment. The chances they'd spend as much money so far and this deal going south are slim and his brother none.
Still, if you don't want change, you won't have to change. Anything guaranteed in writing from the original purchase will remain.
You're best bet is to blaze on as if nothing has happened and never attend another owners update as long as you own either group. That is unless you actually WANT to join whatever merged product eventually comes out of this, which will have a better chance of being a disappointment than anything exciting. The merger will, however, offer options. My suggestion would be, if you want to keep those options alive for future possibilities, once they're offered in writing at the initial outset, jump on it then. It will only get more complicated and expensive to join later on down the road if history proves anything.
You are so unlikely to lose any meaningful benefits currently in place that concern/worry is not warranted. HGVC has a very good fiscal responsibility for it's owners that DRI owners should be happy. One of the reasons we left DRI was how out of control they were with fee's while not providing equivalent quality. DRI fee's in Vegas were every bit as high as Marriot, but the percentage of cash going into reserves was pitiful and the quality was far below MVC.
My fear was that DRI management would gain control of HGVC and I'd see a skyrocketing MF, just like what drove us away from DRI. If that had happened, I would have been putting my HGVC ownership up for sale. Having been an elite owner with DRI and a standard owner with HGVC and understanding both management companies, I'm considerably happier with HGVC controlling the purse strings.
As far as an cross pollination between systems, it would be nice IMHO, but I'm not holding my breath nor holding onto my HGVC ownership with the hope I'll ever be able to book DRI resorts. If I were a DRI owner, except for some branding changes, I wouldn't expect to see much in the way of changes either.
Where I might have some worry is if I owned one of the lessor DRI resorts or was with a resort group only affiliated with DRI. I can see the possibility that previous affiliations ending and/or the resorts not to HGVC standards being spun off or management contracts sold to someone else. Possibly to a group less desirable the HGVC, which as a great reputation in the industry as well as with their owners.
en.wikipedia.org
