Speculation Feeds the Rumor Mill Following the Marriott Split Announcement March 1, 2011
Posted by John Stephens in : Marriott Timeshares, News & Events , add a commentA recent visit to the Caribbean island of St. Kitts by Marriott International CEO Bill Marriott, Jr. would normally have gone unnoticed if it were not for the great Internet Age that we live in. And because of that little announcement Marriott made a couple of weeks ago, something about a split you may have heard about?
That announcement of the spin-off of Marriott’s timeshare division continues to send shockwaves throughout the hospitality industry. So much so that, according to the St. Kitts & Nevis Observer, Mr. Marriott made a special visit to St. Kitts about 10 days ago regarding the company’s hotel and timeshare resorts on the island.
According to the newspaper, “during his one-day visit to St. Kitts, Bill Marriott expressed confidence in the island’s tourism product and indicated a willingness to expand the brand. He toured the Christophe Harbour Development on the South East Peninsula, accompanied by Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil and other government officials.”
“We have a good team here [visiting] and a great hotel, and it has been successful and we want to do more here. We hope we can do a Ritz-Carlton sometime,” the legendary hotelier said. “You have great potential here. You have lovely people, beautiful climate.”
Why would Marriott even need to consider making the trip? Rumors began to circulate that Marriott was considering pulling its brand from the resorts, which touched off wild speculation online by timeshare owners concerned that such a move would lead to plummeting timeshare values. While Mr. Marriott’s visit and subsequent comments appeared to quell this speculation, just the mere possibility of such a discussion touched off such a firestorm that people were blogging online even before the visit took place.
This shows just how nervous Marriott timeshare owners are about the announcement and it got me thinking – what if such deliberations are actually taking place at the Marriott corporate compound in Bethesda, Md.?
Name changes in the corporate world happen often, but Marriott has been such an iconic brand name for so many years that the ripple effect could be enormous. On our First Annual Buyer’s Choice List for 2011, 11 of the top 20 most sought-after timeshare resorts were Marriott branded resorts, so the demand for Marriott timeshare is strong.
Would Marriott even consider pulling its name from its timeshare division? Only time will tell, but on the surface it doesn’t seem like a good move. Good brand recognition takes years to develop and can be worth billions of dollars if done right. In Marriott’s case, it was done in spectacular fashion and they are clearly the market leader, so devaluing their product in such an unnecessary way just doesn’t make good business sense. They have bigger fish to fry, like dealing with the approximately $1.5 billion worth of unsold inventory on the market.
Marriott timeshare still provides some of the best vacation value in the world, and you can find great deals on Marriott inventory by clicking onto the BuyaTimeshare.com website here.