Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. is an American multinational hospitality company that manages and franchises a broad portfolio of hotels, resorts, and timeshare properties. Founded by Conrad Hilton in May 1919, the company is now led by Christopher J. Nassetta. Hilton is headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, United States.
A timeshare is a property with a divided form of ownership or use rights. These properties are typically resort condominium units, in which multiple parties hold rights to use the property, and each owner of the same accommodation is allotted their period of time. Units may be sold as a partial ownership, lease, or "right to use", in which case the latter holds no claim to ownership of the property. The ownership of timeshare programs is varied, and has been changing over the decades.
The Disney Vacation Club (DVC) is a vacation timeshare program owned and operated by Disney Vacation Development, Inc., a subsidiary of Disney Signature Experiences, a division of Disney Experiences, a segment of The Walt Disney Company. It allows buying a real estate interest in a DVC resort via a flexible points-based membership system. There are an estimated 220,000 club members.
The Legends Resort & Country Club, often called simply Legends, was a hotel located on County Route 517 in Vernon Township in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. In the 1970s, Hugh Hefner built the facility as The Great Gorge Playboy Club Hotel, and it officially opened in 1972. The Playboy Club was sold in 1982 to the Americana Hotel franchise. The hotel was sold again to the Seasons Investment Corp. and reopened in 1991 as the Seasons Resort and Conference Center. The property was sold yet again to parent-company Metairie Corp, which reopened the hotel as the Legends Resort & Country Club. The hotel declined severely after 2000 and has been nearly derelict with the amenities all damaged and shut down. The hotel did stay open but mostly housed recipients since about 2005. After evicting long term tenants, the hotel finally closed to public operations in April 2018 with various plans to restore it for commercial use of some sort.
Destination clubs, or vacation clubs, or travel clubs, is a concept within the leisure industry introduced in 1998, when Rob McGrath, a veteran of the luxury time share development business, launched Private Retreats. Members pay a membership deposit and annual dues to join and access the club’s properties. Since then, more than 30 companies have launched clubs targeting affluent families that want the benefits of second home ownership, but with more flexibility and choice in where they vacation each year. The use of a portfolio of high-end homes in resort destinations is said to be preferred by its members over access to a single golf course alone as appears to be the case with country clubs. Destination clubs are said to be ideal for the individual seeking variety and enjoy the thrill of visiting different locations. The world's largest destination club still in operation is said to be Inspiratowith American Express.
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc. is an American hotel company based in Parsippany, New Jersey, United States. It describes itself as the largest hotel franchisor in the world, with 9,280 locations. It has a portfolio of 20 hotel brands, including Baymont, Days Inn, Howard Johnson, La Quinta, Ramada, Super 8, Travelodge, and Wyndham.
ILG, Inc. is an American timeshare company and a subsidiary of Marriott Vacations Worldwide. It was formerly a subsidiary of the corporation IAC. ILG is the parent company of Interval International, a provider of membership and leisure services to the vacation industry. ILG consists of two operating segments: membership and exchange. ILG's principal business segment offers travel and leisure related products and services to owners of vacation interests and others primarily through various membership programs, as well as related services to resort developer clients. As of December 31, 2012, nearly 2,800 resorts located in over 75 countries participated in Interval's primary exchange network. As of that date, the Membership and Exchange segment had approximately two million members enrolled in its various membership programs including approximately 1.8 million in the Interval Network. The biggest competitors for Interval are RCI, and Platinum Interchange. Interval is the second largest timeshare exchange company after RCI.
Westgate Resorts is an American timeshare resort company founded by David A. Siegel in 1982.
Marriott Vacation Club is the primary timeshare brand of Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation. The brand comprises around 70 Marriott Vacation Club properties throughout the United States, Caribbean, Central America, Europe, and Asia. Marriott Vacation Club resorts consist of one, two, and three-bedroom villas, with more than 400,000 owners.
Travel + Leisure Co. is an American timeshare company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. It develops, sells, and manages timeshare properties under several vacation ownership clubs, including Club Wyndham and WorldMark by Wyndham, and provides timeshare exchange services, primarily through RCI.
Trading Places International (TPI) is a corporation located in Lake Forest, California. TPI provides a full spectrum of vacation services to vacation interval owners, resort associations, and resort developers. They rank third worldwide in independent vacation exchanges confirmed annually at hundreds of resorts. The company specializes in association and resort management, vacation exchanges, rentals, owner resales, traditional travel, and developer support offerings.
Hilton Grand Vacations Inc. is a multi-national company that is based in Orlando, Florida, United States. It manages and operates the Hilton Worldwide timeshare and vacation ownership brands under an exclusive licensing agreement with Hilton Worldwide. HGV was formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of Hilton Worldwide until it was spun off into a publicly traded company in 2017. Even though HGV is an independent company post spin-off, Hilton Worldwide still retains full ownership of the Hilton Grand Vacation Club, Hilton Vacation Club, and Hilton Club brands that HGV manages and operates for them. These timeshare brands are all part of Hilton Worldwide's portfolio of 22 hotel and resort brands.
Club Mahindra is the flagship brand of Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited (MHRIL), an Indian Hospitality company founded in 1996. It is a part of the Leisure and Hospitality sector of the Mahindra Group and provides family holidays on a timeshare basis. MHRIL offers family holidays primarily through vacation ownership memberships for over a period of 25/10 years.
Banfield Pet Hospital is a privately owned company based in Vancouver, Washington, United States, that operates veterinary clinics. Part of the Mars Inc. family of companies, Banfield owns clinics in the United States, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. Founded in 1955, the company operates many of its 1,000 plus clinics inside PetSmart stores. Banfield is the largest privately owned veterinary practice in the United States. On April 2, 2014, Banfield Pet Hospital announced its headquarters would be relocating to Vancouver, Washington, from nearby Portland, Oregon.
Royal Holiday Club is a vacation club membership operator and resort developer based in Mexico offering points-based vacation ownership.
Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation is a pure-play public timeshare company. Formerly a division of Marriott International, Marriott Vacations Worldwide was established as a separate, publicly traded entity focusing primarily on vacation ownership in November 2011. Marriott Vacations Worldwide runs more than 120 resorts with over 700,000 Owners and Members. Its brands include Marriott Vacation Club, Marriott Vacation Club Pulse, Grand Residences by Marriott, and The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club. The Company also operates Interval International, which offers an exchange network and travel membership programs through a network of more than 3,200 affiliated resorts in over 90 countries and territories.
Magic Holidays is a brand belonging to Panoramic Holidays Ltd. (PHL). PHL is a timeshare company, part of Panoramic Group. It was founded in 2009 to provide holidays on a timeshare basis. Magic Holidays has over 37 hotels & resorts in India and abroad. In 2013, it was reported that the company is working towards building and acquiring additional resorts around the world. Magic Holidays is an affiliate of Resorts Condominium International (RCI), the largest timeshare vacation exchange network in the world. Magic Holidays has access to properties in more than 103 countries.
Vida Vacations is a vacation membership company, which allows its customers to purchase a Right to Use and, more recently, a real estate interest in 15 resorts in Mexico. It was founded in 2010 by Grupo Vidanta, and was originally named "Vida Vacation Club". Before that, in the 1990s it was called Vidafel and sold only timeshares. The total number of rooms is approximately 7,000.
Christel DeHaan was a German-American businesswoman and philanthropist who was the owner of Resort Condominiums International and the founder of Christel House International.
