Desties

Sidestep the penging merger delays for a moment.

Don't you think that if the companies were close to wrapping this up that they would have successfully negotiated for the UltimateEscapes.com domain by now? Even the less attractive Ultimate-Escapes.com is taken (each one by someone in Great Britain, though not related apparently).

Is this a sign that the deal is shaky, that the domain owner is asking for too much, or that the companies may decide to simply adopt one company name or the other? Private Escapes is the first club -- and second entry -- that comes up when you Google the term Destination Clubs (and kudos to DC4MS for getting this site now to the #4 slot). It would be a shame to lose that kind of natural Web traffic (Ultimate is no slouch, ranking 6th).

Kagehitokiri

yeah, thats why i thought they would go with PE >
Affluence Study Focuses on Destination Clubs, Private Residence Clubs | Helium Report - Luxury 2.0 Guides and Reviews
discussion of name on TUG >
Private Escapes and Ultimate Resorts to Merge - Page 3 - Timeshare Users Group Online Community Forums

i dont really view this as a sign of anything major.

Desties

Yes.

I keep wondering, though. If the two clubs continue to have their financing snags -- with the markets not any steadier now -- can't they just combine the properties without having to go through with a physical merger. Each club can set up an earlier booking window within each resort's homes, but still have all of the homes available to market between the clubs (similar to Disney Vacation Club, where the buyers of that particular resort have priority for their home property).

That would pretty much solve the problems that most seem to point to. That UR members are getting the short end of the deal because PE's terms are more generous or that PE members are getting the short end of the deal because most of UR members never paid a deposit (i.e. - T&H bailout members).

Steamboat Bill

That is a fantastic idea and shows you are thinking out of the box.

As a DVC owner, I can say for sure, that DVC is extremely flexible and fair. In fact, I would say the DVC points based system and extra 4 months home priority to book your home resort are among the "most fair" of any timeshare or destination club reservation systems I have ever seen.

vineyarder

Interesting - I just a rumor yesterday that a solution like this was either in development or under consideration, with an announcement expected soon...

Desties

That would be cool, though I don't know if the clubs would be comfortable raising their rates -- as both have indicated on their sites -- under this quasi kind of arrangement.

I'm sure it could work in the near-term. I guess determining the revenue share would be the tricky part (i.e. - without a merger, how much would UR get when a PE member books a UR property and vice versa).

If a UR member books a PE property it would be pretty simple since the amount per night being paid is a fixed number (dividing the annual dues by the total nights per year) but it would be a little less tangible the other way around, given the the varying amount of nights claimed on the PE side.

Either way, I guess it would be a solid Band-Aid solution until the real deal is ironed out, though I wonder about the implications of a deal like this if the merger itself doesn't pan out.

LTTravel

I would guess that this is not going to go through till the summer, though they say it may be as early as late April. I was surprised, however, how quickly the Ventures Equity purchase was completed. That went pretty smoothly. Hopefully, they will be able to complete this deal soon. As discussed in other threads, if it doesn't, it won't be a good sign.

Desties

Well, it was just six homes to absorb into the Ultimate bloodstream. Perhaps more importantly, existing Ventures Equity members probably had to adapt to the UR terms.

The PE/UR union has so many other moving parts, that NOT honoring existing members under their original terms would be devastating in terms of defections.

Kagehitokiri

FYI - LRW members lost unlimited use when it was acquired by Q.

LTTravel

I think that was a different situation because LRW was purchased by Quintess. UR and PE are merging. I don't know which is stronger but they are both strong. It would be difficult to take away benefits from one of the two members.