DC4MS

I noticed something interesting in the Wall Street Journal today.

Private Escapes had a 1/2 page ad in the travel section advertising the "Free" week on the La Buscadora and directly under it was a 1/4 page ad from Ultimate Escapes offering some other promotion that expires in May.

I just thought the two competing ads were strange considering that the merger should have been completed by now.

vineyarder

I agree that it seems strange, but the competition between the two companies has been especially heated during the pre-merger stage, as there is some sort of advantage to the company that sells more during the pre-merger period... So far, rumor has it that PE has outsold UR by a greater than 2:1 margin during this period...

Kagehitokiri

clearly there must be some impact in M&A negotiations..

any latest membership numbers?

vineyarder

I don't know about UR, but PE is now over 450... December 2007 was biggest sales month ever, and January very strong as well...

Steamboat Bill

Perhaps PE and HCC should discuss a merger rather than PE and UR.

3DH

...now there's an interesting concept!

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"Boutique" is better! Another extremely satisfied LUSSO member!

RAM

HCC is a great entry-level club, growing quickly and doing all of the right things, but I think the move to UR is about going upmarket. In the three PE tiers, the lowest tier won't be getting many -- if any -- new properties. It is the Pinnacle (which REALLY needs an injection) and Platinum that will be lining up with most of the UR homes.

HCC has many homes that would fit into the Premiere tier, but some may mandate the creation of a lower fourth tier (or leave existing PE Premiere members fuming about the initial deposit discrepancy). It would go against PE's actions in recent years to move up (with the creation of Platinum, and then more recently Pinnacle).

RAM

Tossing another conspiracy stone into the fire, there's an ad on Helium Report's DestinationClubs.org, pitching "Ultimate Resorts + Private Escapes" a click takes you to the UR landing page where there is nothing on the proposed merger.

I don't know if the UR page used to promote the merger (the ad has a unique ID which one would expect houses merger information at one time given how the ad itself is pitched). I see that the original September press release is still up on the landing page for PE.

Maybe UR just got tired of sending folks to PE once prospective members compared the two plans.

vineyarder

Correct - although that may be a reason for HCC and PE to pursue a merger IF the UR/PE goes well..

I don't think that PE Premiere members would feel that the HCC homes are of lower quality; IMHO they seem quite comparable... WRT the discrepancy in initial deposits, it must also be taken into consideration that PE members were/are buying into unlimited usage whereas HCC members are buying into specific nights/yr... and that PE members were/are buying into a very flexible reservation system that allows booking anywhere from 1 - 14 night stays, arriving and leaving on any night, with very few holiday restrictions...