Revenue during 2019 was $215 million.Īt least one local hotelier says rebranding may be a good idea. The process of rebranding Welk Resorts will take up to nine months and total integration of the Welk and Hyatt Residence Club properties is expected by 2023, said Weisz.īy 2023, Marriott Vacations’ goal is to increase Welk’s 2019 sales by 20% to 30%. There is little overlap among the properties. Hyatt Residence Club will increase its number of units by 90% and grow its membership from 33,000 to 88,000. With Welk Resorts, the buyer will acquire 1,400 units (roughly half of them in San Diego County) and 55,000 members. In late 2019 and early 2020, Welk announced management contracts with several resorts including El Corazon de Santa Fe by Welk Resorts in Santa Fe, New Mexico as well as the Eagle Point Vacation Community in Vail, Colorado. Welk Resorts owns eight upscale resort locations in San Diego County Palm Springs Lake Tahoe Cabo San Lucas, Mexico Breckenridge, Colorado and Branson, Missouri. Selling the family owned resorts after 57 years is “bittersweet,” he said. That will end with a “great liquidity event for team members,” Fredricks also said. Some 12% of the company is held in an employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP. When the markets came back, the family decided it was a good time to sell, he said. There was a desire for a liquidity event, Fredricks said.Įarly in the pandemic, the debt and capital markets were doing poorly. BofA approached private equity firms, strategic buyers in the hospitality industry and other investors.Īs with many families, family members had a certain amount of net worth in the company, yet no cash or access to cash. The process began in August, said Fredricks. The Welk family selected its best offer after BofA Securities solicited buyers for the business. “They share the same values of excellence which makes this the perfect pairing to build on the foundation laid by the Welk team and generations of the Welk family.”įour generations of Welks have worked at the resort, he said. “We couldn’t be more excited for our Welk Resorts owners and team members to have MVW take us to this next chapter,” said Jon Fredricks, president and CEO of Welk Resorts, and the bandleader’s grandson.
Welk Resorts is one of the largest independent timeshare companies in North America. It is an attractive price, said Stephen Weisz, CEO of Marriott Vacations Worldwide, in a shareholder call. 26 that the publicly traded company would buy Welk Resorts for approximately $430 million. Marriott Vacations Worldwide (NYSE: VAC), which uses the Hyatt name under license, plans to close its acquisition of Welk Resorts during the second quarter. The family of television bandleader Lawrence Welk is selling eight properties - including its 450-acre, 714-unit timeshare luxury resort a few miles north of downtown Escondido - to a buyer that plans to rebrand the venues as Hyatt Residence Club resorts. The Welk Resorts name is taking its curtain call. Welk Resorts San Diego, which occupies 450 acres north of Escondido, will take on the Hyatt Residence Club name within a year.