Interesting dynamics and obfuscation of industries as the mega timeshare resort owner Wyndham Destinations announced this week that it has:
1) Acquired Travel + Leisure magazine, which was owned by publisher Meredith.
2) Will change the name of its business to Travel + Leisure Co.
The $100 million deal is fascinating, to say the least, inasmuch as the 230 resort and 18 travel club owner will operate the iconic T+L media business as an “enhancement” to its timeshare business. This is interesting and innovative if not somewhat discomforting to ponder. Will the magazine and editorial content become primarily a vehicle for positioning Wyndham properties, locations, and future businesses above others and disregard unbiased reporting. Unquestionably the answer is yes.
Wyndham Hawaii
Wyndham appears to own/operate twenty-five Hawaii properties according to their website. Those include seven on the Big Island, three on Maui, eleven on Kauai and four in Honolulu.
We may cancel our Travel + Leisure subscription. Or wait and see. What about you?
The company said the media portion would be operated by Meredith for the next 30 years, in a royalty-free agreement, whatever that means. The current employees are expected to remain, as will the magazine’s editor.
As you may recall, Amex originated Travel + Leisure, which was previously operated by Time Magazine. It went to Meredith in 2018. Also in 2018, Wyndham hotels were spun off, although some relationship aspects still exist, including the hotel company’s rewards program.
Meredith is the No. 1 magazine operator in the U.S.A.
Its brands include People, Better Homes & Gardens, InStyle, Allrecipes, Real Simple, Shape, Southern Living, and Martha Stewart Living. So how did Wyndham get mixed up in all of this? Read below, and it is “real simple.”
Legacy media outlets are extremely challenged financially without any clear future.
Media outlets are becoming an interesting and relatively inexpensive marketing extension play for travel giants. As Wyndham said, it will use “The brand we acquired from Meredith to expand our addressable market.”
Now, this quote from Wyndham is clear as mud. See if you can get through it without skimming. It took effort. If this is an idea of their writing, the magazine is in trouble.
“Over the past 18 months, we have laid the foundation to expand our footprint beyond our core vacation ownership business, and today we add one of the most trusted and influential brands in travel through the acquisition of Travel + Leisure. This iconic brand, along with its authoritative content and wide audience, will help accelerate and amplify the growth of new capital-light travel businesses and services, as we take the next step in expanding our reach within the global leisure travel industry… People viewed us as tied directly only to Wyndham Hotels and, therefore, if we were to go speak to other hospitality companies or other companies within travel and tourism, the question becomes, ‘Do I want my brand and Wyndham; is it a good fit?’ — Michael Brown, president/CEO of Wyndham Destinations.
The times are changing. What do you make of this?
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I own 2 timeshares through Wyndham. When doing exchanges of your expiring points (your use year is 1 year) to RCI, they charge exorbitant fees of $239 per exchange, whether it is for all your points or a small amount. I am doing this with the click of the mouse online, yet they charge me $239 for doing nothing during the exchange. This exchange extends the time of use by 2 years. Certain people get charged housekeeping fees on top of this. Then when you show up at their resorts, you are hit with a bait and switch at check-in. They have you go to a separate counter to pick up your parking pass, where they hit you up to attend what they call “an owner update meeting”, which is their term for “a sales pitch for selling you another timeshare”. We have been dealing with them for 30 years, and just hearing the word ” Wyndham” immediately turns me off.
Canceled my “Travel and Leisure” subscription when I first heard about this. That’s after being an Amex Gold or Platinum account holder for 35+ years.
Do they allow Loud Laughing in Hawaii ? Or just “A Low Ha”
Can you say
MONOPOLY?
Sorry for the caps, just left flummoxed by the happenings.
Thank you Beat of Hawai’i.
You’re the cats meow 🌺😅
Hi Pam.
Interesting for sure and it won’t be the last of these deals. Have a great weekend.
Aloha.
Hi Pam, I agree with you. Monopoly???? How do they get away with all of it??
It sounds to me like Meredith (a publishing company) sold “Travel + Leisure” (magazine) to Wyndham Destinations (a timeshare company) for $100 million because Meredith needed to convert an asset (the T + L magazine) into cash to continue to run its other struggling legacy magazine assets.
Meanwhile Wyndham Destinations found the marketplace confusing their compny with another completely different company sharing the same brand (Wyndham hotels) and wanted to differentiate itself through a re-branding move. Wyndham Destinations decided to pay $100 million for the T + L brand but, because Wyndham Destinations does not know how to operate a magazine, they contracted for 30 years with Meredith to continue to do what Meredith knows how to do: operate a magazine named “Travel + Leisure magazine” for the newly named “Travel + Leisure Co.”
Problems solved for both parties – Meredith has cash going forward, while the former Wyndham Destinations has a well-respected brand as their company name going forward.
Will definitely be canceling my subscription. I have enjoyed travel and Leisure magazine for years. I definitely have no interest in paying for an advertising vehicle for Wyndham time share.
Wyndham also owns RCI, the largest Timeshare Exchange company in the world. It makes sense for them to also own a travel magazine as well. We own two timeshares and use the RCI Network for exchanges when not going to our home resorts.