You also have the benefit of their loyalty guest members and the economies of scale and buying power of Hyatt, which can negotiate much better rates with online travel agencies like Expedia.” “I’d say most young people don’t have a clue who Lawrence Welk was so getting the Hyatt Residence Club name opens up a lot more marketing opportunities and to a wider audience, so I think it’s a very smart move. “I think it is an old-time name and it appeals to a much older demographic,” said Reay, president of the Atlas Hospitality Group.

Marriott plans to “have Welk continue to sell its points-based club product until 2022 and by 2023 look at integrating that into one club system.” The deal increases the total number of Hyatt Residences owners by more than 150%. The company also owns inventory at other resort properties (“Experiences Collection by Welk Resorts”).īut the Welk name doesn’t mean what it once did, and rebranding is expected to take place over a 9 month period. And he built the portfolio into 8 timeshare resorts that included a property near Palm Springs, two in Lake Tahoe, as well as locations in Branson, Missouri Breckenridge, Colorado Santa Fe, New Mexico and Cabo San Lucas. He converted it into a timeshare 20 years later.

Shortly after the end of his TV show’s run, in the mid-1960s, Welk picked up his first resort property in Escondido, California – a mobile home park with motel, restaurant and 9-hole golf course. He also patented a musical restaurant menu, and accordion-themed ash tray and serving tray. In a sale expected to close in the second quarter, Marriott “says it plans to rebrand the Welk vacation resorts in California, Colorado, Missouri, New Mexico and Cabo San Lucas as Hyatt Residence Club properties.”īand leader and TV star Lawrence Welk became a real estate developer. And wait – there are Lawrence Welk hotels? How about Marriott Vacations controlling Hyatt’s timeshare portfolio? That’s something not a lot of people realize but gets a big exclamation point from Marriott Vacations Worldwide spending $430 million to acquire Welk Resorts to turn them into Hyatt Residenes properties. (We think of airline codesharing as a bit deceptive, United Airlines sells a flight with its flight number but you actually fly on Lufthansa. Of course that’s just one of a number of different arrangements.

Marriott sells the rooms, provides some standards, and takes a slice out of revenue. But timeshare brands are far, far stranger.Ī hotel might have the Marriott brand, but it’s most likely not actually owned by Marriott. The hotel business can be strange in many ways.

Lawrence welk golf