Wyndham Shares Plunge, Marriot Lay Offs

We've been rigorously tracking the effects of the current economic downslide here at the Timeshare Relief blog. Back in August we reported that Wyndham published signs of a slump. Now the Forbes headline reads a full-on plunge:

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/10/06/ap5515025.html


Shares of Wyndham Worldwide Corp. plunged with the broader market on Monday after the hotel company announced changes to its timeshare business and restructuring charges.
Indeed, and the effect on earnings will only be ascertained after the quarter's end. What changes can we expect? One humorous comment on the article suggests that Wyndham will be taking refrigerators out of their timeshare rooms and replacing them with mini bars...

Wyndham plans to refocus its timeshare business beginning in the fourth quarter. The Parsippany, N.J.-based company will shift its sales and marketing efforts to consumers with higher credit quality and cut back on timeshare development.

So, in other words, we can expect more timeshare resales...

Wyndham said its timeshare business "performed well" in the third quarter with slight year-over-year gains in sales, tours, and volume per guest. The company said its consumer finance portfolio also continues to perform within expectations.
But the 4th?

Wyndham's stock has dropped more than 20 percent since Marriott International Inc. (nyse: MAR - news - people ) said Thursday that its timeshare sales have dried up amid the tight credit market and cutbacks in business and consumer spending.

Indeed, and the stock market's nervous activity in the last week certainly will not assist this.

Marriot has problems of its own:

http://www.etravelblackboardasia.com/article.asp?id=56113&nav=109

"Marriot Profit Plummets in Uncertain Times"
Marriott adds that its profits in 2009 will be difficult to predict in this current economic instability.


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