Travel + Leisure has filed plans with Orange County, Florida to develop a resort in the Walt Disney World area. Yes, that Travel + Leisure.
I was confused when I read the headlines and wondered why a travel magazine/website would get into the hotel business. I was surprised by what I discovered when I dug a little deeper.
In 2018, Wyndham spun off its Hotels & Resorts division as a separate company and rebranded the timeshare part as Wyndham Destinations.
In 2021, Wyndham Destinations purchased Travel + Leisure and kept the name of the acquired company.
Here’s where things get more confusing.
After the acquisition, the timeshare part of the original company is now called Travel + Leisure. It includes all the timeshare assets (including Wyndham Destinations and RCI) and the Travel + Leisure brand.
While separate, Travel + Leisure (which includes Wyndham Destinations) has long-term exclusive license agreements with Wyndham Rewards, which is run by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
So that’s why Travel + Leisure filed plans with Orange County. They want to build a resort with 250 timeshare units and 350 hotel rooms. However, the land in question is just down the road from the Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek (owned by T+L) and the Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort (part of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.)
There’s also a Signia by Hilton, Waldorf Astoria and the JW Marriott, which opened in 2020, in the same Bonnet Creek development.
In summary, Wyndham Destinations, now a part of Travel + Leisure, is looking to develop a timeshare/hotel property that’s right down the street from one of its own Club Wyndham timeshares and a Wyndham Resort, which it no longer owns, but still has long term agreements with the Wyndham Rewards program.
Clear as mud.
This makes Marriott Bonvoy having three adjacent Disney hotels, one of them a Sheraton, another a Westin and the newest a part of the Autograph Collection, look practical in comparison.
As for the new resort, there’s no timeline for when work will begin. Travel & Leisure says they are considering other business uses for the property, which is why they are talking with Orange County officials.
We’ll have to wait to see what happens with this one.
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2 comments
Might be a prison!
Maybe they could partner with the state of Florida and build a combination resort and prison.