Hilton Grand Vacations To Buy Bluegreen Vacations

The vacation ownership company Hilton Grand Vacations has agreed to acquire Bluegreen Vacations Corporation in a $1.5 billion deal, both companies announced today, November 6, 2023.

“Bluegreen Vacations … boasts key lead-generating strategic partnerships that will broaden our reach and diversify our tour flow,” Mark Wang, President and CEO of Hilton Grand Vacations, said in a press release.

HGV would pay $75 a share for Bluegreen, which has agreed to the buyout. It’s unlikely that antitrust regulators will weigh in, since the sale is to be all in cash and wouldn’t make big waves in terms of stock prices.

Here’s what you should know.

HGV Gets a Lot Bigger

The deal means the Orlando, Florida-based Hilton Inc. spinoff will add 48 resorts to its current portfolio of about 150 locations worldwide, along with 200,000 members to its current membership of around 525,000.

Despite the name, Hilton Grand Vacations is a separate company from the more familiar Hilton Hotels & Resorts. Hilton spun off Hilton Grand Vacations in 2016 but allows the latter to keep using the Hilton name under a licensing agreement.

Boca Raton, Florida-based Bluegreen started off developing golf-course and residential communities but switched its focus to the vacation ownership business about a decade ago. In contrast to how it works with traditional timeshare companies, Bluegreen members redeem Vacation Points for stays at Bluegreen- or partner-owned resorts, instead of buying partial ownership of a specific unit in a resort.

Bluegreen has also long had a partnership with Choice Hotels in which Bluegreen members can use Vacation Points to book stays at Choice properties and get bonuses when signing up for Choice Privileges. You can’t, however, simply transfer Bluegreen Vacation Points to Choice Privileges.

It wasn’t immediately clear how the buyout would affect the Choice Hotels partnership or how Bluegreen Vacation Points would be converted to HGV’s own currency, ClubPoints.

Though HGV members can convert ClubPoints to Hilton Honors points at a ratio of 1:25, the HGV ClubPoints system is distinct and unrelated to the Hilton Honors loyalty program.

Those who have attended HGV sales presentations have sometimes described them as high-pressure, though some have walked away with worthwhile rewards just for listening for 2 hours.

Final Thoughts

HGV’s purchase of Bluegreen could open up a lot of new vacation destinations for people who hold points in either timeshare company, potentially including Choice Hotels stays. It could also mean it’ll get harder to say no to HGV’s persuasive salespeople.