Grand Crowne Resorts Being Sold?

[Craig711]

I'm wondering if anyone has heard about the proposed sale of Surrey/Grand Crowne Resorts? Two press releases were issued about it in March, but I haven't found any mention of it on the company website or in the Branson papers or, most surprising, here on TUG. Are there any owners here who have been notified in any way?

If this is news to anyone, it basically goes like this (in a nutshell): A public company (pink sheets) called The X-Change Corp., based in Dallas, TX, announced on March 7 that they are buying Surrey Vacation Resorts (Grand Crowne Resorts). The terms of the acquisition will involve a change in control of the Company and the appointment of new directors.

In anticipation of closing the acquisition, on March 9 The X-Change Corp. issued another press release announcing the addition of John L. McGuire to its board of directors along with sales results for the first two months of 2011 of Surrey Vacation Resorts (that was interesting!).

Nothing in either press release had anything to say about who will actually run the company or manage the resorts. There have been no further press releases issued since then.

This is essentially a reverse merger, wherein The X-Change Corp. will change its name to Grand Crowne Resorts and GCR will thus become a publicly traded, pure play timeshare company. Theoretically at least, this would allow GCR to raise money for expansion.

The X-Change Corp. is kind of an odd company, if you ask me (which you didn't), and the bio of the President/CEO had me scratching my head. And I wonder if the sale will actually proceed and I wonder why GCR doesn't seem to have mentioned it, or why the news doesn't seem to have traveled very far, and...?

[JoeMO]

Craig,

I got the same emails that you did. My understanding was it was going from a privately held to a publicly traded company. I wondered if there was some good or bad reason behind it, but have not heard anymore than what you mentioned.

I guess we will be able to buy stock in the company that manages the "real estate" we own. Could be a good deal. I am staying at the resort Jul 4th week and plan to ask a lot of quesitons. Don't know if I can get any good answers, but will try.

Joe

[Craig711]

Originally Posted by JoeMO

Craig,

I got the same emails that you did. My understanding was it was going from a privately held to a publicly traded company. I wondered if there was some good or bad reason behind it, but have not heard anymore than what you mentioned.

I guess we will be able to buy stock in the company that manages the "real estate" we own. Could be a good deal. I am staying at the resort Jul 4th week and plan to ask a lot of quesitons. Don't know if I can get any good answers, but will try.

Joe

Yeah, if the deal goes through Grand Crowne will become a publicly traded company, which would qualify as a good reason I guess since they'd be able to raise capital that way. I'm wondering if current management, etc. will stay in place since the purchasing company appears to have no background in timeshare at all.

I hope you get some answers to your questions. Maybe the deal will be consumated by then and we'll get those answers that way!

[JoeMO]

I was at GC for the July 4th week. I had five units in all with lots of family at GC.

I asked about the sale when I was speaking with the elite owners rep, she said is was just a move to make it easier to obtain funding. She said it is easier to sell stock than get a loan in the current economic environment. She said the Mr Perme was still a large shareholder. I am sure that is not the whole story but does sound like it could be true. I also notice they elected new board members recently. I think that was related to the sale.

My stay was wonderful with only one complaint. They still did not have internet in the rooms. You had to go to the club house to get internet. I asked why and they said the company they had hired to provide internet service went out of business. They said they were fighting them to get refunds. That may be true but I still don't understand why they couldn't have another company provide the services. It was frustrating to not have internet.

On Monday that had picnic, entertainment and snippets of shows. I think it cost $2 a person. It was worth ten times that. That had a nice cookout with burger and hot dogs. The line was really long but the food was good. They had face painting, bounce house and other stuff for kids. There were a number of shows that came and did one song or something from their act. The fireworks at night were twice as good as I expected them to be. More like what you would see at a small city, not at a resort. The best part is that it was right of our balcony.

Overall I was very happy with the resort and out stay. Very glad I own there and am considering more.

Any information anyone has, please share.

Thanks,
Joe

[Craig711]

Joe --- my bad for not updating this, I should have come back with this info earlier. The following is from the Sept. 10 edition of Inside the Gate's timeshare blog, The GateHouse (full disclosure, I work for InsideTheGate.com, and I have permission to repost the whole blurb here):

MISSOURI:

BRANSON: Back in March I mentioned the impending sale of Surrey Vacation Resorts (Grand Crowne Resorts) to a company named X-Change Corporation. I mentioned it again a couple of weeks later because I was surprised that no one was talking about it. Then, in June, I brought it up AGAIN because I had grown skeptical about the whole things, especially about X-Change Corp.

I should have dug a little deeper. Look what I found in the SEC’s files for X-Change Corp:

So I guess that puts paid to THAT subject, doesn’t it? But doesn’t it seem like X-Change Corp. should have let a body know?

And does all this mean that C. J. Perme might be open to other offers if the deal was right? Is Surrey/Grand Crowne being shopped around?

So that's that, at least as far as a sale to X-Change Corp. is concerned. Again, sorry for not making this update sooner, especially since it was me who started this thread.

[JoeMO]

Craig711,

Thanks for the info! If I understand it, C.J. Perme could not get his creditors to go along with the deal, so the the sale is not going to happen. Is that how you understand it?

I also found these another related articles about Grand Crowne.
http://www.insidethegate.com/2011/09/trading-places-international-acquires-management-contracts-for-grand-crowne-resorts-in-branson-missouri/

http://www.insidethegate.com/2010/12/interval-leisure-group-acquires-trading-places-international/

I am having a little difficulty connecting the dots, so maybe someone can explain. It looks like Trading Places Internation is now managing Grand Crowne. Interval Leisure group owns Trading Places. I don't think Interval Leisue Group (IIL) has anything to do with II, but IIL competes with II. Why would they hire a competetor to the exchange company they use, to manaage their properties. Not implying there is anything sinister or unusual. I just noticed this articel and tried to trace it down. Maybe this is normal actions?

Just wanted to let everyone know what I found and hopfully someone has some more information or a better understanding.

Thanks,
Joe

[Craig711]

Originally Posted by JoeMO

Craig711,

Thanks for the info! If I understand it, C.J. Perme could not get his creditors to go along with the deal, so the the sale is not going to happen. Is that how you understand it?

I also found these another related articles about Grand Crowne.
http://www.insidethegate.com/2011/09/trading-places-international-acquires-management-contracts-for-grand-crowne-resorts-in-branson-missouri/

http://www.insidethegate.com/2010/12/interval-leisure-group-acquires-trading-places-international/

I am having a little difficulty connecting the dots, so maybe someone can explain. It looks like Trading Places Internation is now managing Grand Crowne. Interval Leisure group owns Trading Places. I don't think Interval Leisue Group (IIL) has anything to do with II, but IIL competes with II. Why would they hire a competetor to the exchange company they use, to manaage their properties. Not implying there is anything sinister or unusual. I just noticed this articel and tried to trace it down. Maybe this is normal actions?

Just wanted to let everyone know what I found and hopfully someone has some more information or a better understanding.

Thanks,
Joe

Yes, that's how I understand it. Grand Crowne's lenders said ixnay. My personal opinion: The X-Change Corp. seems a little flaky to me, maybe it seemed flaky to the lenders, too?

As for Interval Leisure Group, that is the parent company of both Interval International and Trading Places. The two companies complement each other rather than competing. TPI also has its own much smaller exchange network, and II members can utilize that as well as ILG's Preferred Residence network for additional exchange opportunities. TPI offers several kinds of services, and along with ILG's Aston Hotels & Resorts in Hawaii it gives ILG a more well rounded profile. It all comes out in the wash.

[JoeMO]

So it seems like it is a good thing that IIG is managinf GC since they trade with II who owns IIG. All the more reason to keep the relationship workable and mutually benficial to both the companies and the TS owners.

I am spending a few days at GC during Thanksgiving so I will give an update then.

Thanks,
Joe

[Craig711]

Originally Posted by JoeMO

So it seems like it is a good thing that IIG is managinf GC since they trade with II who owns IIG. All the more reason to keep the relationship workable and mutually benficial to both the companies and the TS owners.

I am spending a few days at GC during Thanksgiving so I will give an update then.

Thanks,
Joe

You've just about got it. Interval Leisure Group is the parent company. It owns Interval International and Trading Places. Trading Places is managing GC, and II is the exchange company for GC. So yes, it seems like a good thing. It probably helps that Trading Places has a good reputation as a management company.

[ace2000]

Saw this story in the local news last night, and thought about this thread.

http://www.news-leader.com/article/2...text|FRONTPAGE

[JoeMO]

I was at the resort last week. They still do not have internet in the rooms. Same story as this summer.

Talked to a salesman and someone in elite owners about the new management. It seems like a positive thing to me to have Trading Places manage everything and to have the owners in complete control.

I am not sure how this will affect the elite owners like myself, and future purchases that bring an owner to an elite status. The reason is that it is a selling tool for the sales department but the owners pick up the cost. If someone buys 1m points they use 50% less points at home resorts and four free trades a year. The problem is that sales dept doesn't pay for these the owners do. In future years when the elite owners get free trades, they get reimbursed by the resort for their II fees. The resort pays for this using maintenance fees. Whe an elite owner stays for half the points it still cost the same to clean and maintain the unit, but they get half the MF. I need to make sure this is how it works, but I can't think of how else, and that seems like the most likely.

Thanks,
Joe