Timeshare boosts hotel chain earnings

EARNINGS

Three hotel companies-Marriott International, Hilton Hotels and Cendant-reported decent quarterly earnings, thanks to the solid performance of their timeshare operations.

Contract sales for Marriott's timeshare business rose 11 percent for the quarter. While business was down in Orlando, the company said sales were especially strong at properties in Colorado, Hawaii and California.

The downside: Quarterly profits for the division fell 28 percent (to $31 million) as a result of higher sales and marketing costs.

Marriott's four timeshare brands operate 51 properties and 6,776 units.

Hilton Grand Vacations says first-quarter EBITDA improved significantly due to an increase in average unit sales price. The company says it will resume development of new timeshare projects in Las Vegas and Orlando that were stalled following Sept. 11. Hilton has 25 timeshare projects with 2,921 units.

Cendant Corp. attributed a 68-- percent jump in revenues and a 10-- percent rise in profits in its hospitality operations to the acquisitions of Fairfield Resorts in April 2001 and Equivest in February 2002.