The Company Behind a Famous Travel Magazine Just Spent $343 Million on 23 Resorts

Travel + Leisure Co. is spending a combined $343 million to buy two vacation-resort companies, adding 23 properties to a portfolio that already tops 280 resorts. The company has closed its purchase of the Yes& Vacations brand and struck a new agreement to acquire Spinnaker Resorts.

The two deals push Travel + Leisure into some of the country's hardest-to-build leisure markets. Yes& Vacations brings seven properties in Maui plus an island-themed flagship on the Las Vegas Strip, while Spinnaker adds six resorts in Hilton Head along with properties in Ormond Beach, Branson and Williamsburg. Together they bring roughly 100,000 new owners into the fold, a jump of more than 10 percent in the company's customer base.

"Acquiring these companies strategically expands our presence in premier leisure destinations, adding quality inventory in markets where new development is challenging," said Michael D. Brown, president and CEO of Travel + Leisure Co.

The buyer is better known to most travelers as a magazine, but it has spent recent years rebuilding itself into a vacation-ownership powerhouse. Its stable now includes Club Wyndham, Accor Vacation Club, Sports Illustrated Resorts and Margaritaville Vacation Club.

Consolidation has become the defining theme of the timeshare and vacation-club business, where scale drives everything from financing to resort access. Bolting on 23 resorts in a single move is one of the sector's larger recent plays, and it deepens Travel + Leisure's reach in beach and resort markets where new construction is nearly impossible.