Bluegreen Holidays is an American private vacation ownership company based in Boca Raton, Florida. Currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of BFC Financial Corporation with approximately 4,500 employees, the company provides holidays at 60 corporate-managed resorts on a time-share basis, with resort alternatives and cruise options available through upselling and third-party exchange. Bluegreen makes its services available to other resort operators at a cost per service. Originally a land sale company founded as Patten Realty Corporation in 1966, Bluegreen until 2012 also developed the land into a residential community and golf course. The company currently has three main divisions: Bluegreen Resorts oversees time-share programs, Bluegreen Vacations maintains the Bluegreen Vacation Club points system, and Outdoor Traveler market Bluegreen programs at Bass Pro stores. Beyond Bass Pro, Bluegreen also has ongoing partnerships with companies like Choice Hotels International. In 2012, Bluegreen's profit reached $ 458 million and total assets equaled $ 1.08 billion. Bluegreen's philanthropic efforts include organizational support such as the American Red Cross and JDRF.
Video Bluegreen Corporation
Histori
Pendirian dan tahun-tahun awal (1966-1984)
Bluegreen Corporation was formed in Massachusetts in 1966 as Patten Realty. The founder of Harry Patten previously worked in sales at American Central, the developer of vacation home sites, and by 1964 he had saved enough to develop one property of his own. Buying a $ 15,000 package in rural Stamford, Vermont, Patten takes partners and is headquartered in the 25-room Stamford estate business. Their original core business is a regional scope. Patten Realty will buy large undeveloped land or little developed land, usually with down token payments, from farmers who can not market it themselves. Then they pay to have the land divided and will resell the 5- to 20-acre package that is generated to the city dwellers as a recreational or potential property. Patten branched out as an independent developer after ten years, and in 1976 he incorporated the business as Patten Realty Corporation. In 1982, Patten Realty Corporation opened its first regional branch office in Portland, Maine. Annual sales increased more than tenfold, to $ 35 million, between 1981 and 1984 when Patten expanded out of the Northeast, and Patten was named by Fortune as one of the "50 Most Interesting Businesses" in 1985.
IPO and move to Florida (1985-1993)
Patten Realty Corporation went public with an initial public offering in November 1985, and in 1986 was listed on the New York Stock Exchange as Patten Corporation, or Patten Corp. In January 1986 Patten Corp. was "the largest inhabitant of New York Stock Exchange," after its share price increased fourfold in a year. With branches in fifteen states in early 1986, at the end of 1986 Patten Corp. remained the third fastest growing company on the exchange. From the fiscal midpoint of 1986 to 1987, profits rose 175%, and Patten Corp. had total assets of $ 324 million in March 1988, compared with $ 14 million four years earlier. Debt also increased at that time to help finance land purchases from 1987 and 1988. By the end of 1988, Patten Realty's annual revenue was equivalent to $ 120 million, with net income of $ 15.1 million. In the late 1980s the company faced a severe publicity attack on allegedly deceptive marketing, with several New England states opening investigations into the company's sales practices. While rejecting any mistake, in 1989 Patten settled with New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire by agreeing to return consumers "who could prove they were deceived" on issues such as lease details.
Patten Corp. suffered a loss of $ 45 million in 1989 and 1990, with stock declines before rebounding again. Patten Realty was profiled at 60 Minutes in March 1991. That year the company moved its headquarters to Boca Raton, Florida, with a number of staff left in Vermont. The company was profitable within six months of moving. Around that time Patten continued to restructure the business to increase cash flow, and in the early 1990s Patten Corp. sold ownership in the northeastern United States to focus on the midwest and southeast. Patten Corp. also worked to cut its debt burden, and in 1994, its share value increased significantly since the decline in 1991.
Change to Bluegreen Corporation (1993-1999)
George F. Donovan was appointed president and chief operating officer in 1993, and later that year he took over the role of Patten as CEO. Patten will step down as chairman and sell the remaining 8% of his stake in Patten Corp. in late 1994. Donovan, who has a background in both timeshares and golf community development, reorganized the company into land division, timeshare and home sales, forming Bluegreen Resorts and Bluegreen divisions Communities in 1994. That year Patten Corp. bought land in Gatlinburg, Tennessee to develop its first timeshare, MountainLoft. In August 1995 Patten Corp opened a second resort bordering the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the following month the company acquired land in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for the third resort and first beach property, which opened in 1996. The company was renamed to Bluegreen Corporation in February 1996.
Bluegreen acquired RDI Group in 1997 for $ 7.5 million, which is a "vacation ownership and personal operator of point-based holiday clubs". Through RDI, Bluegreen acquired resorts in Florida and Wisconsin, as well as "management contracts with resorts across the Southeast." Bluegreen Vacation Club was formed as a direct result. Bluegreen opened its first daily cost golf course in 1997, designed by Fred Couples and located in North Carolina. The Bluegreen community then sells a lot of land around the golf course to homeowners, touting a new business model for Bluegreen that the company is also spreading to other developments. That year, the company recorded sales of USD $ 115.9 million. In 1998, Bluegreen expanded into Aruba, and the following year Bluegreen entered the "urban timeshare market" by acquiring an inn in South Carolina. In 1999, the company posted a net profit of $ 17 million and an overall sale of $ 257.7 million.
Partnership (2000-2011)
In 2000, Bluegreen established a cross-industry marketing agreement with Bass Pro, also marketed the Bluegreen Wilderness Club franchise through its Bass Pro subsidiary, Big Cedar. Bluegreen then formed an alliance with Boyne USA Resorts in 2002, also opening two more golf courses that year, designed by Curtis Strange and one by Davis Love III. Then in 2002, Bluegreen acquired TakeMeOnVacation, L.L.C., the company that generated the sale. The TakeMeOnVacation software system is reworked for Bluegreen Direct, the newly established direct marketing business unit. After BankAplantic Bankcorp in Fort Lauderdale earned 40 percent interest in Bluegreen in 2002, in 2003 Bluegreen expanded to Montana and Michigan, with annual sales reaching USD $ 438 million. Next year's sales totaled USD $ 600 million, while in 2005 Bluegreen had revenues of USD $ 684.2 million and 4,076 employees.
Bluegreen has two major divisions in 2005. Bluegreen Communities markets and sells residential units in upscale markets, while Bluegreen Resorts is involved with the resort timeshare business under the brand Bluegreen Vacation Club. In 2005, Forbes rated Bluegreen No. 1. 57 of 200 List of the Best Small Companies. Bluegreen opened its first resort in Las Vegas in 2006. Donovan retired as President and CEO of Bluegreen at the end of that year, and was replaced by John M. Maloney, Jr. Since 2009, Bluegreen has made its development, management, sales and marketing, property rights, mortgages and financial services available to other resort operators on a cost-for-service basis.
Return to private ownership (2012-2016)
In May 2012, Bluegreen sold its Bluegreen Communities division to Dallas-based SouthStar Development Partners for $ 29 million, with Southstar also acquiring multiple Bluegreen residential environments. As a result of the sale of its community division, Bluegreen became a pure company for the first time since 1994. Diamond Resorts tried to buy Bluegreen for $ 197 million in June 2012, which Bluegreen rejected. That year Bluegreen reported total revenues of $ 457.7 million and revenues from continuing operations of $ 54.3 million. Equity of $ 349 million and total assets of $ 1.08 billion.
In 2013, Bluegreen formed an alliance with Choice Hotels International, and on April 2, 2013, Bluegreen joined Woodbridge Holdings, a subsidiary of BFC Financial Corporation and BBX Capital Corporation. Immediately prior to the merger, BFC Financial, through additional transactions, came to own 53% of Bluegreen. Thus, Bluegreen becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of BFC Financial Corporation. Continuing to focus on its time-share business model, in spring 2013, Bluegreen has "more than 60 resort-owned or managed, and access to over 4,000 resorts and other holiday experiences like cruises and hotels around the world."
Maps Bluegreen Corporation
Business model
Originally a land sale company focusing on resale of rural areas of approximately 200 hectares or more, Bluegreen to 2012 develops land purchased to residential communities and golf courses, marketing home sites in direct channels to consumers. Then branched out into resorts and timeshare, the company is also known as an industry pioneer in the practice of offering fee-based services. Bluegreen's core business today is marketing, sales, and holiday ownership services (VOI) known collectively as Bluegreen Vacation Club. Under the Bluegreen vacation program, customers purchase vacation points compared to certain properties. However, they are still considered "owners" on a legal basis because they are buying interest in resort companies held in their beliefs. Under the system, customers can plan to live in various timeshare resorts operated by Bluegreen or its North American partner, particularly along the Gulf Coast. With a points system, owners can also live in several thousand affiliated resorts abroad, and holiday points can be traded, sold, or leased to others. In 2013, the company provides vacations for approximately 170,000 users in fixed form in corporate-managed resorts (over 60) plus hotels, resorts and cruise options available through upselling and third-party exchange.
The current subsidiary
Philanthropy
Bluegreen supports national charities including Christel House International, JDRF (formerly Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the American Red Cross, and regional and local charities such as Florida-based Deliver Dream. The company also adopts 12 charities annually for support as a Charity of the Month and allows employees to use two working days paid annually to volunteer for charitable organizations. Bluegreen has been a corporate sponsor for the JRDF Walk to Cure event in Boca Raton every year since 2006. In 2013, the company surpassed the $ 50,000 target and raised the 15th highest number of each corporate team participating in over 100 events across America Union.
Resort locations
Caribbean
United States
See also
- List of top companies in Boca Raton, Florida
- Real estate
- Resort fee
- Divide the time
References
External links
- Bluegreen Holidays
- Outdoor Traveler (subsidiary)
Source of the article : Wikipedia