The owners of the Bay Club time-share resort at Waikoloa on the Big Island have transferred the sales and marketing of the property to Hilton Grand Vacations Club for an undisclosed price. Big Isle’s Bay Club closes
deal to sell resort to
Hilton time-share unitIt's unclear, though, whether any of the
171 laid-off workers will be rehired Jan. 1
when the new owner takes overStar-Bulletin staff
The Hilton time-share operation also will assume management of the property when the transfer goes into effect Jan.1.
Richard Lachmann, attorney for the Bay Club Ownership Resort Inc., said yesterday the deal involves the existing 172 units at the resort and does not include the 90-unit Phase II, which broke ground Aug. 6.
Nikken Corp., a Hawaii corporation owned in Japan, joined with Lahaina-headquartered Grand Ownership Resorts in 1994 to convert the Waikoloa resort to time-share.
Sales at the 15.5-acre Bay Club have gone well, to the point of a near sellout, but conditions in Japan led Nikken to seek someone else to take it over, Nikken said in a statement issued in Honolulu.
The Bay Club has been an affiliate of Hilton Grand Vacations since 1999, but the agreement expands Hilton's involvement, the statement said.
News that the business would change hands broke after Bay Club notified the state Department of Labor & Industrial Relations Oct. 31 that most of the 171 employees of the several companies that run the operation would lose their jobs because of a pending transfer of operations.
Lachmann was unable to say who the buyer was until the deal was concluded.
Hilton Grand Vacation's Hawaii Vice President Mark Wang was not available for comment late yesterday and it was not clear whether any of the laid-off workers would be hired by the new management.