Marriott International Inc. announced Wednesday that it will stop building new timeshare and luxury-vacation projects and write down the value of the projects it already has under construction by $760 million.

Marriott and its largest competitors, Wyndham Worldwide Corp. and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., have already reduced their timeshare and vacation business significantly in the last year. Analysts expect Wyndham and Starwood will follow Marriott's lead when they report third-quarter results.

The [timeshare and luxury-vacation] business, at least for the next 10 years, is going to remain permanently shrunk, says Joseph Greff, a gambling and lodging analyst for J.P. Morgan Securities.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Kris Hudson (09/24/2009)