Barry Diller buys from Gaylord

Gaylord Entertainment Co.’s is selling its ResortQuest International vacation-management holdings in Hawaii for $109.1 million to a company run by famed media mogul Barry Diller. Gaylord has struck a deal with Miami-based Interval Acquisition Corp., which is an affiliate of Interval International The latter is in the vacation rental business and is an operating subsidiary of IAC/InterActiveCorp., run by Diller, who is chairman and chief executive officer. Gaylord will retain ownership stakes in two Hawaii hotels.

Gaylord has been selling off assets to focus on the resort and convention center business. The latest was the company selling its stake in Bass Pro Shops. There has been a good bit of talk that ResortQuest International was on the block, fueled by comments from Colin Reed, Gaylord president and CEO, who has said the company is doing a strategic evaluation of ResortQuest. Perhaps this deal with Interval is a step toward selling all of ResortQuest to Diller’s company. Stay tuned.