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of all the spa brands on the market, people are scared/worried about Hot Springs' business model?? hahahahaha (sorry funniest thing I've read on the web today) you do realize Hot Spring is owned by a multi-BILLION dollar Fortune 500 company right? Hot Spring and Jacuzzi may own the entire industry one day...ok maybe a little far fetched but if the economy doesn't pick up most of the "small fish" will eventually get eaten up. Between '08 and '09 over 33% of spa manufacturers disappeared or were bought up by other companies and the trend continues today, I believe the number went from 150 to less than 100 in that short time frame.
Quote from: Hot Spring Ace on December 06, 2012, 01:40:49 pmQuote from: vjsj35 on December 05, 2012, 09:09:35 pmhot spring ace... either it's my computer and the links or the caldera and hot spring spa you sent me are the EXACT same spa. that's scary that they have the exact make up, etc and are 2 diff companies. that's why i wonder if buy laguna bay or belize online if it's the same as a hot spring or sundance in retail but a 3 k mark up. scary.I'm not sure why you think its scary, maybe I need to explain it further. Watkins has Hot Spring dealers and Caldera dealers. They compete against each other just like GM and Buick dealers compete against each other. Most of the Hot Spring products and Caldera products are unique to each other. However, a few years ago Watkins saw a need for a value brand in that $5500 to $7k range and created the Hot Spot line for Hot Springs and Vacanza for Caldera that they sell to each just like GM may make a car for both Chevy and Buick which is basically the same car just branded differently for each.Well, lets not use GM as a good business model, k? GM has GMC, Chevy and Buick competing against each other. With essentially the same vehicle, re-badged with minor tweaks to the interior and options. Its the same model they ran for decades, and the same business model that nearly drove them out of business. They've already killed olds, pontiac, saab, hummer for that exact same reason. Too much product (88 different vehicles at one point) with virtually no differentiation. So it is a bit "scary" to see other industries follow the same lousy business model. Lousy? Yes. Because the only reason it can succeed is at the expense of the consumer, where the lack of transparency/viability into specs and reliability lead to inflated prices.
Quote from: vjsj35 on December 05, 2012, 09:09:35 pmhot spring ace... either it's my computer and the links or the caldera and hot spring spa you sent me are the EXACT same spa. that's scary that they have the exact make up, etc and are 2 diff companies. that's why i wonder if buy laguna bay or belize online if it's the same as a hot spring or sundance in retail but a 3 k mark up. scary.I'm not sure why you think its scary, maybe I need to explain it further. Watkins has Hot Spring dealers and Caldera dealers. They compete against each other just like GM and Buick dealers compete against each other. Most of the Hot Spring products and Caldera products are unique to each other. However, a few years ago Watkins saw a need for a value brand in that $5500 to $7k range and created the Hot Spot line for Hot Springs and Vacanza for Caldera that they sell to each just like GM may make a car for both Chevy and Buick which is basically the same car just branded differently for each.
hot spring ace... either it's my computer and the links or the caldera and hot spring spa you sent me are the EXACT same spa. that's scary that they have the exact make up, etc and are 2 diff companies. that's why i wonder if buy laguna bay or belize online if it's the same as a hot spring or sundance in retail but a 3 k mark up. scary.