High Country Club Delays Success Plan

Citing the high number of members who downgraded their membership, High Country Club has elected to "give ourselves two more weeks to evaluate our options and opportunities."

The destination club began to fall on hard times earlier this year when the stock market began its downturn. Christian Kirschner, High Country Club's CEO, also stated that homes in the club's portfolio had seen decreases of up to 50 percent in value. The stock market and real estate crashes required the restructuring of High Country Club and their business model.

Christian Kirschner and High Country Club released their "Success Plan" for how the destination club would make changes to their operating model so the club could survive solely on the annual dues members paid into the club and not reliant on the club's ability to sell new destination club memberships.

To make the plan work, High Country Club was forced to greatly reduce both the homes available to members and the club's staff in tandem with increasing annual dues and requiring members to prepay for one year of usage. Roughly 75 percent of the club's members were required to approve the plan and sign new addendums agreeing to the new terms and pricing.
In a preliminary vote on Friday, 264 members voted for the Success Plan, percentage points shy of the 75 percent threshold High Country Club sought. Many of the 264 yes votes came from members who elected to downgrade their membership to limit the increase in annual dues the club was asking for. The downgraded members forced the club to modify their Success Plan and further decrease available homes and increase annual dues.

In another vote that took place yesterday with an updated Success Plan proposed, High Country Club did not get the required support needed and wrote the following to its members:

Dear High Country Club Member,

Thank you for all of the time and effort each one of you has made to evaluate the Success Plan. Over the past 3 weeks, we have worked night and day to develop a plan that could help HCC get through the paralyzing circumstances the economy brought to our company on September 14th.

On Monday, we announced a revised Success Plan that took into account the 264 yes votes and the high number of downgraded memberships included in the 264 yes votes. Based on the feedback we have received since Monday's announcement and the results of yesterday's vote, we will not be able to move forward with the Success Plan in its current form. As we have noted, the more no votes and downgraded memberships we receive causes us to liquidate additional homes and raise annual dues. The Success Plan has become cost prohibitive for the vast majority of our members as the portfolio and availability continues to be reduced.

I have decided to give ourselves 2 more weeks to evaluate our options and opportunities.
We will honor reservations through November 29th at a minimum.

I understand and acknowledge this is difficult for everyone. I will be in touch towards the end of next week with an update on our progress.

Thank you for your patience.

Many destination club industry professionals are closely monitoring the High Country Club situation and are already making plans for how their destination club will respond. The fate of 375 High Country Club members rests in the balance.

Original Article
High Country Club Delays Success Plan

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