Quintess Offers Deferred Payments and Trial Membership

Todd Miller, the Vice President of Marketing at Quintess, spent a portion of his Telluride spring break vacation to discuss the club's new trial membership offering.

"Quintess is about a membership in a club, so we wanted to create something that was truly a trial membership as opposed to just stays in the home," began Miller. "With our program, you join the club and you get full membership privileges as opposed to just staying in one location. Other clubs offer stays, but they limit it to certain locations and it isn't really a full membership. We want to have someone join fully and enjoy our club and all the homes and services we offer for a year. The key, like a number of other clubs, is to get people to experience the club. In our case, we want you to feel that you are a regular member and not just experience one location."

As mentioned by Miller, many other destination clubs have launched similar offerings in the past year, but all are more similar to a vacation rental where travelers pay a fee to access the properties than a true destination club membership. Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club launched their trial membership offering by making 17 of the club's underutilized properties available to prospects for $7,000 up to $11,000 depending on the property and season for a seven night stay. As properties were reserved, the club would remove them from the available list. Since then, A&K reduced their rates by 50 percent until April 15. Exclusive Resorts introduced their Sponsored Guest Program in November of 2008, allowing prospective members the chance to reserve four or seven nights stays in select Exclusive Resorts' properties for $5,900 or $8,900 respectively. Ultimate Escapes introduced their "Ultimate Discovery Membership" last month, allowing qualified prospective members the opportunity to reserve properties from any of Ultimate Escapes' three club levels. Premiere properties could be reserved for $3,500 per week, Signature properties for $5,250, and Elite properties for $7,000.

The Quintess trial membership requires a non-refundable $15,000 fee and the standard annual dues and nightly fees for the plan that a member wishes to join. Following the year, members can elect to join the club as a full member and can amortize their membership deposit across several years, the larger the membership deposit, the longer the time period.

"In doing that, you get full access to all the properties by paying annual dues and a small up front fee of $15,000. After one year, they have the opportunity to begin paying their deposit on an installment basis. Starting at the one year anniversary, you can pay your deposit over a period of time depending on the size of plan you pick. If someone is willing to start to pay the deposit initially, they can forgo paying the $15,000 initially," Miller added.

Throughout the history of the destination club industry, many clubs have offered many other trial and preview memberships and have seen high retention rates. Clubs largely believe that they can effectively up sell these introductory members to full membership status after they have enjoyed the full destination club experience.

"We really feel that they are very likely to stay because the way we have grown historically is through member referrals and that is all about member satisfaction. Our members continue to be very, very satisfied with our delivery of service, quality of homes, and what we offer them as members."

When asked to discuss the genesis of the new trail membership offer, Miller stated that it was largely created out of the superior real estate opportunities available to the club.

"We are being offered a number of great homes in great places, on terms that require little if any money down upfront, where the seller is willing to even finance it over a period of years. A year or two ago, you had to put significant money down up front. We can then in turn pass that on in the form of installment pricing."

Clubs are largely looking to ease the process of joining as the economy struggles. Coupling a trial membership with a deferred payment option creates an opportunity for prospective members to first test the destination club waters and then join if they enjoy the experience without a large, up front monetary outpour. According to Miller, Quintess has already seen a great deal of success on this program.

"We are excited about all of our opportunities. We are excited about the future," concluded Miller. "It's obviously a difficult time right now, but we really continue to believe in what we offer and how much it helps our members and their families stay connected. I think one of the things in a tough time like this is you realize what's important in life and one of those things is stay connected with your family and friends and we help create lasting memories."

For more information about Quintess, Leading Residences of the World, please contact The Veras Group, your complimentary destination club advisor, dedicated to helping you finding the destination club that is right for you.

Quintess Offers Deferred Payments and Trial Membership

Ultimate Escapes Coaces Advance

Two of the NBA's most elite coaches will have to delay their summer vacation plans as both of their teams have advanced deeper into the playoffs. The Eastern Conference's number two seed Boston Celtics, led by Doc Rivers, defeated the Chicago Bulls in an epic first round series while the Western Conference's Denver Nuggets, headed by George Karl and also the number two seed, bested the New Orleans Hornets. While both continue to work towards a championship, both also will have their destination club memberships to help them relax during the off-season.

Doc Rivers joined Ultimate Resort in March of 2006 and George Karl joined Private Escapes in November of 2007, both now a part of the Ultimate Escapes family after the Ultimate Resort and Private Escapes merger. Rivers and Karl are but just a few of the many destination club sports members that pepper the industry. Ultimate Escapes alone counts Hall of Fame Quarterback Steve Young, Team USA Manager Davey Johnson, University of Illinois head basketball coach Bruce Weber, golf broadcaster David Feherty, and Chicago Bears Offensive Coordinator Ron Turner.

"(Ultimate Resort) is a perfect choice for me," said Rivers when asked about his destination club membership. "Private Escapes is the perfect travel option for my lifestyle," Karl said similarly about his Private Escapes membership.

With both members extending their season, off-season travel plans will have to wait. While the club is tight lipped about where any of their members are traveling, famous or not, Coach Karl did visit Telluride prior to joining, stating that he was "amazed with the homes' prime location, superior concierge and excellent level of service," according to Ultimate Escapes Chairman Richard Keith.

Although both teams have a tough road in front of them, a Celtics versus Nuggets NBA Finals is not entirely out of the question. If so, will Ultimate Resort's former Coach of the Year and NBA Champion Doc Rivers or Private Escapes' George Karl, the twelfth winningest coach of all time, take the championship? Either way, Ultimate Escapes will be happy to help both enjoy the off-season.

Original Article
Ultimate Escapes Coaches Advance

About The Veras Group
The Veras Group is the only unbiased destination club news, consulting and brokerage firm. As our client, we accompany your destination club purchase from start to finish: customized reviews of your travel needs, unrestricted access to our expert advisors, insiders' advice from industry veterans, insightful due diligence support, thorough club comparisons and points of difference, and the best available terms & pricing on your membership, all at no cost to you.

Please reach one of our destination club advisors at 877-VERAS-07 or 720-222-0440 to learn more about the industry, specific clubs, and our service, or visit our website http://www.TheVerasGroup.com.

Join us: we know the way.

The Hideaways Club Sells 20% of Ownership

The Hideaways Club, one of the UK's largest destination clubs, has brought in two new investors, Jonathan Feuer and Nick Bettany. Each has purchased a ten percent stake in the organization, bringing both capital and experience to the club.

The Veras Group met with Chris Moody, Director of Sales, to learn more about the investors and what it means to members and The Hideaways Club itself.

"Obviously it provides us more capital, but it also brings in some very experienced investors putting money into the real estate investment," Moody began. "They are two very experienced guys and our founders are very pleased to be able to raise capital in the current environment. I think that more than anything illustrates the business model is a good one."

Jonathan Feuer is a Managing Partner at CVC Capital Partners, a leading private equity and investment advisory firm based in Luxembourg. Feuer joined CVC in 1988, working previously for Baring Brothers in the Corporate Finance department and Ernst & Whinney in London where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Studying at the University of Warwick, Feuer has a degree in applied mathematics and has led several buyouts and acquisitions during his time at CVC Capital.

While new to The Hideaways Club, Feuer does have experience with the club's founders. In 2004, Feuer led the £1.7 billion leveraged buyout of Debenhams, a major British retailer. John Lovering, a Founder and investor at The Hideaways Club, is Chairman of Debenhams.

After studying Economics at the University in Bristol, Nick Bettany began his career as a Chartered Accountant at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, specializing in audits of financial institutions. He later went on to work for the Royal Bank of Canada and the Jersey Financial Services Commission before establishing Clink Renaissance Property Limitada, a real estate developer in Lisbon focused on renovating historical city apartment blocks into luxury living spaces. Bettany continues to serve as the company's Financial Director.

In 2006, Nick completed his MBA at INSEAD in Singapore and Paris before working at Avington Financial, an investment bank specializing in providing financial advice on mergers and acquisitions within the hospitality and leisure industries.

Bettany has served as a Director of the Banyan Tree Seychelles hotel, an organization that has their own destination club under the corporate group, Banyan Tree Private Collection. In his very little free time, Nick also serves on the Boards both at RatedOffshore Limited and Rentim Investments, is an active member of the London chapter of the Keiretsu Forum, and oversees the running of gold medal winning Cremant and Cabernet Franc red wine vineyard in the Loire Valley.

Members of the club will not be affected by the deal. "The property company itself is held by the shareholders," said Moody. "Member's shareholdings aren't affected at all. Their shareholdings are in a seperate company. The property company owns the properties and the management company manages the properties on behalf of the shareholders."

With the new capital injected into the firm, Moody let us know that Hideaways plans to acquire many new stellar properties to the club's portfolio before the end of the year. Check back soon to hear the rest of Chris Moody's comments about where The Hideaways Club will be going in 2009 and their plans for the future.

To learn more about The Hideaways Club, please contact The Veras Group, your complimentary destination club advisor, dedicated to assisting you through every stage of your destination club purchase.

The Hideaways Club Sells 20% of Ownership Destination Club News The Veras Group

Abercrombie and Kent Residence Club Hosts First Annual Members Meeting

"We are trying to raise the bar for how clubs should operate and demonstrate some new best practices. From an industry standpoint, this upcoming event is very significant."

Less than a week shy of Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club's first annual member meeting, Darin Gilson, the club's Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Development, met with The Veras Group to discuss the meeting and what the club plans to accomplish during their first annual event starting tomorrow in Chicago. The club plans to have a diverse list of representatives in attendance and presenting from the Abercrombie & Kent family including:

• Geoffrey Kent: Abercrombie & Kent Founder, Chairman and CEO
• Jorie Butler Kent: Vice Chair, Abercrombie & Kent
• Scott Wiseman: President of A&K, Inc. and A&K Residence Club
• Brett Fichte: Chief Financial Officer
• Stephanie Papaioannou: Senior Vice President of Hospitality and Member Services
• Darin Gilson: Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Development
• Joe Mitchell: Senior Vice President of Real Estate
• Robin Warne: Vice President of Finance
• Chicago Based Hospitality Team

"We had some debate on the best way to conduct the annual meeting. We toyed with the idea of hosting the event at our two homes in Turks & Caicos, but we wanted to make it as easy as possible for our members to gather," began Gilson. "We decided on Chicago since it is the middle of the country and also where we are headquartered. In the spirit of being prudent and fiscally responsible, I believe it was a good choice. For those members who can't attend in person, they can join via conference call and webcast. We hope that our members will enjoy the opportunity to meet one another, and most importantly, that they will appreciate the transparency and full disclosure that we will offer."

In recent months, the destination club landscape has been forever altered as business models have come into question and financial stability has moved to the forefront as members and prospects analyze each club in the industry. Leading clubs such as the Lusso Collection and High Country Club have been forced into bankruptcy while others have made sweeping changes to their structure to survive. Abercrombie & Kent plans to assure their members that their club will not face a similar fate.

"We just completed our annual audit," continued Gilson. "KPMG is our auditing firm and our Chief Financial Officer, Brett Fichte, will review the results of the audited financials. The financial material we will disclose at the meeting is somewhat groundbreaking. We believe this is not only a best practice, but a first in our industry."

Since the club's inception last year, Abercrombie & Kent has demonstrated financial transparency and open communication as key components of the club. "From the beginning, we promised to be forthright about how the club is operating, and we have invited the members to play an active role in shaping the club's future," said A&K's Founder, Chairman, and CEO Geoffrey Kent.

To more firmly establish the active role that members play in the club's governance, two Abercrombie & Kent members will be elected to the club's five person board. "We have gone through a process over the past month where five members were nominated, and then all the members had the opportunity to vote for two members to represent them on the board," Gilson said. "Having members sit on the governing board, who are elected by their fellow members, and who have no profit motivation or ownership stake in the management company, is absolutely groundbreaking."

According to Gilson, the club's board has the powers that most boards have, including ratifying budgets, reviewing proposed changes to the club's by laws, and addressing strategy items. While the club's financial stature and Board electees will be prominent agenda items, the annual meeting will also address several other components of the club, including member services, hospitality and the club's philanthropic efforts.

"We don't expect the financial discussion to dominate the meeting. We have had discussions with our members throughout the year through periodic conference calls and assured our members that we are being prudent with member's funds," said Gilson. "Geoffrey Kent will discuss the status of the company and our heritage. We will also be pleased to hear from Jorie Butler Kent, who will discuss A&K philanthropy. This is an important part of the A&K DNA, and we want our members to appreciate how the company helps in many causes around the world. Scott Wiseman will give a President's perspective on the club and where we will go in the future. I will give a presentation about our growth objectives and current industry dynamics. Stephanie will be giving a presentation on hospitality and member services and of course we will review the financials. We are trying to hit on all the key aspects of the club, including where we are now, where we expect to be in the future, and how we will get there."

Following the official meeting, the newly elected board members will participate in their first board meeting before attendees and A&K representatives will head off for a night on the town.
"It's not all going to be business. There will be the member's meeting and then the first Board meeting with the new member elected Board Members participating. That evening, we will gather for a club social function at Second City, a famous club in Chicago, where we have rented out the place for a private performance just for Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club members. We are mixing in a little fun in one of Chicago's hot spots."

Abercrombie & Kent plans to have approximately 50 members in attendance with many more joining in via phone or webcast. While prospects cannot attend, Gilson did say that portions of the webcast or the presentation materials may become available to prospects in the future.
Next week, we will continue with our second installment of our four part series with Darin Gilson. To request an advanced copy of our upcoming articles about Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club or to request more information about A&K or any other destination club, please contact The Veras Group, your complimentary destination club advisory firm.

Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club First Annual Meeting

The Hideaways Club Plans For The Future

Fresh off selling 20% of their ownership to investors Jonathan Feuer and Nick Bettany, The Hideaways Club has large plans for the rest of 2009.

"I think a lot of people were considering buying their own home are now considering fractional. We seem to not be experiencing a drop off, but in fact doing better than what we were," began Chris Moody, the Director of Sales at The Hideaways Club in an exclusive interview with The Veras Group.

The Hideaways Club launched early in 2007, marketing themselves as "Europe's first private residence owners club." Unlike the more traditional United States destination club model where members join with a "right to use" membership stake where they can access the club's properties but with no ownership in the properties, The Hideaways Club members do own the properties in the club's portfolio. Founders Mike Balfour, John Lovering, Stephen Wise, Patrick Henchoz, and Helmut Schön launched the club with European members in mind, planning their property acquisitions to all be within a four hour flight from the United Kingdom.
Despite the club's initial plans to acquire properties all within a short area of the UK, The Hideaways Club is looking to expand further to other select areas outside their original target.

"We are expanding into Asia and Africa," said Moody. "At the moment we have bought some of the properties but have yet to announce them to our members. We are looking to expand further across other Asian destinations. By the end of the year we should be close to 30 properties. We currently are at 16 properties that we have announced and have some others that will be announced shortly. Every six members we buy a new house, and looking at the rate we are taking on new members, we should be pushing 30 properties by the end of 2009."
With real estate prices falling on a global scale, The Hideaways Club is anxious to add select properties at strong values to their portfolio.

"I don't think it is drastic as in the states, but prices have come down in some areas," Moody said. "Certainly we are able to get some very nice properties for some very good rates. We are not looking to buy cheaper properties since we want to maintain our standards, so we are essentially able to buy better properties now than we could have last year. Our properties are all decided upon by our founders. They have very specific ideas about what they want, so while all the properties are very different, they share the same characteristics. Certain number of bedrooms, accommodations, location, quality of finish. Generally we just try to be consistent."

With less than 20 properties including those not yet available to members, The Hideaways Club would need to add approximately 60 new members over the next seven months to approach their 30 property goal. This ambitious mark may begin with the addition of a notable British tennis star the club plans to announce soon, adding yet another member to the many notable destination club sports members throughout the industry. The Veras Group will follow up with the report as it is announced.

To learn more about The Hideaways Club, please request more information from The Veras Group, your complimentary resource for unbiased news and information about every destination club.

The Hideaways Club Plans For The Future Destination Club News The Veras Group

High Country Club Files For Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Bookended by a precipitous rise to the top of the destination club industry and by a meteoric collapse, High Country Club has announced it will file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy next week.
In a candid letter to the club's members sent last week, Christian Kirschner, High Country Club's CEO wrote:

Effective immediately, High Country Club will no longer be in business. Along with our bankruptcy attorneys, we are in the process of filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy next week.

The severe decline in the economy has made it impossible to operate our business. Our team has worked tirelessly over the past 120 days to restructure and save the business. However, multiplying outside factors and a declining membership has made operations impossible.

Effective immediately all reservations are canceled.

We expect that the bankruptcy court will be in contact with members after our filing next week.

I offer my sincerest apologies and regrets as the current business and economic environment has made it impossible for HCC to operate.

Christian V. Kirschner
President & CEO
High Country Club

Founded as a specialty destination club focused on the affluent ski audience, High Country Club entered the industry as a low cost alternative to the myriad of other more costly destination clubs that dominated the industry. As the sole club in the sub-$50,000 price point, High Country Club soon emerged as a destination club power, consistently meeting sales and revenue goals and serving as a founding member of the Destination Club Association.

The club's ability to generate a continual stream of new sales led to over reaching on real estate, purchasing luxury vacation homes outside of their business model's price range. In their attempt to remain the most cost effective destination club, annual dues, the club's yearly payments made by club members used to pay for the club's ongoing operations, were set below the club's operational burn rate.

As the real estate and financial markets began to decline, so did sales for High Country Club. Often selling upwards of 30 memberships per month, the club's sales initiatives began to yield single digits in the months prior to their bankruptcy.

With club sales eroding and facing financing issues from lenders, High Country Club executives attempted to merge with another destination club, only to have the buyer back out in early October of 2008. In a letter to High Country Club members regarding the destination club merger sent on October 28, Kirschner wrote "I approached several destination clubs and we made a decision to move forward with one. Documents were signed and the integration process had begun. Two and a half weeks ago the deal was terminated due to the difficulties created by the extraordinary economic events of the past 45 days...There was never any doubt in my mind we would not close on this transaction for several reasons...The economic events of the past 45 days changed everything."

With anemic sales and growing debt obligations, High Country Club created a Success Plan that theoretically would allow the club to become self sufficient and operational solely on membership dues. The plan consisted primarily of increased annual dues for members, decreases in properties available to members, and drastic layoffs to High Country Club staff to reduce overhead.

For the plan to succeed, approximately 75 percent of the membership base needed to agree to sign off on new addendums outlining these terms. While the club approached the 75 percent barrier, ultimately it fell just short, leading management to create a new alternative to members, the High Country Club Sustainability Plan.

The Sustainability Plan also failed to create the self sufficient model club executives and members sought.

With High Country Club's upcoming Chapter 7 filing, they join One Key World and Lusso Collection as firms starting 2009 poorly. One Key World and their rental brokerage model was forced to cease operations earlier this month while the Lusso Collection is currently going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Despite Kirschner's immediate closure notice, expect more news about High Country Club to follow as creditors, real estate owners, and members alike continue asking questions about how High Country Club reached this point.

Original Article
High Country Club Files For Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Yellowstone Club World Files For Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Creditors of Yellowstone Club World, a spinoff destination club of the Yellowstone Club, have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. Filed on behalf of four creditors claiming $4.65 million in refunds for membership deposits to Yellowstone Club World, Angus MacNaughton, Edgar Rainin, and Yoav Rubinstein are each requesting $1.5 million and Thomas Hook is requesting $150,000.

Yellowstone Club World ceased operations last year amid a public ownership battle and divorce of Tim and Edra Blixseth. Edra eventually won ownership of the club and promised to monetize several of the clubs properties.

Envisioned as the most elite destination club in the industry, Tim Blixseth scoured the globe looking for luxury vacation properties for the club's exclusive 150 members. Once comparing the search to "Easter egg hunting," the club included the Chateau de Farcheville in France, the El Tamarindo resort in Mexico, and a private golf club near St. Andrews in Scotland. Designed to charge as much as $10 million to join, the club failed to get off the ground, counting only a select few Yellowstone Club members who upgraded to join. In September of 2008, Yellowstone Club World ceased operations.

In November of 2008, Yellowstone Club, the Montana based resort that preceded Yellowstone Club World, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. According to the first court filings, Yellowstone Club cited a combined debt of $344 million and assets of roughly $1.1 billion.
According to John Amsden, a lawyer representing Yellowstone Club World members, at least one of the properties available to Yellowstone Club World members is being used as leverage in the Yellowstone Club Chapter 11 proceedings.

"We're concerned the assets they do have are no longer in control of the Yellowstone Club World," said Amsden. "The involuntary bankruptcy was necessary because it appears that there is no one minding the club's business. We hope that the matter can be resolved with a minimum of expense."

Through the Chapter 7 filing, the creditors seek to find who and what entity controls the properties of Yellowstone Club World.

"The members of the Yellowstone Club World were promised access to very specific and significant properties in return for their significant membership dues. They anticipate that their interests to those properties will be respected," Amsden continued.

Within 20 days, the court will appoint a trustee who will begin to sort through the club's assets.

The Chapter 7 filing puts two destination clubs on the polar opposite of the spectrum in the same boat this week. High Country Club, the most inexpensive destination club in the industry, also filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Original Article
Yellowstone Club World Files For Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Quintess's Ben Addoms Discusses Destination Club Partnership With The Oyster Circle

Last week, two leading destination clubs, Quintess and The Oyster Circle, announced a partnership that would allow members of both clubs access to the other's portfolio of luxury real estate. The Veras Group met with Ben Addoms to discuss the partnership and how it will benefit members of both clubs.

The Veras Group: Last week, Quintess started a lottery for initial bookings to The Oyster Circle portfolio. What are the member's reaction and participation in the lottery so far?

Ben Addoms: We've had great feedback on the experience. We've had about 80 people or so line up to get in on the lottery. We usually have a lottery for every new property, so this is like having nine lotteries at once.

Members are excited, and even if they don't win the lottery, there will still be a number of nights available for them to select.

We have already seen interest from several Oyster Circle members looking to visit our Tuscany homes and even Jackson Hole later this year.

The Veras Group: Do Oyster Circle homes need to be retrofitted to provide the same Quintess experience that your members have come to expect?

Addoms: We had the opportunity to have our European representatives visit each of The Oyster Circle properties, and all are very comparable, and sometimes even superior, to our Quintess homes. The great thing is that we are both very similar and our club members will enjoy a seamless experience with both club's properties.

The Veras Group: Have you personally been to any Oyster Circle properties?

Addoms: I have not been to an Oyster Circle home but am planning on visiting Cannes and St. Tropez in September. It is my favorite time to go and I only have so many Quintess nights to use each year.

With The Oyster Circle partnership, do you plan on adding any European properties into your portfolio any time in the future or do you envision The Oyster Circle portfolio of properties existing as the European component of a Quintess membership?

Addoms: Members generally tell us what they want and our surveys drive the process. If members feel strongly about the homes and destinations in The Oyster Circle collection, we might add Quintess homes in similar areas. At some point we may add another strategic partnership and make our partnership with The Oyster Circle permanent.

The Veras Group: Are there any limits to the reciprocal access between the clubs?

Addoms: We generally limit our plans to 10 nights per year, much like our Q Leading Experiences. We planned for about 250 nights to exchange per year.

The Veras Group: Could you speak about what it is like working with The Oyster Circle and the benefits it brings to members?

Addoms: I think it is fantastic to work with people who have similar qualities and our members are going to be excited to have doubled their number of European destinations. The Oyster Circle predominately bought non-city homes in Europe. The Oyster Circle's 50 to 60 members will now have access to more European city destinations, the Caribbean, and other US properties.

Nearly every major destination club in the industry now has multiple ancillary travel partnerships for their destination club members. By partnering two like minded clubs together, members not only have more destinations and homes available to them, but also a consistent travel experience no matter what club property they are visiting. Quintess and The Oyster Circle have already begun intermingling reservation and operational systems to help members of both clubs take full advantage of the partnership.

Check back tomorrow for part two of our interview with Quintess Founder and Executive Vice President, Ben Addoms, where he discusses the recent changes made at Quintess and his projection for the future of the destination club industry.

Original Article
Quintess's Ben Addoms Discusses Destination Club Partnership With The Oyster Circle

M Private Residences' Paul Poscente and Ken MacLean Destination Club Interview

The Veras Group recently sat down with Ken MacLean and Paul Poscente of M Private Residences to discuss the latest changes at the club and their take on the destination club industry, as part of our ongoing series speaking with many of the destination club CEOs.

The Veras Group: Ken, Paul. We’ll start with our hardest hitting question of the day. What does the M stand for?

Paul Poscente: (laughs) It’s whatever you want it to be!

The Veras Group: Ken and Paul, why are you stepping aside from M Private Residences and could you tell us more about your roles with the club moving forward?

Paul: The shareholders in M are fortunate to move forward with basically the same crew, except for Ken and I, that has been operating the company since its inception. It really isn’t a loss for shareholders in terms of management. There were obviously things I was working on as CEO, and Ken in sales and marketing, that we will continue to work on, of course. We are a quasi-public club and we believed this was a necessary change to the club, and also an evolution of the industry.

The Veras Group: How did Shareholders react to the changes being made at M Private Residences and your departure? Did you advise them beforehand?

Paul: Because we are a de facto public company, there were securities regulations to go through and circulars to be drafted, so yes. This was a long time coming. Although we obviously built the club for profit, it’s now a not-for-profit model. It’s a perfect place for M to be.

Ken MacLean: Really, shareholders were happy to get rid of us and lower their cost structure! Obviously, though, the board saw value in keeping us around.

The Veras Group: Gentlemen, can you discuss the new redemption policy that M Private Residences has put into place?

Ken: It is a true open market environment. What better way to set the value than someone who wants to buy it?

Paul: We are selling equity. You need a bid and you need an offer. Arbitrarily setting a price not connected to the market doesn’t make sense. Also, in an environment where all you are doing is selling shares, in a low growth environment like we face globally, you want the highest level of liquidity offered to shareholders.

Also, we wanted to make sure we structured a situation where members who were exiting the club, didn’t run the club. We wanted the people who want to stay in the club, to run the club. So I think we have struck a chord of equity between both groups. And, we could always revert back to the traditional 2 in 1 out sale process.

The Veras Group: Is there any advantage for a US-based member to join M Private Residences?
Ken: We have a few US members, and I guess, one example might be, to take advantage of different travel patterns. The classic example of Thanksgiving, that’s not a holiday here. You could have your pick of places to travel to.

Second, would be the US dollar in this particular economy. These points are obviously outside of whether a US member sees the model itself as a differentiating pattern.

Paul: The other item, because we have to act as a public company, is the level of transparency. Particularly now, given what’s gone on with the economy, with asset backed securities and toxic assets, the fact that the shareholders bout the management company, has provided a circumstance where there is no profit motive. It’s a sheer not-for-profit. We are the only club in which 90% of the capital coming in from share sales goes directly to assets. I don’t have to clip a 25% piece of that capital for commissions.

The Veras Group: With High Country Club forced to restructure their business model and Lusso Collection filing for Chapter 11, club's operating models have come into question. Do dues from M Private Residence shareholders cover your operating expenses?

Paul: My favorite subject! Before we decided it was in M shareholders’ interest to buy the management company, we courted and dated most of the major clubs outside of Exclusive Resorts, and talked about merging, acquiring, and selling. Through that process and without getting into any specifics, we got to see under the sheets of all these companies, and were aghast at the extent that operating costs failed to cover the cost of expenses, generally speaking. There were only a couple ways out, and that was for the management companies to continue to raise equity and cash or refinance the real estate in order to fund that delta. Let’s be very clear, at M, every dollar is covered by the operating costs. Every light switch, every cup of coffee, all the debt, all the salaries, all the sales, sales incentives, referral programs, every freaking dollar is in the annual dues.

Ken: Just by general nature Canadians are conservative, everyone knows that.

We could subsidize annual dues, but this is a not for profit club. It’s like a golf course. They have expenses, they divide that amount by their members, and that’s each member’s costs. What allows us to do this is to be a very lean business. We only have $5.9 million of debt on our entire portfolio.

We do monthly, hourly, P&Ls. We dedicated one guy to focus solely on the best practices and operations of our homes. We’re looking at everything from telemetry and remote operating of our facilities, to the proper temperature to heat the pools.

We have four years operating history, so we’ve got all of this worked out.

The Veras Group: Why join M Private Residences now rather than 6 to 12 months?

Paul: The obvious thing is if you believe this is the bottom or near the bottom of the real estate market, given our secondary market opportunities, this is probably the best time.

Ken: There is infinite supply in the industry, and so what’s the urgency to buy? This is the reverse, price is going down. We’ve been able to cut our cost, our capital cost, and there are some decent deals to be had on the secondary market.

Paul: We used to take a 28% commission, and there is no longer a need to increase our prices by 28% above the net asset value. So if you believe the membership is a good value, it would make sense to buy now.

The Veras Group: As shareholders, are there any properties you have been to that you think prospects and shareholders should know about or any properties coming online in the near future?

Ken: I’m a mountain guy. I love the Whistler property. Whistler is great because it’s a 12 season property. I’ve skied, I’ve mountain biked. You look right into the mountains, but are 2 minutes away from whatever you do. It’s good for family and it’s good for a guy’s weekend, a place you can go to again and again and again.

Paul: Our home in the big island in Hawaii. It represents the reason anyone would buy a destination club membership. Access to the Fairmont hotel. A walk to Starbucks. Bicycle ride to club house. Two world class golf courses. It is the best in our portfolio.

Ken: Outside of Whistler.

The Veras Group Opinion

We believe the changes undertaken by M Private Residences are intelligent ways to deal with the current market slowdown, and also represent an excellent opportunity for Canadian or US-based members. As each club seeks ways to make their model scalable for the new growth patterns emerging, we believe more options may turn to secondary markets for memberships, and applaud M’s change. By allowing exiting members to sell their memberships, the club provides a win-win for members that stay and for those that exit.

Clearly, with any major staffing change, there are potential hiccups, and we will continue to check with M Private Residences to follow-up on this transition period. So far, though, the changes appear to be widely appreciated by members and based on sound financial planning—just what the destination club industry will need for the years to come.

***

The Veras Group is the only unbiased destination club news, consulting and brokerage firm. As our client, we accompany your purchase from start to finish: customized reviews of your travel needs, unrestricted access to our expert advisors, insiders' advice from industry veterans, insightful due diligence support, thorough club comparisons and points of difference, and the best available terms & pricing on your membership, all at no cost to you.

Please reach one of our destination club advisors at 877-VERAS-07 or 970-449-4680 to learn more about the industry, specific clubs, and our service, or visit our website www.TheVerasGroup.com.

Join Us, We Know The Way

Original Article
M Private Residences' Paul Poscente and Ken MacLean Discuss Destination Clubs With The Veras Group

Everlands Contributes To Cancer Research

Ultra-luxury destination club Everlands considers land and wildlife conservation one of their primary pillars. In addition to their work to maintain the environment, the club is also helping to fight the war against cancer.

On November 8th, The University of Chicago Cancer Research Foundation Women's Board conducted its "Black and White Ball," raising over $800,000 to help discover new cancer treatments. The ball was part of the Women's Board's 42nd Annual Grand Auction Gala. Held at the Four Seasons Hotel, over 500 masked supporters attended the event, fashioned after a Truman Capote's Black and White Ball held in 1966 where 500 masked guests celebrated in New York.

As part of the auction, Everlands donated a week long stay at the Lone Mountain Ranch in Big Sky. Located just eighteen miles from Yellowstone National Park, the lodge is located on 160 acres of nearly untouched Montana land. Members enjoy pristine fishing, hiking, and skiing in the forests and mountains that envelope the ranch. Other auctioned items included jewelry from Tiffany & Co., trips to Moscow and Tokyo from American Airlines, and dinners from award winning chef Art Smith.

"It was an extraordinary evening that was made even more meaningful by the fact that these funds will go to research that will make tomorrow's important discoveries possible in the war against cancer," said event co-chair Nalisa War.

Everlands is also the proud sponsor of the annual Everlands Conservation Prize, a $1 million award given to one or more individuals who make extraordinary efforts to conserve wild life and land. Members help assist the club by nominating candidates and reviewing nominees.

Everlands isn't alone as other destination clubs continue to focus more and more on conservation friendly initiatives. Quintess absorbs the costs of energy consumption for each of their homes through their carbon offset program. Abercrombie & Kent planted a tree for every traveler in 2007, totaling over 30,000 trees.

Congratulations to Everlands for their continued work towards the conservation of land and wildlife and branching out to support other worthwhile initiatives.

Everlands Contributes To Cancer Research

The Veras Group Speaks With Distinctive Holiday Homes' CEO Nick Wood About The Destination Club Industry

This past weekend, The Veras Group spoke with Nick Wood, CEO of Distinctive Holiday Homes, a destination club with arguably the broadest international reach of any club. Hours before boarding a plane to the United States from New Zealand, Nick shared with us his vision for the industry, his firm, the current economic crisis, an upcoming offer to High Country Club members, and other thoughts of interest.

The Veras Group: What is the future of the destination club industry in your mind, over the next few years? What changes and consistencies will there be?

Nick Wood: There is going to be a general consolidation, I would think. In this particular economic climate there will be a few people caught with the tide out and no swimming trunks on.
Everyone expected there to be a downturn, and when we built up Distinctive Holiday Homes, we steered away from purchasing properties in America because we didn't think it would be a wise investment to purchase stuff that would be worth quite a bit less only months later.
And that is going to be a big problem for the industry to swallow. Much of the equity in properties has been eroded and most of the clubs have less than $1 in equity per $1 in member deposit.

All in all, there is also a positive side. There will be people who normally invest in property who will now think of new options, like holiday clubs. There will also be people who downsize and take a destination club or a timeshare over what they may have done before. Those things will drive customers to the product.

Right now, we seem to be getting a significant amount of traction, people making inquiries again. I think the wheels will start turning again toward the end of the year, and into the first quarter of next year. I don't think you will see the same volume of growth as in late 2007 early 2008, but I do think there will be a constant flow of new business. I also think there will be consolidation, which will make those companies stronger.

Many other countries are affected, but they don't have the property glut that the US does. And reality is what is going to be the key thing. People are going to be paying the real cost of what it costs to offer the service. It has to be financially viable.

People should be cautious. People should be looking at the structure. If things look too good to be true, they probably are.

The Veras Group: Does Distinctive Holiday Homes have an operating structure that insures members will join a stable club? What structures insure this?

Nick Wood: One of our strategies is to buy revenue generating businesses for the business. We own the resort in Fiji, which generates millions in revenue and profit each year. I've just been negotiating on another resort property at the moment. We have club member facilities at these properties. It also gives us free land, because it gives us space on these properties to build club homes. That also averages down our cost for building houses. We don't want to have a huge development. We are running a destination club, but we are also running a tourism business. This tourism business is not a property development business. We reverse the traditional club goal (of being a property development business) and put this all together with a complete service and tourism focus with a development component as part of that.

So, we are most focused on making sure that people have a holiday of a lifetime, and if we make some money on the property after a while, that’s great too. But, we want to have a property that blows your mind when you get there. We have a one staff to one house ratio (not one staff member looking after 2 or more homes), so in that sense they are more of a butler. They are making your breakfast and preparing your cocktails and can be on site as much as you need them, or not if you don't want them around. They are also real people, connected to the community, and a great asset.

Fundamentally, I took a pragmatic approach to the business. As soon as Tanner & Haley went splat, we changed our business model the day after. Previously, we had approached it similarly as everyone else. But after that changed, I decided the most important thing to have in the company to give people peace of mind, is a substantial capital base. We have made sure that we had extensive assets in the business, so everyone knows we had them cover. We would only have to sell one property to cover all of our obligations to members.

If we devaluate everything worldwide, we still have 8-9 times coverage on member deposits, plus the cash flow from our other businesses. We're not immune to the global economy, but we're not spending money like it goes out of style. We are relatively lightweight and mobile, so we can turn things on as fast as we can turn them off and we just wait for the right time to do that.

We are very cautious about things. We have to protect our members' deposits.

The Veras Group: How can Distinctive Holiday Homes support this structure?

Nick Wood: We don't have reservation services in an office to make their holiday vacations. Our members book on line, and once they book they are connected directly to the person in the destination, to start planning their destination. And for every "x" number of those people, we have a manager who keeps them doing their job. This keeps us lean and mean so we don't have to duplicate lots of staff.

Our resort in Fiji turns over $6 million per year. Several million dollars profit. This goes toward the operating costs of all of our other homes. This also gives us a slight advantage over other clubs which rely on members and their dues and deposits only.

The Veras Group: How much are your members traveling right now?

Nick Wood: I think we did 150-200 extra days in our first year of operation, on top of the allocated days. Many of our customers are European and from the Pacific, and so they don't plan as far in advance because they have lots more vacation time than our US-based members. So they don't plan super far in advance. We are usually chasing them down the week before they arrive to get their flight details because they are very relaxed! Plus holiday times are at different times. We also don’t have people fighting for homes at the same time, because everyone has different holidays, our properties are very well spread, and you're not all trying to fight for the school vacations. That is why our availability is so good.

The Veras Group: What advantage is there for a member to join Distinctive Holiday Homes today, versus waiting 6-12 months?

Nick Wood: I don’t honestly think there is one. The price increases will not be possible, because that’s what most of the clubs were doing, to raise prices to get people to jump in and make a decision. I think the momentum these days is really when people want to take a vacation. We see most of the time when people join it’s because they have to take a vacation.

We’ve lowered our prices recently, because we reevaluated our needs and we simply didn’t need as much as we were charging. I don’t think we will be lowering our prices any more, but we don’t need to be greedy.

The Veras Group: You’ve mentioned making a special offer to former High Country Club members who may like to join Distinctive Holiday Homes. What is the specific offer to HCC members?

Nick Wood: We'll make some offers in the not to distant future. I think in the next 30-45 days we'll have something put together. It may be possible to put 10-12 destinations together immediately for a group to use, and that's what I’m going to spend the next 2 weeks working on in the US, to put it together quickly and efficiently and have something by the end of the year or sooner.

Unfortunately, High Country Club has way too much debt to equity, and what you're doing is picking up a whole lot of credit. You'll have to leverage it out in court for cents on the dollar, and that would be quite a long headache. It's much easier for us to pick up 12 new places that we've already done due diligence on, which are in very similar locations as High Country Club’s properties.

The beauty of our plan is that the membership deposits we will start collecting from former High Country Club members will allow for another 10-20 homes over time, which gives the correct number of properties, and everyone should be a happy little camper. And unfortunately they will just have to face the fact that they lost money somewhere else. I think it’s a fair offer, a reasonable one, and we won't put their money at risk for a second time. And if they don't like it at the end of the year, they would have only paid $600 per night of travel, or if it all went to hell in a hand basket at the end of the year, which it won’t.

Will the members join us is another question. We just have to make the offer and see.

The Veras Group: Any final thoughts?

Nick Wood: I'm still pretty positive about the industry. It has a long term future because it makes sense. The reality of what it is, is combining people's money to buy a property without debt--or that’s what it is supposed to be. So you can get the best economies of scale for the user. We do it for a lot less cost than what it would cost members by themselves.

We have also had massive positive feedback about the product, many, many emails almost every time someone stays, that it is the best investment they have made for their family, time and time again.

The Veras Group Speaks With Distinctive Holiday Homes' CEO Nick Wood

About The Veras Group
The Veras Group is the only unbiased destination club news, consulting and brokerage firm. As our client, we accompany your purchase from start to finish: customized reviews of your travel needs, unrestricted access to our expert advisors, insiders' advice from industry veterans, insightful due diligence support, thorough club comparisons and points of difference, and the best available terms & pricing on your membership, all at no cost to you.

Please reach one of our destination club advisors at 877-VERAS-07 or 970-449-4680 to learn more about the industry, specific clubs, and our service, or visit our website www.TheVerasGroup.com.

Join us: we know the way.

Ultimate Escapes Discounts Membership To High Country Club Members

As High Country Club evaluates their options, destination club Ultimate Escapes attempts to court High Country Club members who look to continue enjoying destination club travel.
In an offer made only to High Country Club members, Ultimate Escapes will give current High Country Club members "a substantial credit toward membership in any club and at any plan level." Based on the plan, High Country Club members could save up to $40,000 on their membership with Ultimate Escapes.

According to High Country Club's CEO, Christian Kirschner, the club began to fall on hard times earlier this year in tandem with the real estate and stock markets downward trends. According to Kirschner, property values of the club's portfolio of luxury real estate dropped as much as 50 percent and obtaining financing grew more and more difficult throughout the year. Kirschner began destination club merger discussions with multiple clubs in the industry and elected to move forward with one, going as far as signing documents to begin the acquisition. The crash of the financial markets forced the acquiring club to back out almost a month ago.

In an attempt to keep their club alive, High Country Club restructured their business model and created the High Country Club Success Plan. The Success Plan was built upon decreasing the number of homes available to members and increasing annual dues, allowing the club to become self sufficient and able to survive exclusively on annual dues from members. Roughly 75 percent of members would need to approve the plan for it to be implemented. A preliminary vote conducted earlier this week forced High Country Club to delay their Success Plan due to insufficient support from members.

Ultimate Escapes, High Country Club's closest price competitor, saw an opportunity to market their destination club to a group of individuals already sold on the destination club concept. Available exclusively to High Country Club members, Ultimate Escapes will discount all three of their three clubs: Premiere, Signature, and Elite. High Country Club members will receive a $20,000 credit towards Premiere, $30,000 towards Signature, and $40,000 towards Elite.

Ultimate Escapes Premiere
The closest membership to High Country Club, Ultimate Escapes Premiere residences average approximately $1 million each and 2,000 square feet. Plans range from $70,000 for 14 nights of annual usage up to $150,000 for the highest and newest plan, Ultimate Escapes Platinum Plus, allowing members 60 nights of usage.

Ultimate Escapes Signature
The next highest membership level, Ultimate Escapes Signature has over 70 properties, averaging $2 million each and 3,000 square feet. Plans range from $145,000 to $300,000.

Ultimate Escapes Elite
Averaging $3 million per property, Elite is the highest membership offering at Ultimate Escapes. Typically offering four to six bedrooms and over 4,000 square feet, Elite Members have access to over 50 luxury vacation homes worldwide.

Ultimate Escapes will also offer High Country Club members a "Premiere Club Affiliate Membership" with a $35,000 membership deposit and $4,000 per year in annual dues. As an Affiliate Member, the club provides seven nights of usage, including one advanced reservation and a 60-day space available window to Premiere homes.

Ultimate Escapes, the marriage of Private Escapes and Ultimate Resort, has extensive experience with destination club mergers and acquiring struggling clubs. Prior to the Ultimate Escapes merger, Ultimate Resort acquired the assets of Tanner & Haley following their bankruptcy. Much like Ultimate Escapes, Tanner & Haley Destination Club had multiple clubs: Private Retreats, Distinctive Retreats, and Legendary Retreats. Ultimate Escapes acquired the club's assets in a bidding war that included both Private Escapes and Ciel.

Earlier this year, Ultimate Resort acquired Ventures Equity, a small equity destination club that struggled to get off the ground. Like many other equity destination clubs, Ventures Equity faced strict marketing regulations and could only discuss their club with "accredited investors."

Most recently, Ultimate Resort and Private Escapes merged to form the industry's second largest destination club, trailing only Exclusive Resorts in members and properties.
After learning the results of the preliminary vote earlier this week, Christian Kirschner stated, "I have decided to give ourselves two more weeks to evaluate our options and opportunities."

With Ultimate Escapes vying for the members of High Country Club and Nick Wood from Distinctive Holiday Homes and Jarvis Slade, Jr. from Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club creating another option for High Country Club members, the opportunities available to Christian may very well be getting slimmer and slimmer.

The Ultimate Escapes offer is limited to 200 High Country Club members and ends December 12.

To learn more about the Ultimate Escapes plan for High Country Club members and how it compares to the Distinctive Holiday Homes and Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club offers, please contact The Veras Group, your complimentary resource to destination club advice.

Original Article
Ultimate Escapes Discounts Destination Club Memberships To High Country Club Members

About The Veras Group
The Veras Group is the only unbiased destination club news, consulting and brokerage firm. As our client, we accompany your purchase from start to finish: customized reviews of your travel needs, unrestricted access to our expert advisors, insiders' advice from industry veterans, insightful due diligence support, thorough club comparisons and points of difference, and the best available terms & pricing on your membership, all at no cost to you.

Please reach one of our destination club advisors at 877-VERAS-07 or 970-449-4680 to learn more about the industry, specific clubs, and our service, or visit our website www.TheVerasGroup.com.

Join us: we know the way.

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

The Veras Group is the only unbiased destination club news, consulting and brokerage firm. As our client, we accompany your purchase from start to finish: customized reviews of your travel needs, unrestricted access to our expert advisors, insiders' advice from industry veterans, insightful due diligence support, thorough club comparisons and points of difference, and the best available terms & pricing on your membership, all at no cost to you.

Please reach one of our destination club advisors at 877-VERAS-07 or 970-449-4680 to learn more about the industry, specific clubs, and our service, or visit our website www.TheVerasGroup.com.

Join us: we know the way.

Secondary Sales of High Country Club Memberships Dependent On Success Plan

High Country Club, once a leading destination club and a member of the Destination Club Association, was forced to restructure their business model to adapt to the current financial and real estate climate. During the course of the past several weeks, High Country Club's CEO Christian Kirschner with help from legal council and members helped craft a Success Plan to make the destination club self sufficient, allowing the club to exist solely on membership annual dues to cover operating expenses.

To accomplish this, High Country Club was forced to decrease the number of luxury vacation homes available to members and increase annual dues of current members. To minimize their operating expenses, High Country Club restructuring also forced the club to lay off well over 75 percent of their employees, including two of Kirschner's brothers.

Due to the economy, High Country Club has elected to suspend new membership sales and allow current High Country Club members to sell their existing memberships to prospective members if the Success Plan is approved November 17, 2008. For the Success Plan to be approved, roughly 75 percent of the current members would need to sign new addendums agreeing to the increased annual dues. In a preliminary Success Plan vote, nearly 75 percent of members voted yes.

As opposed to the standard destination club model where a predetermined number of new members must be added to the club before one is redeemed, allowing members to determine the price that they are willing to sell their membership effectively makes the membership and membership deposit much more liquid.

Based on the club's resignation list and resignation policies, High Country Club will post the first member chronologically in each membership type from the resignation list on the High Country Club website. Resigning members will be able to set their own pricing on the membership deposit, but cannot exceed the most recent pricing structure used by High Country Club. Membership annual dues and terms can not be changed.

Despite the fact that members who aren't at the top of the resignation list can still sell their membership on the open market, members who are at the top of the list hold complete control of the resignation process.

If a Private Member wants to sell their membership for $79,000 (the last publicly sold pricing for Private Memberships was $80,000), and they are at the top of the resignation list and do not sell their membership, they are effectively holding all other Private Members hostage. As mentioned before, all other Private Members in this example could continue trying to sell their membership, but it is very unlikely that they will receive the exposure the highest person on the resignation list will see.

As you can see above based on the first people on the resignation list, there are widespread differences between what resigning members are seeking when they sell their membership. The highest Private Member with 35 nights of access on the resignation list is seeking to sell their membership for $65,000. Another Private Member but with 45 nights of access is also attempting to resign their membership but only wants $27,935. Although many Private Members with 35 nights of access may be behind this member, it is unlikely that anyone will purchase this membership when another member is selling their membership for $37,065 less and ten additional nights of annual travel.

Leading Canadian equity destination club M Private Residences has also made substantial changes to their business model and also allows members to sell their membership on the open market. Following the changes at M Private Residences, the new redemption policy works far differently from the proposed plan at High Country Club. Prospective members interested in M Private Residences place a bid on what they would like to pay for their membership. Each member of that membership type on the redemption list can potentially sell to this interested party. The person highest on the resignation list is offered what the interested buyer bid. That member can elect to accept the bid or deny it. Accepting it means that the membership is sold to the new party and the new member can begin traveling like any other member. If the member rejects the offer, the next highest person on the resignation list is offered the same bid the prospective member made. If members continue denying the bid placed by the prospective member, the process continues until the last member on the resignation list has the opportunity to accept or deny. If they also deny, the bidder may increase their bid and the process begins anew.

The results of High Country Club's Success Plan should be available Friday. If successful, members may have the opportunity to recoup some of their membership deposits by selling to other interested parties. If not, the destination club will be forced to liquidate their assets and members may not see anything.

Either way, the upcoming 48 hours will be watched closely by Christian Kirschner, 375 members, and the rest of the destination club industry.

Original Article
Sales of High Country Club Memberships Dependent on Success Plan

The Veras Group is the only unbiased destination club news, consulting and brokerage firm. As our client, we accompany your purchase from start to finish: customized reviews of your travel needs, unrestricted access to our expert advisors, insiders' advice from industry veterans, insightful due diligence support, thorough club comparisons and points of difference, and the best available terms & pricing on your membership, all at no cost to you.

Please reach one of our destination club advisors at 877-VERAS-07 or 970-449-4680 to learn more about the industry, specific clubs, and our service, or visit our website www.TheVerasGroup.com.

Join us: we know the way.

Vita Luxury's Thanos Papalexis Arrested For Murder

According to British authorities, Thanos Papalexis, a representative for the recently closed destination club Vita Luxury, has been linked to a vicious murder in 2000.
According to documents unsealed in Federal Court in West Palm Beach late Monday, Papalexis and two accomplices murdered a small-time gambler named Charalambos Christodoulides in 2000.

U.S. law enforcement authorities were notified in April and arrested Papalexis outside a local restaurant in downtown West Palm Beach on Friday. Wayne Pickering, the supervisory Deputy at the West Palm Beach Marshall's Office, confirmed that his men had been discreetly tailing Papalexis. "The warrant was issued Friday, and we picked him up right away," said Pickering. "The request came from the United Kingdom, and he is a suspect in a homicide. He is at the county jail until a decision is made about his extradition."

A British citizen, Papalexis is being held without bail at the Palm Beach County Jail. Monday, Papalexis had an initial court appearance in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge James Hopkins. In a hearing next week, Papalexis will indicate if he will fight the extradition. In 2000, Papalexis allegedly was working in real estate development centered on a run-down warehouse district in a rough London neighborhood of Kilburn. According to the unsealed documents, 55-year-old Charalambos Christodoulides was living in a small flat above a shuttered wine warehouse for years prior and refused to leave, costing Papalexis $120,000 per week in interest to a loan shark who loaned him money to buy the property. According to U.S. Federal Court records, Papalexis and two accomplices "took care" of the problem. "Papalexis' connection to the murder is documented with phone records, legal documents and forensic evidence. Some forensic evidence removed from the crime scene includes materials containing both Papalexis' fingerprings and the victim's blood," according to court documents.

According to an article in London's Evening Standard, police found blood in the warehouse courtyard, suggesting that Christodoulides was first attacked there. It appears next he was tied to a chair in his second floor flat and beaten "as if his killers were trying to get information out of him."

Eventually, Christodoulides was straggled. His body was then dragged down the stairs and drenched in paint-thinner to throw off police dogs and subsequently dumped into a mechanic's pit. Police later found Christodoulides wrapped in a blanket, two wool hats pulled over his head. According to police, there had been so much blood that the murderers spent a long time cleaning the walls and floors.

Back in 2000, Detective Inspector Adrian Blackledge told the paper, "A great deal of effort was taken to cover up this crime so whoever did it knew exactly what they were doing."

Vita Luxury, a destination club that offered luxury watercraft, vehicles, and jet services in addition to luxury real estate failed to launch earlier this year. Papalexis started several other similar firms prior to Vita Luxury promising much of the same. All failed to gain any momentum in the destination club industry. Brian Eisenberg served as Marketing Director of Vita Luxury and stated that he grew suspicious of Papalexis when he informed him that he couldn't return back to Europe.

"There was a rumor someone turned up dead on the construction site of one of his developments in London," said Eisenberg. "Everybody thought it was just a rumor."

Vita Luxury's Thanos Papalexis Arrested For Murder

The Veras Group is the only unbiased destination club news, consulting and brokerage firm. As our client, we accompany your purchase from start to finish: customized reviews of your travel needs, unrestricted access to our expert advisors, insiders' advice from industry veterans, insightful due diligence support, thorough club comparisons and points of difference, and the best available terms & pricing on your membership, all at no cost to you.

Please reach one of our destination club advisors at 877-VERAS-07 or 970-449-4680 to learn more about the industry, specific clubs, and our service, or visit our website www.TheVerasGroup.com.

Join us: we know the way.

M Private Residences Introduces New Pricing, Structure, and Membership Plans

Canada's largest destination club, M Private Residences, is making substantial changes to their membership pricing, plans, and business model.

While Solstice Collection has announced an upcoming price increase in their membership deposit and Lusso Collection has extended their current pricing, M Private Residences will lower their membership deposit to more closely align with current real estate values.

The new membership deposits will range from $210,000 for 21 nights of usage to $420,000 for 60 nights. The American Dollar currently holds a strong position relative to the Canadian Dollar, allowing the club to take advantage of falling real estate prices and American and European prospects to enjoy destination club discounts. 93 percent of capital raised by the club will go towards new property acquisitions. One of the industry's leading equity clubs, M Private Residences offers audited financial insight into both their property values and operating costs, measures that far exceed the requirements of the Destination Club Association. Annual dues paid by shareholders cover all of the club's operating costs, allowing M Private Residences to be completely self-sustaining and not reliant on new destination clubs sales to survive, a business model that High Country Club is attempting to implement with their new Success Plan.

M Private Residences will also now become wholly-owned and operated by its shareholders. Paul Poscente and Ken MacLean, Founders of M Private Residences, will step down from their management roles. Both will remain with the club as members and the club's Board will be composed entirely of shareholders.

In addition, M Private Residences has greatly altered their membership redemption policy, now allowing shareholders to sell their membership on the open market. Like many other destination clubs, prior to the change, M Private Residences redeemed members on a "two in, one out" basis where two new members were required to let one existing member out.

Members looking to redeem their membership are placed on the club's resignation list. Prospective M Private Residence members put in an offer for the class they would like to join at. The first person on the resignation list with the share class that the prospective member is seeking can accept or deny the offer placed for their membership. If the shareholder denies, the second person on the resignation list is offered to sell their membership at that price. The process continues on through the resignation list until the offer is accepted. If no one accepts the offer, the prospective member can increase their offer and the process begins anew. M Private Residences takes an 8 percent transfer fee on sold memberships.

Prior to implementing this new redemption procedure, M Private Residences sought approval from their shareholders, a testament to the club's wholly owned and operated by shareholders mentality.

Totaling 17 homes in their portfolio, M Private Residences average over $2 million each. With four homes in British Columbia and multiple homes in Hawaii, Arizona, and Cabo San Lucas, M Private Residences' portfolio is quickly becoming one of the strongest equity options in the destination club industry.

Original Article
http://www.theverasgroup.com/index.php?pr=Destination_Club_News-M_Private_Residences_Introduces_New_Reduced_Pricing_Structure_and_Membership_Plans

About The Veras Group
The Veras Group is the only unbiased destination club news, consulting and brokerage firm. As our client, we accompany your purchase from start to finish: customized reviews of your travel needs, unrestricted access to our expert advisors, insiders' advice from industry veterans, insightful due diligence support, thorough club comparisons and points of difference, and the best available terms & pricing on your membership, all at no cost to you.

Please reach one of our destination club advisors at 877-VERAS-07 or 970-449-4680 to learn more about the industry, specific clubs, and our service, or visit our website www.TheVerasGroup.com.

Join us: we know the way.