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

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