We are delighted to announce a new destination, Santa Barbara, California, opening with two Club properties. South-facing beaches yield day-long sun illuminating the rocky cliffs. Vineyard-shrouded mountains produce world-renowned wines tempting connoisseurs to indulge. Culturally-chic clientele proliferate boutique shops, exquisite dining, a sophisticated nightlife, and more. This is Santa Barbara. Just north of the rambunctious activity of Los Angeles, celebrities, socialites and sightseers alike slow down in Santa Barbara — appropriately named for providing sailors refuge from a storm on Feast Day of the Patron Saint. From classic to contemporary, funky to functional, this coastal town offers quiet courtyards, a bustling wharf and a carefree Californian disposition. Reminiscent of a Mediterranean village, white stucco buildings and red tile roofs speckle the foothills of the Santa Inez Mountains. Day trips over the mountains and into The Valley unveil a world-renowned wine country dotted with stately oak trees. Finish each day with an enchanted evening basking in the golden glow of sunset.

Location! Location! Location! Your two luxuriously appointed Mediterranean-style town homes sit prime in downtown Santa Barbara, providing sophisticated living in a premiere destination. Both properties are spacious, two-bedroom town homes. The whitewashed exterior spills in with the sunlight. The dark oak flooring and furniture add a dramatic flare as windows and French doors draw you onto the balconies.

The three-level properties are surrounded with palms rustling in the refreshing breeze. You and your guests can take in the sun from the terrace or relax in front of the fireplace and enjoy a serene evening. The open layout of these homes makes for a perfect getaway for two couples. Whether it’s a last-minute whim to drive the 101 or a week-long vacation to mellow in the contagious California vibes, Santa Barbara will have you feeling at home instantly. Tesoro de Lunar, the larger 2,105-square-foot property has a western facing terrace perfect for watching the moon rise. Tesoro de Solar, the 1,822-square-foot property has an eastern facing terrace just right for watching sunrise over the mountains. And both properties are in walking distance of the beach (one mile), running paths, shopping, restaurants, and more.

From the latest LUSSO press release:

Located in the heart of the scenic Colorado Rocky Mountains, Copper Mountain is a full service resort that offers everything you could desire in a year-round mountain vacation. In recent years, Copper’s base village area has undergone an extensive redevelopment and now includes all the “total resort” amenities—fine dining, shopping, bars, clubs, daily activities and entertainment.

Known locally as “Colorado’s Perfect Ski Mountain,” Copper is Summit County’s largest ski and snowboard resort. Copper Mountain’s naturally divided terrain ranges from beginner to extreme. This is the perfect place to hit the slopes with family and friends of all ski levels. And if you want more, consider this—within a half hour drive from Copper you can access an incomparable 16,000 acres of skiable terrain across the resorts of Beaver Creek, Vail, Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin and Keystone.

During the summer months, outdoor enthusiasts will find the choices endless: championship golf courses designed by the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Pete Dye and Tom Lehman; scenic mountain biking and road biking; hiking; gold-medal fly fishing; white-water rafting and much more.

After a busy day of enjoying all the activities that surround you, our Sky View residence is the perfect place to come home. Surrounded by pine trees and breathtaking mountain views, guests will be swept away by the peacefulness and natural beauty that showcase this spectacular residence. The 3,300 square-foot floor plan was perfectly designed to capture the unique ambiance of its setting. Walnut flooring, wood-vaulted ceilings and a stone fireplace highlight the main living area. Expansive sliding doors open to a large patio privately enclosed by the wooded pines. In addition to the main floor living areas, there is a large first-level game room, rooftop hot tub, fire pit and four bedroom suites ensuring plenty of room for fun and privacy for all. And, Sky View’s direct ski-in and ski-out access affords you the luxury of stepping out your door right onto the slopes.

We are also excited to announce the development of two spectacular penthouse properties in Breckenridge, Colorado with availability for the 2009-2010 ski season. These wonderful four bedroom, four bathroom, ski in/ski out residences are in the Shock Hill Lodge & Spa—the most exclusive new development in Breckenridge—with full resort amenities including spa, infinity pool, dining, and gondola access to both the mountain and to the “perfect ski town” below.

The direct ski access residences are located in the Teton Village area, at the base of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. This resort is made up of two mountains - Après Vous for the whole family to enjoy, and Rendezvous Mountain for expert terrain and runs.

The LUSSO homes in Jackson Hole feature spacious great rooms, gourmet kitchens and large dining rooms, with hardwood floors, hot tubs, stone fireplaces and post and beam architecture.

LUSSO’s membership deposit will be increasing effective March 1, 2008 - from $395,000 to $425,000. The company is also planning to stop offering its Membership Reward feature. As CEO Steve Greer says in his letter to current and prospective members:

This feature was always intended to reward those Members joining the Club in its earliest phases of development—notionally the first 150 members. These Members would receive not only a full refund of their deposit should they leave the Club but also 50 percent of the increase in the membership deposit during the period of their membership. As we are rapidly approaching that development milestone, from March 1 we will move [for new members] to simply a 100 percent refundable deposit, still an exceptional offering in a landscape where 80 percent has become the norm.

The Lady Quintess

The Lady Quintess has three spacious staterooms, a fourth bunk room suitable for two children, and an expansive galley and salon fitted with all appliances.

The yacht will be cruising the Eastern Seaboard initially, and will motor north in May.

Our pricing for new Members joining the Club is increasing, effective January 1, 2008. The recent announcements of the new destinations of Punta Cana and Santa Barbara as well as our adding homes in Steamboat Springs and Vail continues our ongoing real estate expansion and along with Member growth and new service offerings this is the best time to join. To use our most popular 50 night Q5 Unlimited family plan with holiday use (similar to our previous Premium Unlimited family plan with holiday use) as an example, the deposit price will increase by $15,000 to $425,000, with corresponding annual dues remaining at $38,500. We continue to offer all new Members a 100 percent deposit return policy within the first year to ensure that Quintess, LRW is the right fit for our Members and their families.

Quintess members can donate plan nights to the charity of their choice - presumably to be auctioned or raffled off to raise funds.

Donations can be made for a specific home in either the Advance or Short-Term reservation window, and at least three nights must be donated. The club will charge a fee of $1,000 per donation to ‘cover the cost of marketing materials, staff time and post-event follow-up’. The club says that the donation process ‘takes greater resources than one might expect’, and that it wants ‘to properly allocate time for planning and coordinating each event, as well as time to develop a relationship with the recipient and orient them to the Club.’

LR: Hi Steve. Thanks for taking the time to chat. For whom is LUSSO a natural choice, do you think, and why? Feel free to describe a ‘typical’ scenario, if you like.

SG: A LUSSO membership makes most sense for someone who is committed to traveling a minimum of 2-3 weeks per year and is looking for a luxury travel experience. It works particularly well for those who like to travel with family and friends and will therefore really appreciate the expansive homes that we have in our portfolio.

Since the concept is one of shared access it may require some flexibility at times on the part of the member as to where they travel, so empty nesters find the Club particularly appealing since they have fewer constraints as to when they can travel.

However, the unique way in which we have structured LUSSO makes us a natural choice for a wide range of people, including those with school-age children. Beyond economics, most prospective members are focused on just how easy it to be able to travel at the times that they want to travel and to the sort of places that they want to travel to.

We recognize that some of our members are constrained by when they can travel – typically by the schedules of their school-age children (and not just during the school year, given the extent of participation in other activities during school breaks). This is how we, as I said uniquely, address that:

(1) No more than 35% of our Members will have school-age children

We wouldn’t pretend that someone without school-age children would not consider traveling during school breaks but the fact is that they have a lot more flexibility and often a desire to travel close to, but not overlapping with, those times. For example, taking a spring break trip in early March or mid April rather than between say March 15 and April 7 which are by far the most common school spring break weeks. Airports are less crowded, flights are cheaper (and more readily available) and yet everything at the destination is open – it is certainly not “out of season”.

(2) We sell our Memberships with a balanced geographical dispersion across the country

This achieves two things. Firstly, it spreads out the occurrence of spring break for those Members who do have school-age children more evenly across the peak period. Secondly, it balances the regional travel patterns that exist across the U.S. A perfect example of this is Floridians and Minnesotans – their travel patterns are often diametrically opposed so when Minnesotans are most looking to travel (typically Q1 of the calendar), Floridians are likely to not be traveling.

(3) We have the lowest ratio of Members-to-properties in the destination club industry.

At 5.5:1, if all of our Members traveled 28 days a year our properties would be occupied 42% of the time. Even allowing for a generous use of gift reservations at no extra cost (again, unique to us) we would still be at less than 60% occupancy. Most other clubs are targeting 70% occupancy rates – this could translate to higher than 80% occupancy when expressed as a percentage of “desirable” rather than “theoretical” capacity.

Obviously the 42% is an annual average. The occupancy range is probably from 70% (at certain times during the peak periods (Christmas, New Year, Presidents Week, Spring Break, other “secondary” holidays such as Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving, and the 10 prime weeks of summer) down to 30% or less outside of these times.

(4) We only have one tier of individual Membership.

This is crucially important. We have resisted the temptation to offer “LUSSO Lite” – a lower priced, shorter reservation window and capped usage membership level. We believe these would have the effect of “filling in”, albeit closer to a travel date, much of the Club’s capacity not yet reserved by the full-paying Members. These types of Memberships, along with excessive “group” memberships (ours are strictly limited), would have the effect of inflating the effective number of members potentially wanting to use the Club at what are already peak demand times. We also prefer for all of our Members to know that they are on a “level playing field” with all other Members when it comes to reserving properties.

(5) Our Priority Groups for Holiday Periods ensure equitable access for all of our Members and a guarantee of at least one Holiday reservation every year.

LR: Can you explain for us the differences in your plan levels, and the reasons people choose each of them? Can you tell us which is the most popular?

SG: We have only one category of Individual membership and this represents 95% of our overall membership base. The remaining 5% are either group or corporate memberships where the primary differences are a cap on the total number of days’ usage each year.

See above as to why we decided to maintain one only category of individual membership.

LR: What do you think are the most important questions a prospective member should ask of a destination club? Any questions that people tend to forget?

SG: Ask a lot of questions about availability and delve into specifics about destinations you are interested in – don’t just accept aggregate statistics that may not reveal what is of most interest to you. Make sure that % availability in future periods is genuine availability and does not happen to be available because no members are allowed to reserve for that period yet.

If additional incentives (i.e. relative to advertised price) are being offered to entice you to join, ask why and ask how you can be sure that other and better incentives will not be offered to the next person. Ask how the cost of these incentives is likely to impact the dues you will be paying in future.

LR: How do you respond to the very common (and important) question ‘What guarantee do I have that I will always be able to receive a refund of my membership deposit?’

SG: We have an industry-leading DepositTrust™ feature that provides our Members with a secured interest in our real estate assets – ahead of general creditors and investors. We also commit in the Membership Agreement that no less than 85% of the Deposit will be used for real estate purposes or held in cash. We report semi-annually on our compliance with this commitment.

LR: Equity-based destination clubs seem to be gaining popularity. Do you think the trend will continue, and what do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of that model compared with the options you offer?

The trend is likely to continue, however such clubs are often hampered by (i) a members-to-properties ratio closer to 10:1 which severely limits availability, and (ii) an potential inability to publicly market the Club (e.g. Crescendo) if it is indeed a security. We don’t feel that the existence of reasonable amounts of leverage is a deterrent to potential members – most would gladly trade greater availability for some reasonable degree of leverage on the real estate.

LR: Service is a huge part of what destination clubs offer their members, but it’s not always clear to prospective members just what they might be able to expect. Can you give us any examples of times when your staff have been able to go the extra mile, or help out in unusual situations?

SG: We have many examples….here are a few.

A friend accompanying one of our members suffered a bereavement of a family member back home during the trip – our concierge showed up at 5am to drive the friend to the airport so that there was minimal disruption to the rest of the vacation party and the friend was personally accompanied back from the property to the airport.

Our concierge in Hawaii, knowing that a member in residence loved to cook, called from the local market to tell about the wonderful monkfish that was rarely available but was in that day. He brought it over and the member still talks about that wonderful little touch and what a difference it made to her vacation experience.

Members traveling from the Twin Cities with two small children, connecting in Phoenix to go to Lake Tahoe, left their Baby Bjorn (baby carrier) in the overhead compartment of the flight into Phoenix and only discovered it after running to catch the connecting flight. Before the aircraft door closed on the connecting flight the husband text messaged the concierge asking if she could find a replacement product for them. When they landed in Reno he had a text message waiting from the concierge confirming that it had been done and would be waiting for them when they arrived at the club property in Lake Tahoe.

Members in Deer Valley, out snowmobiling for the day, decided they were too tired to eat out that night and wanted to dine in. They used their Blackberry to e-mail the concierge on her Blackberry and requested her to cancel their dinner reservation and to have a list of groceries in the residence by the time they returned from snowmobiling. Needless to say, the concierge arranged all of this and had the property ready for their return, fireplace burning, kitchen stocked, etc etc.

Within a week of joining the club, one member contacted our “Wherever, Whenever” concierge service that is available to all members and requested tickets to the London premier of the latest Harry Potter movie a few weeks later. The concierge service came up with two tickets, at no cost to the member (when they were selling for $4,000 each).

LR: What’s on the horizon for the company?

SG: Continued growth of the membership base and the property/destination portfolio. A third of our members are referrals from other members and we expect this to be a significant component of our future growth.

We may also consider launching similar clubs perhaps with different geographical focus.

LR: What’s on the horizon for the industry as a whole?

SG: Total destination club memberships sold to date across all clubs is no more than 6,000.

Industry observers predict that the destination club category could grow to anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000 in the U.S. – though at the higher end of this scale it is likely that more would be at lower price points than LUSSO.

Regardless, we can confidently say that less than 1% of our target audience has joined a destination club and the sector has achieved less than 10% (possibly as little as 1%) of its ultimate penetration.

With growth, particularly with lower priced clubs selling memberships in large volumes, is likely to come regulation similar to that seen in the timeshare and fractional sectors.

OUR ANALYSIS

One of the most useful things about these interviews is that they provide a chance to see how the people driving the destination clubs handle themselves. We think it says a lot if a CEO comes across as having his or her head screwed on straight, and having thought through the important questions and considerations.

Steve has given solid answers and shown that LUSSO really has taken the time to consider the key issues. We’ve always been impressed with the way that LUSSO conducts itself, and we think this interview provides more evidence that they’re running a tight ship.

Steve makes some excellent points about assessing destination clubs, and we’ll chime in to say that he’s 100% right that destination club members owe it to themselves to check out the clubs thoroughly.

The Oyster Circle’s Chamonix chateau

LR: Good morning Paul. For whom is The Oyster Circle a natural choice, do you think, and why? Feel free to describe a ‘typical’ scenario, if you like.

PC: The Oyster Circle is really aimed at individuals who desire to take most of their vacations in Europe. Whilst we have luxury homes all over the world, the majority will be in Europe. For example I am currently working on finishing the interiors on three new homes in Lake Garda – Italy, St Tropez – France, and Les Trois Valleés, France.

We have found that the type of individuals who join are High Earners who need the comprehensive level of service and planning we provide. They are often time poor and we introduce a large degree of organisation into their lives. Currently the majority of Members are British or Irish but we have been successful in attracting Members who are American nationals based both in the US and in mainland Europe.

LR: Can you explain for us the differences in your plan levels, and the reasons people choose each of them? Can you tell us which is the most popular?

PC: We have kept the plan options very simple. They are as follows:
Individual Preference Share (Entrance Fee) € 300,000 (1 Membership nominee)
Corporate Preference Share (Entrance Fee) € 360,000 (Up to 5 Membership nominees)

Individual Annual Subscription 28 days usage - € 20,000
Individual Annual Subscription 35 days usage - € 24,000
Corporate Annual Subscription 35 days usage - € 28,800

The Individual 35 day option is the most popular.

LR: What do you think are the most important questions a prospective member should ask of a destination club? Any questions that people tend to forget?

PC: Who are the backers and what resources do they have?
Are your properties let to non-Members?

LR: How do you respond to the very common (and important) question ‘What guarantee do I have that I will always be able to receive a refund of my membership deposit?’

PC: We are able to inform Members of the background and scale of the original investors. We also purchase the majority of homes and in fact by the time we fill the Membership, we will own all our homes. This gives the company a firm asset basis.

LR: Equity-based destination clubs seem to be gaining popularity. Do you think the trend will continue, and what do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of that model compared with the options you offer?

PC: I think the equity based option will expand and in fact we are privately offering this option to our existing Members. The main weakness is that the focus between lifestyle and financial return can get blurred and standards can suffer. Our primary focus is on the quality of lifestyle which we offer our Members.

LR: Service is a huge part of what destination clubs offer their members, but it’s not always clear to prospective members just what they might be able to expect. Can you give us any examples of times when your staff have been able to go the extra mile, or help out in unusual situations?

PC: We are highly service orientated and leave no stone unturned when it comes to looking after our Members. Some examples of things we have been able to organise include guided truffle hunts in the woods close to our Farmhouse in Umbria to taking a family by torchlight on dog sleds for dinner in an alpine cabin.

LR: What’s on the horizon for the company?

PC: We are expanding further in mainland Europe, as you can see above, mainly due to the fact that this is were our Members want to take the bulk of their holidays. In the New Year we will be focusing on adding more city destinations to strengthen our short break options.

LR: What’s on the horizon for the industry as a whole?

PC: I think in the US consolidation will continue to happen. I expect to see new entrants in the European market and also there will be the advent of new clubs in the Far East to service the vast increasingly affluent populations there.

OUR ANALYSIS

The Oyster Circle is one of the few destination clubs that’s so strongly focused on Europe as a destination. That alone is a significant point of difference, although the American clubs are starting to step up their acquisitions in France and Italy particularly.

The club does have quite a simple fee structure. This seems like a small point, and isn’t important for members, but it does make a difference in a club’s ability to attract members. Prospective members don’t like having to tax themselves in an effort to understand pricing structures, usage rules and so on. It’s our opinion that destination clubs would do well to keep their membership options as simple as possible, but (to paraphrase Einstein) not too simple.

Paul’s comment about the importance of the backers is worth noting. It’s not only a question of resources, of course, but also track record in related industries, or in entrepreneurship in general. For example, one of New Zealand’s most successful entrepreneurs has just launched a destination club, and Mike Balfour (founder of Fitness First) is one of the founders of The Hideaways Club. This experience and history of success matters. The question of financial resources is not trivial either, of course, but be sure to understand just how much has been committed to a destination club. The fact that a club is backed by a very rich individual does not mean that it has access to all of his or her resources in tough times.

We don’t have any evidence to corroborate Paul’s remark about the possibility for equity-based destination clubs to have their standards drop as a consequence of their members being investors, but it’s an interesting idea. Anything is possible, of course, but the fact that members are owners in the true sense of the word should give them even more sway in matters concerning service levels. Equity-based clubs may attract more financially conservative members, and in time this could lead to downward pressure on service levels and annual dues, but we have not heard of this happening. What this does highlight is the need for any prospective member to discuss the club’s future with its sales team, and (ideally) with its senior managers. Changes to annual dues, usage rules, membership caps, member-to-home ratios, home locations and so on can all have a significant impact on your experiences as a destination club member.

Paul makes an excellent point about the emergence of destination clubs in Asia. This isn’t something we’ve seen yet, really, but we anticipate this occurring in the near future.

LR: Hello Mark. For whom is The Hideaways Club a natural choice, do you think, and why? Feel free to describe a ‘typical’ scenario, if you like.

MS: The typical member of The Hideaways Club is someone who wants to invest in property and take their holidays in this property without having any of the responsibility to maintain the property and its surroundings. The member may all ready have a holiday home but now wants to be more adventurous in where they visit.

LR: Can you explain for us the differences in your plan levels, and the reasons people choose each of them? Can you tell us which is the most popular?

MS: We have two investments with usage rights.

The first investment is sold as the A share and costs as a one off payment £200,000 and then has an annual fee of £12,000 per year for 100 points which can be exchanged for time at any of the properties and at any time during the year. We have a points calendar and depending when the member takes their holiday these points offer between 4 and 6 weeks property use of any Villa or ski chalet. Members can purchase more points if they wish.

The second investment is a C share which costs a one off payment of £133,000 and an annual fee of £8400 and gives 70 points. Points cannot be used during peak periods and this share is directed at those people who do not have school age children and prefer to take their holidays during the quieter months. We have only just introduced the C share.

LR: What do you think are the most important questions a prospective member should ask of a destination club? Any questions that people tend to forget?

MS: The most important questions would be:
How do I know my money is safe with this destination club?
How do you allocate time at the properties so it is fair to all members?
When and how can I sell my share should I choose to do so?
How do you value your property porfolio and who does this for you?
Can you show me some member testimonials or can I speak to a current member?
What is the annual fee, and are the any other costs?
What other services do I receive for my investment and annual fee?

LR: How do you respond to the very common (and important) question ‘What guarantee do I have that I will always be able to receive a refund of my membership deposit?’

MS: Our promise is that you will be able to sell your share after a minimum of three years’ investment and [the price will be] the market rate at that time. So it is dependent on the market conditions but because we have spread our portfolio in several markets the investment has historically only gone up.

The operational company [see below, under ‘Our Analysis’, for details] receives 20% of any [share price] appreciation. So if a share is purchased at £200,000 and 3 years later it is sold by the member for £280,000 the operational company will receive 20% of £80,000 with the remaining 80% going to the member. If the member sells the share on the is no sales fee, but if [we are] asked to sell then we levy a 5% commission.

[Mark has clarified that there is no procedure in place to ‘cash out’ a member after a set period of time if no sale is made. In non-equity destination club terms, this model is comparable to a one in, one out policy with a greater-than 80% membership deposit refund.]

LR: Equity-based destination clubs seem to be gaining popularity. Do you think the trend will continue, and what do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the model?

MS: The Hideaways Club is an equity club.The member has all the advantages of a luxury holiday home portfolio with an underlying property investment – so the best of both worlds and certainly in our opinion much better that just a destination club where the member has no equity in the property.

LR: Service is a huge part of what destination clubs offer their members, but it’s not always clear to prospective members just what they might be able to expect. Can you give us any examples of times when your staff have been able to go the extra mile, or help out in unusual situations?

MS: The Hideaways Club has a central concierge service where all bookings are taken and services supplied.This is backed up by each property having a local concierge who can, if required, book local services and assist with the members’ holiday.We would organise local sailing trips and wine tastings, bring a chef in, or book all ski school, ski hire and lift passes. A member might wish to have a local guide or have a massage or yoga. All of this is possible with the concierge service.

An example of going that little bit further with service would be the supply of a hamper of the area’s specialities.

LR: What’s on the horizon for the company, and the industry as a whole?

MS: The horizon for The Hideaways Club includes new properties in Oman, Cape Town and Mauritius, and city apartments for weekend trips to the most exciting cities. […] the industry as a whole needs to keep spreading the word as we feel it will grow as investors see fractional ownership representing the clever way to manage expensive assets.

OUR ANALYSIS

The Hideaways Club uses slightly different parlance from the North American clubs, but essentially it’s an equity-based destination club. There’s a greater focus in the company’s marketing material on the investment aspect, with membership being positioned as an easy way to invest. To quote their website:

‘You take advantage of our expertise in selecting and refurbishing in unfamilar markets, and spread your risk across both established and faster-growing regions. In fact, property investment has never looked so good - or been so enjoyable.’

Here is some more detail on the financial structure of the investment, again from the corporate website:

…the portfolio is selected and managed according to the same high standards used by professional fund managers, and compliance with all the appropriate financial services rules and regulations. What your membership actually buys is a share in a Gibraltar-registered property company, which in turn owns all of the individual residences.

Another Gibraltar-registered company manages the properties on your behalf as a member, for which it receives 20% of any rise in the value of the whole portfolio. The remaining 80% belongs to the members. You can track the value of the portfolio by following the changes in the share price of the property company. This will be reset periodically by the company to reflect any changes in the value of the portfolio as a whole, as well as the level of demand for membership. For example, if the share price grows by 10% per annum for 10 years, the return on your investment would be 159% excluding charges and any costs of borrowing. The table below gives a fully worked example, this is of course for illustrative purposes only.

Annual costs assumed to increase an average of 7% p.a.

We’d like to highlight, as the club has done, that the table above is given as an example only. Of course, the growth figures used in the table - 7% and 10% - cannot be guaranteed.

Mark explained to us that the club cannot cannot sell shares to residents of the United States as a result of strict regulations set out by the Financial Services Commission of Gibraltar. He says the club’s membership is roughly 60% UK citizens, 15% Scandinavian and other Northern Europeans, and 25% Swiss, German or Austrian.

Mark on the club’s revenue streams and financial transparency:

From the share money, the operating company uses 14% of the total to market the business to new members. All transactions and company operations are open to inspection by the members and the year-end club figures are subject to strict financial audits.

As we’ve explained above, the process for selling a share in The Hideaways Club means that exiting this club is roughly equivalent to exiting a non-equity destination club with an 80% refund and a one in, one out policy. The upside is that the value of the share may have increased, while the downsides are that members may not leave for three years, and there is no guarantee of a sale. Please see our article on leaving a destination club for more discussion of this point.

The points system used by The Hideaways Club is not entirely straightforward, but presumably the points calendar makes things clear.