Just a tidbit, but we liked something we noticed in the latest Quintess newsletter and felt we should comment.

Here’s a member quote featured in the newsletter:

“Santa Fe was a fine trip. The arrangements were very helpful and the residence location was terrific. The home is comfortable, although not luxurious, but perfectly adequate for an urban location. The staff was quite helpful and very courteous. They made reservations, got supplies and fulfilled other needs as requested. They were truly great. It was perfect for the three-day weekend.”
- Member Wayne Mailloux

There are many businesses that would hold back a testimonial like this because it’s not glowing in every respect. Quintess comes across as having plenty of integrity, though, and it wasn’t surprising to read this. We should mention, however, that this was just below a section announcing the sale of one of the club’s two Santa Fe properties.

We’d love to see more of this, of course, for the sake of consumers, but how many clubs are going to feel comfortable presenting anything but a picture perfect image? Member surveys go a long way to this end, if they include tough questions. Would a destination club thrive if it chose a policy of total disclosure? We think it could, if handled correctly - integrity CAN be gauged by prospective members, if they research carefully.

We recommend, as always, that you ask lots of truly tough questions of your future club before joining. You might like to ask them what their weaknesses are, or to tell you about a member holiday that went wrong and what they did about it. Nobody’s perfect - it’s how issues are handled that separates the leaders from the pack.

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• Quintess member survey
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