Discovery Club

The Discovery Club is yet another destination club that implements a model seperate from the traditional destination club plan. As opposed to clubs like Exclusive Resorts, Ultimate Escapes, and Distinctive Holiday Homes that own a global collection of properties available to members, The Discovery Club offers a collection of "Affiliate Properties" for members to access. The properties are typically five star hotels and resorts in addition to unique travel experiences, including safaris, cruises, and luxury train travel.

This type of model allows the club to continually add new properties without a set number of new members joining the club. As such, new destinations can quickly come online and become available to members. Since their launch, The Discovery Club has already added dozens of international destinations to their collection of properties, including Costa Rica, Beijing, London, Sydney, Kuala Lampur, Whistler, Bangkok, and Jamaica amongst others.

First officially offered in June of 2007 and wholly owned by The Discovery Club Luxury Destinations Ltd., The Discovery Club's shareholders Kevin and Shawna Walker are also the owners of Walker Hospitality Ltd. and The Oak Bay Beach Hotel. The Walker family brings over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry. In November of 2008, two of Walker's firms joined forces for an incentive that allowed members who joined The Discovery Club the opportunity to apply between 70% and 100% of the cost of their membership directly towards the purchase price of a private residence or vacation hotel sweet at The Oak Bay Beach Hotel.

In a blog posting by Mr. Walker, he stated "When we were creating our Club framework, we considered a model that would have us acquiring and owning destination Condos and Homes and could see that the maintenance and care and associated carrying costs of ownership could be quite a burden for our club in a down economy. Well the current down economy is certainly reaffirming our decision to form our club the way we did."

The club also offers a financing option that allows members the chance to join by paying a 20% down payment on their membership and pay off the rest of their membership over a ten year period.

While the club does not have resort real estate to protect members' deposits, The Discovery Club does factor security heavily into their model. According to the resignation policy in the club's membership agreement, members can exit the club after five years of membership and receive 70% of their membership deposit repaid to them within six months of notification. The terms of the membership agreement are secured by a security indenture which is held on behalf of the club members by the law firm Pearlman Lindholm. The Discovery Club is required to file full financial statements with Pearlman Lindholm for review every three months to ensure that they can fulfill the terms of the membership agreement. If the club is deemed unable to meet these demands, Pearlman Lindholm is able to exercise the security indenture and take control of the club on behalf of the members.

To learn more about The Discovery Club, please visit any of the club's quick links found to the right or request a free copy of our Destination Club Guide.

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