How Fun Resorts

Late in 2008, LUSSO Collection, a leading destination club in the industry, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Following in the footsteps of their contemporaries at High Country Club, One Key World, and Yellowstone Club World amongst others, the club saw a massive hit to both sales and real estate values throughout 2008.

Despite problems with the financial workings of the club, the travel experience offered by LUSSO was continually praised by members. In a survey of members in 2007, LUSSO scored higher than 90% satisfaction rating in several critical areas including quality of residences, unlimited usage, concierge communications and responsiveness, and availability of residences. Looking to continue the LUSSO experience but with a more secure and viable model, How Fun Resorts officially jumped into the industry in March of 2009.

Led by former LUSSO Collection member Bruce Howard, How Fun Resorts was tentatively labeled as "LUSSO 2" as the concept grew. Looking to avoid legal problems and consumer confusion, the club name was changed to How Fun Resort with the intention of changing at a later date to a name determined by the membership base. Despite the changes made to distance themselves from their former club, How Fun's website used virtually the exact same imagery, architecture, map, and taglines as LUSSO. The club would enter into a management agreement with The User-Friendly Phone Book, an organization that Howard had grown from $500,000 in annual revenue in 2000 to approximately $70 million yearly. This agreement would provide How Fun Resorts experience in several critical fields including legal, marketing, sales, IT, and customer service.

The club would also appoint a five person Board of Directors that would be dedicated to prevent problems that arose at LUSSO, notably cash management. "It is the intention of the club to operate in a financially disciplined manner, while still allocating all necessary resources to provide the membership with outstanding travel experiences," the club stated in their introductory letter to potential members. "It is within the power of the Board of Directors to return to the membership any monies that they believe have been collected that are in excess of what is required for club operations."

Unaudited financial statements were planned to be released on a quarterly basis, beginning with the club's first financial report on August 15, 2009.

Reaching out to his fellow LUSSO Collection members on March 1 of 2009, How Fun offered a Charter Membership that would conclude on April 15, 2009. The membership required a $10,000 good faith escrow deposit, fully refundable if the member elected to join, and full annual dues payments of $30,000 on or before the Charter Membership deadline. With the same reservation system as LUSSO, How Fun members could travel on an unlimited basis, subject to reservation policies.

Surveying their potential membership base, How Fun identified the top five most desired locations and Los Cabos was the most highly sought after location, followed by New York, Naples, Deer Valley, and Kiawah Island, in that order. According to the club's schedule, How Fun planned to begin executing property leases and introducing properties to members from April 15 to the end of the month.

While hopes were high, it appears that the club ran into obstacles during this period, magnified by offers from Quintess, Equity Estates, Ultimate Escapes, and Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club to LUSSO's former members.

With the fate of the club still to be determined, please check back frequently to learn more about the young upstart destination club.

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

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