Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club Executive Discusses Availability Impact Of New Promotion

By: Destination Club News
Date: September 18, 2010

Earlier this month, the Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club introduced a new incentive for those joining the club before December 15, 2010. These new members will receive 15 complimentary nights of access to the club's collection of vacation properties over their first three years of membership, providing up to 50 nights of usage per year.

Destination club membership is all about exclusivity. Members share access privileges to a global portfolio of multi-million dollar vacation homes, intentionally underutilized to give travelers a great deal of flexibility to find destinations and travel dates that are ideal for them. We spoke to Darin Gilson, Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club's Senior Vice President of Sales & Business Development, about how the complimentary 15 nights of usage for every new member will impact availability for existing club members.

"Because the Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club has six or so properties that are not yet owned by the club, we have excess inventory available for these types of special promotions and offers," Gilson told us. "As the developer behind the club, A&K has made these advance properties available specifically so that we can help grow the membership."

As mentioned by Gilson, the Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club has several different components. The Abercrombie & Kent Development Co. LLC acquires and develops properties in anticipation of membership growth. Once the club reaches enough new members, a new property is transferred to the Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club, a Delaware non-stock, non-profit corporation owned 100% by the members, where it is owned debt-free.

We then asked Gilson to discuss the historical occupancy statistics that the Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club has seen and what 2010 is looking like as we close in on the end of Q3.

"Our overall occupancy levels have been around 50% for the last two years, and are similarly tracking this year, so our availability is actually the best in the industry," he said. "And because of our members can use A&K travel credits or A&K Villas in addition to our club properties, we believe our availability will always be the strongest."

As part of the A&K family, members of the Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club do have access to a worldwide assortment of travel options, ranging from luxury villas throughout Europe to the ends of the Earth in their Extreme Adventures program.

For those keeping a close eye on the destination club sector, Ultimate Escapes, the world's second largest destination club, is in crisis. The crippling debt of their properties have forced the club to default on their loan agreement with lender CapitalSource and teeters on the verge of bankruptcy. A non-equity club, the potential downfall of Ultimate Escapes may strengthen the position of the Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club and their equity based model as potential destination club members look for greater security with their membership funds. If you would like to compare the various destination clubs and their models to one another, request a free copy of our Destination Club Guide, your resource for backgrounds on all of the clubs in the sector, benefits and risks of membership, and suggested due diligence questions to ask when speaking with a club.