The Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club Appoints Stephanie Papaioannou To Managing Director

By: Destination Club News
Date: July 21, 2010

Stephanie Papaioannou, one of the Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club's most popular and longest tenured executives, has been promoted to serve as Managing Director of the world's largest equity destination club.

"Stephanie joined the Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club in 2008 as Senior Vice President of Member Services and Hospitality. Her team successfully merged the operations of two recently-acquired residence clubs with the Abercrombie & Kent equity model, while achieving a membership satisfaction rating of more than 95%,” said Geoffrey Kent, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Abercrombie & Kent. "As Managing Director, she will now be responsible for all aspects of club operations."

A graduate of Northwestern University with a B.A. in Political Science and Economics, Papaioannou had previously served as Executive Director of the Harper Alliance and Vice President of Andrew Harper Inc. As mentioned by Kent, Papaioannou helped combine BelleHavens and Crescendo Residences into the Abercrombie & Kent family while maintaining world-class membership satisfaction scores, likely as an outgrowth of her own travel experiences when she spent two years navigating the globe.

The Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club has already sold more equity memberships in 2010 as they did in 2009, due in large part to the sizeable discounts offered during the year. At the beginning of the month, A&K increased prices for their equity memberships by 7%, amounting to between $10,000 and $23,000. The club is also offering what they call a "trial membership" that allows travelers the ability to join the club via an annual dues only structure for two years. At the end of two years, or any time prior, the member can elect to upgrade to a full equity membership. The club will soon discontinue this offer and is confident that many other luxury travelers will take advantage of the opportunity prior to the program's conclusion.

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