Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club Hosts Member Call

By: Destination Club News
Date: May 4, 2010

The Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club conducted their member call last week, touching on information from nearly all functional departments with contributions from executives such as Geoffrey Kent, Scott Wiseman, Brett Fichte, Darin Gilson, and Stephanie Papaioannou.

Despite what many have called the worst year in the history of the destination club industry, the Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club showed signs of growth in 2009. Anecdotally, the bankruptcies and closures that dominated discussions in the sector last year may ultimately be one of the strongest sales tools the club has as they outline the advantages of their equity based model over those used by clubs no longer in operation. The announcement that the club has extended their discounted pricing until the end of June has also increased sales. Until then, new members are able to save 40% on their membership deposit or join via a two year dues only membership option. The introduction of the reduced pricing in December and the dues only option earlier in the year has recently bore fruit as the club has sold approximately the same number of trial and equity memberships in the first two months of 2010 as they did in all of 2009 and easily surpassed their year end total by the end of the first quarter.

While growing in terms of new members, current members continue to give the club high marks, receiving satisfaction scores higher than 95% in several areas, including residences, travel planning, and on-site hosts. These high scores have led to 30% of club members upgrading to higher membership options, offering members additional nights of access each year. Since the conclusion of the call, Geoffrey Kent has followed up with an e-mail to members asking them to fill out a survey about the call. For icing on the cake, Kent disclosed his e-mail address and office and cell phone numbers if members wish to speak to him about the club.

It seems to be the season for member conference calls as the world's second largest destination club, Ultimate Escapes, recently conducted their own with members and Exclusive Resorts, the largest destination club in the world, has a quarterly member call scheduled later this month in addition to a Member Advisory Committee Meeting later this week.

As a result of the closures and bankruptcies that plagued the industry throughout much of 2008 and 2009, a growing number of clubs have adopted these principles, regularly communicating with members about the health and future outlook of their clubs.

For continual information about the health and future of the destination club space, check back frequently and if you would like to learn more, request a free copy of our Destination Club Guide.