Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club Introduces Trial Membership Offer
By: Destination Club News
Date: February 26, 2009
Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club, one of the newest and fastest growing destination clubs in the industry, has introduced a new trial membership offer that will allow prospective members the opportunity to see the famed Abercrombie & Kent service and properties prior to making the full membership commitment.
As part of the limited trial membership offer, Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club will make 17 of their luxurious homes available to those interested in membership.
Stand Alone Residences - 4 Bedrooms
- Deer Valley, Utah
- Jackson Hole, Wyoming - Teton Village
- Kiawah Island, South Carolina - Vanderhorst Plantation
- Punta Mita, Mexico - Lagos del Mar
- Los Cabos, Mexico - Villa del Amor in Cabo del Sol
- Los Cabos, Mexico - Casa Miramar in Cabo del Sol
- Punta Cana, Dominican Republic - Punta Cana Resort
- Big Island, Hawaii - Point Estates, Mauna Lani Resort
- Big Island, Hawaii - Hale Pu'uhonua, Mauna Lani Resort
- Providenciales, Turks & Caicos - Villa Turquesa
- Providenciales, Turks & Caicos - Villa Pima
Adjoined Residences - 3 or 4 Bedrooms
- Sun Valley, Idaho - Les Saisons
- Lake Tahoe, California - Village at Northstar
- La Quinta/Palm Springs, California - Norman Estates
- Scottsdale, Arizona - The Rocks
- Puerto Aventuras, Mexico - Villa del Mar
- Snowmass/Aspen, Colorado - Snowmass Club
Trial members can choose seven night stays at any of the above properties, subject to availability. For stand alone properties, members can reserve their seven night stay for $9,500 for non-peak seasons and $11,000 for peak seasons. Adjoined residences can be reserved for $7,000 for non-peak seasons and $8,500 for peak seasons. Trial members receive the full Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club service while traveling, including Member Service support, daily housekeeping, pre-arrival grocery shopping, and a meet and greet at the airport with private transportation back to the property.
If the member elects to join the club following the trial membership trip, the fees for the trial membership will apply toward the purchase of the membership and will lock in current pricing if they elect to join within 30 days. If the member elects not to join, there is no further obligation.
This limited offer is restricted primarily by club availability. Each property is modeled to have between 50 and 60 percent occupancy. As the residences mentioned above reach this threshold, they will no longer be available to trial members.
Many other destination clubs offer similar membership options that allow members to try before they buy. Most recently, Exclusive Resorts introduced their Sponsored Guest Program late last year that allowed interested parties the opportunity to stay at select Exclusive Resorts' properties for four or seven nights stays prior to joining.
The benefits of introducing trial offers are numerous in the destination club industry. By allowing prospective members the opportunity to enjoy the properties firsthand, clubs get to utilize arguably their best sales tool: the club experience. Destination club service is routinely rated world-class by both members and independent service organizations alike and letting a prospective member enjoy the benefits of pre-trip planning, private transportation to the property, and daily housekeeping are often enough to turn tire kickers into full members.
If a trial member elects not to join, the club has a new revenue stream without incurring any significant operational costs.
By tying the availability of the homes to the number of trial memberships available, Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club protects themselves from the one downside of such trial offers: decreased availability to members. As a still relatively new firm, Abercrombie & Kent members still enjoy superb access even with trial members enjoying limited access. By restricting trial memberships based on availability, Abercrombie & Kent ensures that trial members will not be able to cannibalize availability and significantly reduce full members' access.
Following LUSSO Collection's Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, there may be a surge of LUSSO members interested in Abercrombie & Kent's offer. With many of the Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club's properties underutilized, the timing to introduce this offer could not be better to court potential new members.
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