Exclusive Resorts Conducts Member Advisory Committee Meeting

By: Destination Club News
Date: November 13, 2009

Earlier this week, Exclusive Resorts hosted their Member Advisory Committee meeting at their offices in Denver. Included in the discussion were updates to the club's communication plans, financial and operational overviews, and the plans for the world's largest destination club moving forward.

In addition to the 13 person member Committee, a group of Exclusive Resorts' executives were also in attendance, including:

• Brent Handler: President and Co-Founder
• Todd Harris: Senior Vice President, Hospitality and Member Services
• Robert Parsons: Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
• Jeff Potter: Chief Executive Officer
• Adam Wegner: Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Following the welcome of those in attendance, the meeting began with a discussion on the club's communications and how members of the Advisory Committee could better receive input from club members to more efficiently gather feedback to report to the club. Over the past several months, Exclusive Resorts has worked diligently towards providing more thorough and frequent updates to club members, and based on members' feedback, will continue furthering this commitment throughout 2010.

Next off to the always important financial discussion, Robert Parsons discussed the club's income statement through September 30, 2009 and their expectations for the rest of the year, year-to-date sales and revenue, and the success of their Sponsored Guest Program and Deferred Payment Plan, all while fielding questions from the Committee.

Planning on conducting their 2009 review on November 18, Jeff Potter provided the Committee a review of a membership survey that had participation from over 1,500 members. An annual dues alignment planned for the end of November was discussed by both the management team and Committee to find a solution that aligns the interests of the club and its members. The club and members will continue working together to find a solution that ensures the club's viability into the future and an answer that provides members the most flexibility on their membership.

Over the past several months, Exclusive Resorts and their executives have made communication with members a focal point of the club and have already scheduled multiple conference calls with club members over the balance of the month and already are working on more than a dozen experiences for members in 2010. The club has announced an event in the new Sea Island, Georgia, a Spring Training weekend in Glendale, Arizona, an "America's Cup" cruise at Carnegie Abbey Club, and a VIP Chicago Cubs (who are now owned by J. Joseph Ricketts, the Founder of former destination club Ciel) experience amongst others. Over 350 members participated in these member events in 2009, and Exclusive Resorts is looking forward to another successful year in 2010.

With the bankruptcies at High Country Club and LUSSO Collection nearly a year removed, the echoes of those club's former members asking for additional disclosure has proliferated across the destination club sector. Despite the vastly different position that Exclusive Resorts and these former clubs are in, the world's largest destination club should be congratulated for their diligence in working with members to align their goals as should club members who have not only volunteered to serve on the club's Committee, but have also created their own survey and provided the Exclusive Resorts' management team with a unified voice on their suggestions for the club.