The Benefits Of A Days Included Destination Club

By: Destination Club News
Date: August 6, 2010

Yesterday we profiled an increasingly popular reservation structure in the destination club industry: points based systems. Taken from the timeshare model, members receive an annual allotment of points that are used to make reservations to the club's collection of vacation homes. Generally speaking, larger homes, more popular destinations, and peak travel times require more points than other stays, meaning members must prioritize when and where they want to vacation without exceeding their point limits.

While many timeshares have used a points based system for a number of years, the oldest and most popular reservation structure in the destination club industry remains a days included package. Simply, when a member joins a club, they are purchasing a number of nights per year that they can access club properties. Lower tier plans often include between 10 and 14 nights of annual usage and higher plans count up to 60 nights of yearly travel.

Unlike points based structures, where a member has to continually monitor their point spending with variable point requirements for every property and travel date, days included structures let members know the exact number of days they can travel each year. Every property in the portfolio and every day on the calendar all have the same value.

The three largest destination clubs in the world, Exclusive Resorts, Ultimate Escapes, and Quintess, LRW all use this model. Recently, Quintess simplified their membership plans even further, unveiling offerings beginning at ten nights of annual usage and increasing by ten nights per membership plan up to 60 nights per year of travel.

"We want you to know that we are now presenting our membership plans in a way that makes these advantages very clear and effortless to understand, especially when comparing Quintess to other destination clubs, such as Exclusive Resorts," the club wrote. "We believe you will find this new presentation very satisfying and an integral part of your consideration of joining a destination club."

To give all members the ability to make reservations, every membership plan has a number of "advanced reservations" and "space available reservations" included, limiting the number of far in advance reservations available to members and subsequently reducing the strain on availability that upper tier membership plans could potentially have. Through each club's online reservation systems, members can see when properties are booked and schedule their own vacations around open days both far in advance and more near term.

For those trips far in advance that are already reserved by another club member, Exclusive Resorts has created a program called the "Cancellation Watch List." Historically, members cancel just over 40% of their reservations. The Cancellation Watch List matches these cancelled reservations with members requesting that property and travel dates. Last year, 76% of Exclusive Resorts members received a match through the program, totaling over 8,400 requests, proving that even if a club property is reserved by another member, all hope shouldn't be lost.

Deciphering if a days included or points based system would be better for your unique travel patterns can be a difficult process. We are always happy to assist you as you consider destination club membership, including helping you procure marketing literature from your top clubs, scheduling calls to speak with club representatives, and providing due diligence insight and commentary throughout the sales process. If you would like to learn more, please request a free copy of our Destination Club Guide and we will look forward to assisting you however you see fit.