The Discovery Club Crafts Custom Offer For Ultimate Escapes Members

By: Destination Club News
Date: September 24, 2010

The Ultimate Escapes bankruptcy has dominated our press coverage for the past several weeks as it impacts every player in the destination club landscape. The world's second largest club in terms of members estimates between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors and liabilities between $100 million and $500 million. Ultimate Escapes and their restructuring firm, CRG Partners, are currently in advanced discussions with four unnamed potential buyers, and if any elect to purchase the club in its entirety, it will reshape the landscape yet again.

Well over 1,000 Ultimate Escapes members have had their future travel plans stripped as a result of the bankruptcy, giving an opportunity for the club's rivals to introduce special plans to allow the members the chance to continue their destination club experience.

The newest offer comes from The Discovery Club, a Canadian based destination club with a radically different structure than the one used at Ultimate Escapes. Exclusive Resorts and Quintess have both already introduced their own options to Ultimate Escapes members, giving members a surplus of options already just days after the Ultimate Escapes bankruptcy. We spoke to the club's Director of Sales, Tyrone Lingley, to get details about the new option.

"Our goal in creating this new offer is to reduce the financial risk so that members can truly enjoy their time while traveling on vacation," he said. "We want to give people the chance to experience first hand what the Discovery Club is all about before committing to a membership."

"We are offering a trial membership for one week with Discovery Club for $3,500. This allows you to travel at your choice of over 2,700 affiliates worldwide, and then have the entire trip taken care of by one of our member service representatives. If there is a mountain or ocean view, you will face it; we ensure that our members have the best accommodation possible. In fact, our members frequently receive upgrades at no additional cost because of our standing with these affiliates."

"Upon the return from your trip if you decide to become a member, we will deduct $5,000 from your membership cost. If you decide not to join, you have just enjoyed a luxury getaway with substantial savings."

Unlike the vast majority of their peers, The Discovery Club doesn't own any of the assets available to members and therefore doesn't bear the cost of purchasing and maintaining the residences. We spoke with Lingley more about The Discovery Club model, which we will feature in the future, and about how he believes it is the future of the destination club sector.

Check back soon for more news on The Discovery Club and the continuing story of the Ultimate Escapes bankruptcy.