The Future of Everlands Life

By: Destination Club News
Date: September 26, 2009

Just over a year ago, Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the largest bankruptcy filing in US history with over $600 billion in assets. While the filing shook the financial world with the Dow Jones dropping nearly 300 points, it also had a critical impact on the conservation focused destination club Everlands. Lehman Brothers was a major financier and investor in the club and had extended a $56 million credit facility to the upstart Everlands and it's unique model.

The approach that Everlands took was vastly different than most other destination clubs. Rather than buying individual single family homes as most clubs do, Everlands purchased full resorts, capable of housing multiple members and guests at one time. As the club ramped up their membership growth, these resorts would be available to both members and non-members alike. The contributions paid by members would be joined with rental income paid by non-members to help cover the club's expenses. Once Everlands reached the 100 member mark, the resorts would transition to be available exclusively to members.

Membership in the club was planned to increase to $1 million to join, but with the collapse of Lehman Brothers and a sharp decline in interest in the luxury travel sector, Everlands ceased new membership sales and marketing efforts in February of this year, quoting 42 members.

In a recent interview with New West, Everlands' Manager of Operations Julian Hutton hinted that the club is in the works to give those members a home with another destination club. A club representative stated that they were not in a position to comment at this time, but if any news did emerge, it would likely be released in the coming weeks.

Until that news crosses the wire, who are the clubs that might be in play?

The Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club has shown interest in bringing in members of other clubs, most notably shown through their acquisition of Crescendo Residences and BelleHavens to form the structure of their club. A&K also has a strong philanthropic mentality that may find some commonality with the members of Everlands.

Equity Estates has mentioned that they have been working on plans to bring in members from other clubs through a membership offering that "will take risk away from them, enable them to continue to enjoy the types of travel experiences they've come to require, and allow them to restore trust with a new company along the way."

Exclusive Resorts, Quintess, and Ultimate Escapes have all made significant moves over the past several months in the hopes that they will remain industry powers for years to come. Will any of those look to bring in Everlands' members or is a new comer in the destination club sector looking to aggressively launch with an established member base?

No matter the destination, we hope Everlands and this as yet unrevealed club can reach some agreement that will allow Everlands members the opportunity to enjoy destination club travel again. Check back soon for more news on Everlands and the rest of the destination club sector.