The Phoenix Club Rebrands As Second Home Destinations

By: Destination Club News
Date: September 22, 2010

On the heels of Ultimate Escapes bankruptcy filing, a club with their own ties to a very public destination club bankruptcy filing is making news. The Phoenix Club, a soon to be launched destination club arising from the ashes of the High Country Club bankruptcy, has rebranded as Second Home Destinations.

We asked about the reasons behind the change and were told that it mostly boiled down to problems in regard to the website domain name and search engine competition. To the club's point, The Phoenix Club is a German restaurant in Anaheim, a fictional private club in the UK sitcom Phoenix Nights, a banquet room in Pennsylvania, a group attached to the Boys & Girls Club, and countless other organizations. The destination club industry has been littered with peculiar naming issues since its inception, so it is good to see Second Home Destinations take care of this potential problem prior to their launch.

While they may no longer be known as The Phoenix Club, Second Home Destinations is crafting a special offer for members who have been burnt by Ultimate Escapes. Still in their launch phase, a club representative told us that they plan on contacting former members of High Country Club in the near future. Soon thereafter, the club will officially launch their full operations and extend an offer to members of Ultimate Escapes.

High Country Club and Ultimate Escapes largely vied for the same customer as each offered multiple membership options under six figures, a rarity in the ultra-affluent destination club industry. Second Home Destinations looks to replace High Country Club as the low cost leader in the sector with memberships available for as little as $10,000, which may interest Ultimate Escapes members looking to continue the destination club way of travel.

The offers for Ultimate Escapes members is beginning to swell. Exclusive Resorts and Quintess have both made offers to club members and will soon be joined by Second Home Destinations. We have spoken to other clubs who are evaluating adding their own options to the table for Ultimate Escapes members to consider.

As Ultimate Escapes has made its way into bankruptcy court, a wellspring of new information will continue to emerge about the club, providing more insight into the future of the club's members. Some will join other clubs via these specialized offers, others will leave the destination club model in their rear view mirror. We will continue to monitor the situation and report more, including the upcoming offer from Second Home Destinations, so check back frequently.