Ultimate Escapes Prepares For New Holiday Reservation Process

By: Destination Club News
Date: January 7, 2010

The holidays may feel like they just took place, but destination clubs are already looking to the holiday season nearly a year away. Tomorrow, Ultimate Escapes will begin their annual Peak Date Holiday process and members will be able to access the club's Members-Only website to enter their preferred Christmas and New Year's choices for the upcoming holiday season.

The dates for the upcoming Christmas and New Year's weeks are:

• Christmas Week: Sunday, December 19, 2010 - Sunday, December 26, 2010
• New Year's Week: Sunday, December 26, 2010 - Sunday, January 2, 2011

The world's second largest destination club, Ultimate Escapes uses a reservation system that they call "the most innovated peak holiday process in the industry."

"The Peak Date Holiday Process uses a sophisticated computer program to allocate Christmas and New Year’s weeks to Members who participate," writes the club. "The method eliminates the present situation where members are served on a first come first serve basis. This point based process was developed by company executives, a team of Members, and an outside consultant to provide a fair, simple, scalable, and cost-effective approach."

The club's peak holiday process involves members selecting desired dates of travel and destinations in a rank order, awarding members who make multiple selections with a greater chance of receiving one of their choices. Simply put, the more flexible the member is with their selections, the greater the chance they will receive access to one of the club residence they selected during these highly sought after dates.

For members to participate, they must:

• Be in good standing with the club
• Have an unused Advanced/Holiday Reservation available
• Have remaining days left on their account
• Not be on the club's resignation list

One of the most equitable holiday reservation structures used throughout the industry, the Ultimate Escapes holiday reservation structure is a microcosm of the destination club industry as a whole. For travelers that require guaranteed access to a specific destination during specific peak travel dates, other options like second home ownership or luxury hotel rentals may be the best option. But for those who are capable of remaining flexible with their travel schedules during peak travel periods, destination club membership remains an attractive alternative.

Ultimate Escapes plans to release the final results of their holiday process on or before January 29, 2010. Check back soon for more on Ultimate Escapes and the results of the holiday process.