Ski Destinations
Usage
As you can see from their name, Ski Destinations was focused on one thing: providing members with once in a lifetime ski experiences every year. Like their sister club, Fly Fishing Destinations who catered to the luxury angler, Ski Destinations would bring a unique structure to the design of their young destination club.
Unlike other destination clubs that traditionally offer memberships that continue forever, allowing members the ability to travel until they wish to leave the club, Ski Destinations sold five year right to use memberships, giving each member two weeks of access to the club properties each year.
Limited to just 90 total members, five properties would be available to the club's exclusive member base, with residences in:
- Alta, Utah
- Park City, Utah
- Jackson Hole, Wyoming
- Steamboat Springs, Colorado
- Big Sky, Montana
The two weeks of annual access would be divided between one week of use during the ski season and one week in the "off-season."
With a member to property ratio of 18 to one, Ski Destinations would use a "first come, first serve" reservation policy, rewarding those who acted early in making reservations.
Requiring an $80,000 contribution to join, the annual club structure was one of the most unique components of the ski themed destination club. Rather than paying an up front membership fee to join and annual dues for each year with the club as is standard for most destination clubs, this $80,000 payment served as both. The full $80,000 was amortized across each of the five years of memberships, effectively creating a per year payment of $16,000.
If a member wished to resign their membership they would receive 80% of the value left on their membership. For example, if a member wished to leave after their third year of membership, they would still have $32,000 unused with the club. Ski Destinations would refund $25,600, or 80% of the remaining amount, to the resigning member.
Similarly, if the club failed to reach their goal of five properties, a portion of their initial payment would be refunded to the members. "If for any reason we do not attain enough members to purchase all five locations, funds will be reimbursed on a years utilized pro rata basis," the club would publish. "Example: If you paid $80,000.00 for your five-year membership and only four separate locations were available for your use you would be reimbursed $16,000.00."
Planning on acquiring their first property following their tenth member, Ski Destinations never reached this goal, apparently falling short of their initial sales goals.
There are numerous usage structures used throughout the destination club industry, including first come, first served designs as well as points based and other reservation systems. If you would like to learn more about the various models to find which might be best for you, please request a free copy of our Destination Club Guide.
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