caribbeansun

Lusso was in my top 5 based on the economics of the membership although I haven't given it further consideration because of the $105k premium on "shared" memberships as contrary as that statement seems. After checking your linked post re Lusso I have to admit it's very attractive from a reservation perspective!

Ciel is something I have no knowledge of.

caribbeansun

Why not - it might help bring clarity to a rather confusing mixture of possibilities. I'm finding that one of the biggest challenges is in actually determining what are reasonable expectations and I recognize that I tend to be somewhat unreasonable when it comes to my vacation time.

Fire away!

Quintess Michael

OK, here goes. I am stationary tonight but will be a moving target for the next 10 days.
I will ask as much as I can and reply as often as I can.
I will be as good a sport as I know how to be, and supply you with as many facts as I can, as well as opinions from someone in the industry.
If you happen to live in NYC, I would gladly sit across from you screen to screen over a couple of beers

__________________
Michael Aumock
Director, Membership Development
Quintess, The Leading Residences of the World

Quintess Michael

The first things I need to know are the following: (feel free to PM me with anything you don't wish to disclose on the forum)

How often do you travel?
How long are your trips?
Where do you typically stay?
Who travels with you?
How old are you, your wife and kids (approx)

Where do you like to go?
Where haven't you been that you want to go?
What do you do on vacation? ski? golf? spa? etc
What do you do for a living?

Do you and your wife ever travel separately?
How often do you travel for biz?

That should get us started. I will be at a slight disadvantage here, not meeting you, or speaking to you on the phone, (that, and the fact that every word I write will be scrutinized by everyone on this board) so the more info you give me, the more helpful I can be.

__________________
Michael Aumock
Director, Membership Development
Quintess, The Leading Residences of the World

caribbeansun

How often do you travel?

The last two years we did between 8-10 weeks

How long are your trips?

It varies - from as short as 7 days to as long as 5 weeks


Where do you typically stay?

Highly variable - our property in the Caribbean, friends properties, cruise, *wood properties, rental apartments, TS

Who travels with you?

Usually nobody but my wife and I

How old are you, your wife and kids (approx)

We are 45-55
Kids are all in their 20's


Where do you like to go?

Caribbean, Europe, some USA

Where haven't you been that you want to go?

Asia, parts of the Med, UK, more places in the Caribbean


What do you do on vacation? ski? golf? spa? etc

Golf, spa, sit on the beach, visit historical sites, good dining experiences, scuba dive


What do you do for a living?

I'd rather not specify here - lets leave it at I'm work in finance.

Do you and your wife ever travel separately?

Very rarely, although I just finished a short golf trip with a friend and she went to NYC with her sister and mother.


How often do you travel for biz?

Not a lot - maybe 3 weeks a year.

LTTravel

Carribeansun. If I were you I would get:

Plan 1

A Q1 or Q2 with Quintess ($210,000-$240,000, $18,750 per year)(20 days)
A 20 day plan with ER ($199,900, $19,900 per year)(20 days)
A Companion Membership with HCC($30,000, $2300 per year)(7 days)
A Lite plan with DHH($59,000, $5900 per year)(7 days)

That would cover 7 weeks and 5 days per year(54 days) but additional days can be added


Total: $500,000 membership, $46,850 per year

If you want more holidays, or the ability to give away weeks, then it will cost more. This will give you an unbelievable portfolio of homes and fantastic variety. It also spreads out risk.

Quintess gives you fantastic homes and good variety
ER gives you excellent homes and tremendous variety
HCC gives you good homes and good variety with a step back into reality
DHH gives you things the others don't like more international choices and yachts at reasonable prices.

Plan 2

Or a membership with Lusso. I think that once Lusso's portfolio expands, it will probably have the best plan, if not already having the best standalone plan.

preferable take both options 1 and 2.

All I need to do is add a Quintess membership and Lusso membership and I am set, but not untill I win Megamillions because I still have to work.

3DH

LT, do ever create longer vacations with a mix of your club memberships? For example, ER's Maui Home, followed by HCC's Hawaii property then on to a DHH home for a total of 3 weeks (or more, depending on how you book)?

I ask because I see from his answers that caribbeansun would probably enjoy longer vacations than the 2 week max that most clubs will allow for one booking (or location).

That said, we have had no problem booking Miami and Abaco as follow-up destinations in the past... so, it is possible to do it within one club -- but with the variety of destinations for multiple clubs, it might offer greater flexibility.

__________________
"Boutique" is better! Another extremely satisfied LUSSO member!

DC4MS

Wow...this is getting to be an exciting thread to read and MUCH different that what the title suggests.

Perhaps we need to change the title or start a new thread with a more descriptive title like - "Creating the best multi-DC membership plan"

I amhve always been an advocate of multiple DC membership.

LTTravel

As you can see I am an advocate of that. I think that multiple memberships are in many ways better than a larger membership in one club. You do lose some of the economies of the higher memberships, but has many advantages, such as possible
1. Multiple holidays
2. Multiple homes in the same destination at one time
3. Advantage of different sharing rules (family, corporate)
4. More destinations
5. More advanced reservations
etc.
Should we start a new thread?

Quintess Michael

Sorry for beng away for a few days...
I think a new thread would be great.

__________________
Michael Aumock
Director, Membership Development
Quintess, The Leading Residences of the World

pwrshift

IMO Lusso wins the prize hands down. Some of their locations make the other high end DC's look like Motel 6's.

Steamboat Bill

Yes they seem awesome, but they charge $425,000 membership fee + $28,000 per year in dues and you really can't compare them to clubs that charge significantly less.

Kagehitokiri

im not sure we should split the thread until caribbeansun responds to LTTravel's 2 posts regarding joining multiple clubs.

also, Quintess Michael, werent you going to comment on caribbeansun's answers?

caribbeansun

I thought that was the intent which is why I haven't revisited posting on this thread.

The multiple DC idea has some merit and something that I'm considering as I suspect my situation is somewhat unique in that I have a group of people who wish to avail themselves of a variety of properties and spreading the risk amongst more than one club does have some appeal.

We also have vacation properties ourselves which we will continue to use so I'm not looking to have 8-10 weeks of DC time for myself. I think 2-3 is likely sufficient for me personally and I suspect my friends are of similar mind although each does of course have their own ideas and objectives of which DC's may form part of the solution.

Although I must say that many of the clubs do their best to discourage this type of arrangement by way of additional annual fees or increased deposits. Somehow justifying to themselves that usage is somehow greater which brings me full circle back to my conclusion that most DC's do not want you to use all the time you've paid for which IMO is wrong. Otherwise, there is NO justification for higher fees other than it's just a good old cash grab.

Quintess Michael

My humble apologies. I was completely off the grid for most of the last week, at a friend's lake house that was victimized by a fallen 100 foot tree. Electricity, internet, wi-fi, cell phone...nuthin.
Anyhow, I am back in the real world.

Caribbean,

Quintess meets many of your needs as far as destinations, and the availability to actually use them on short notice, advanced notice, and space available.

However, as much as it pains me to say so, the size of most of our homes would probably be overkill for you and your wife.
The vast majority of our resort locations are at least 4 bedrooms, and although the decor and location is A+, I would be concerned that you would feel like you were paying for alot of space that you didn't use.
Of course, some of our city properties are smaller and would fit your needs perfectly. NYC, London, Paris, etc... these "spacious" city properties would lend themselves to a luxurious stay in a bustling metropolitan area, but with enough extra space to host a cocktail party or have one of your children join you.

Now, having said all of that, I would like to address our Leading Experiences, which would be PERFECT for the situation you described above.

You could use some of your plan nights to stay in a beachfront villa in Bali, or Bora Bora.
You could go Diving on the Barrier Reef, or any of the other Experiences that we offer.
This would be available to you at no extra cost, simply your plan nights.

I would be interested in your response to the size of our homes, and how you would feel about just the two of you in a big (4000-5000sft) home.

Again, I apologize for the delay.

__________________
Michael Aumock
Director, Membership Development
Quintess, The Leading Residences of the World