DC4MS

Although this club does not fit into "our" standard definition of a luxury Destination Club, it does provide a significantly lower cost alternative.

The club was started in November 2006 and has 8 properties available.

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What we do.
VacationHouse Destinations was created to make it easy and convenient to escape to a vacation home like it was your own. By building a vacation club that gives members a portfolio of beautiful vacation homes to select from, we offer freedom from countless hours researching that “just right” property; freedom from constant rental agreements; freedom from constant damage deposits and unexpected add-on charges and fees each time you feel like getting away. Vacations are supposed to be fun!

By creating relationships with select property owners, it allows us to provide our members with beautiful vacation homes that they would have trouble finding anywhere else. Favorite destinations in the Pacific Northwest are chosen for those quick drive-to weekend getaways, as well as popular fly-to destinations for longer trips away from it all. Our properties are carefully reviewed before we accept them into the club, which means someone from our team has gone to the actual property and made sure the home meets our high standards. We also continue to gather feedback throughout the year from members to make sure they are happy with the club properties. We want to make sure that every vacation home we showcase is comfortable, well maintained and in great destinations. As our member base grows, so will our portfolio of properties.

How we are different.
With a club model similar to luxury destination clubs, we make it simple to get away to vacation homes with all the flexibility of a nightly rental. VacationHouse Destinations is the first and only destination club to bring these two benefits together. In addition, our club model allows members to take advantage of off-season rates within their membership plan, which no other destination club offers.

Membership Levels and Pricing

Platinum
Membership fee - $300
Days in the plan - 24 days
Space available reservations - inside 75 days
Advanced reservations - 3
Priority Holiday reservtions - 1
Annual retainer - $6,900
Refundable damage discount - $400
Nightly discount - 10%

Gold
Membership fee - $100
Days in the plan - 17 days
Space available reservations - inside 60 days
Advanced reservations - 2
Priority Holiday reservtions - 1
Annual retainer - $4,900
Refundable damage discount - $400
Nightly discount - 5%

Silver
Membership fee - $0 - Free
Days in the plan - unlimited
Space available reservations - inside 45 days
Advanced reservations - 1
Priority Holiday reservtions - 0
Annual retainer - Nightly rite
Refundable damage discount - $400
Nightly discount - n/a

http://vacationhousedestinations.com

DC4MS

VacationHouse Destinations Wins Excellence Award in Hotel and Lodging

SEATTLE, May 21, 2008 – VacationHouse Destinations, the first truly affordable destination club, today announced it was honored by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, with a 2008 Excellence Award in the Interactive Hotel and Lodging Category. With over 9,000 entries from across the US and around the world, the Communicator Awards is the largest and most competitive awards program honoring the creative excellence for communications professionals.

“We’re thrilled to have been selected for this award,” said Tony Bacso, co-founder of VacationHouse Destinations. “This award is a testament to the hard work of our team to create a high quality user experience that keeps people coming back to our company.”

“The incredible quality and diversity of this year’s entries was an inspiration to the academy and all of our judges. The work reflected the rapidly changing media landscape as the growing amounts of interactive work submitted pushed the limits of the medium, and the quality of the traditional work submitted was again remarkable,” noted Linda Day, director of the IAVA. She added, “On behalf of the entire Academy, we are honored to have judged the 14th Annual Communicator Awards and we are proud to honor the best in creativity and execution from the foremost communications professionals in the business.”

For the first time, the 14th Annual Communicator Awards is being overseen and sanctioned by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from a "Who's Who" of acclaimed media, communications, advertising, creative and marketing firms. IAVA members include executives from organizations such as Alloy, Brandweek, Coach, Disney, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Estee Lauder, Fry Hammond Barr, HBO, Monster.com, MTV, Polo Ralph Lauren, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Victoria’s Secret, Wired, and Yahoo!

Winning entries for the Communicator Awards are selected by the International Academy of the Visual Arts. All decisions of the judges are final. Entries are judged to evaluate distinction in creative work. In determining Excellence and Distinction Winners, entries are judged on their merits based on a standard of excellence based on the 14 year history of the Communicator Awards, considering the category entered. A category may have multiple winners, or may have none. Entries are scored on a ten point scale by the judges. Generally, Excellence Winners receive a score of 9.0 or above and Distinction Winners receive a score of 7.0 to 8.9.

Kagehitokiri

so its a rental broker, with option of just renting.

VHDestinations

Yes, we're a broker in the most basic sense of the word, absolutely - but with a lot of distinctions.

The luxury destination clubs such as Exclusive Resorts, Private Escapes were our inspiration when we started our company. We spun off that model into a different concept - one that attracts a different demographic - and one that doesn't require high membership fees in order to acquire new properties.

We feel there are more then enough privately owned, poorly managed, vacation homes out there that we don't need to aquire our own, at least not yet. If our members want a place in Whister, we can provide that - we're extremely selective about the homes we include in the portfolio, however. Every home is carefully screened and routinely examined by us to make sure they're top notch. There's a lot of vacation home rental sites - VRBO, Homeaway - hundreds more - but they're random listing portals with thousands of properties that property owners pay listing fees and get put on a very boring list of similar properties in that area. In my opinion, that home is just another one on a list without any real opportunity to stand out amongst the crowd. On our site, we have only one home in each destination - they stand out as distinctive in their area -and don't have competition from other homes directly competing for attention.

Renting vacation homes from the consumer perspective, is not an easy task -there's a lot of hoops to jump through - each property on a listing portal is individually owned by an owner. Each of those owners has a different rate structure, different rental agreements, different damage deposits, fees terms etc. Basically it's one giant hassle to rent a vacation home, not to mention the risks people take when they rent a home through one of those sites - how do they know what they'll really get? On the personal side, we rented a "cabin" from a listing site - the pictures looked great-new log cabin in the woods, near amenities - should have what you expect - plumbing...electricity...linens etc. When we got there, it looked like a garden shed that you'd buy from your local large box hardware store - no linens, no bathroom, no electricity - plywood beds. We thought we were in the Twilight Zone - it definitely wasn't what was in the pictures. We never did get our money back as the owner refused - so there was a vacation that we'll always remember, but not in a good way. I wonder how many other people have similar stories - I'm sure a lot do.

Our strategy is to simplify the process, get rid of the hassels and provide great accomodations. That's what attracted us most to the destination club model - we just want to make it more affordable.

Kagehitokiri

VHDestinations, welcome to the forum.

VHDestinations

Thanks very much! We look forward to actively participating. There's a lot of great discussions on these threads.

3DH

Hello and welcome, VHDestinations! One question... who sets the nightly prices on the units/homes -- the owners or yourself? Some of them seem quite low, given their locations. (I ask because I may be forwarding a property owner toward your site...)

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

Kagehitokiri

3DH, another thing that owner might explore is Trade to Travel

hmm, looks like the amanpuri villa is no longer listed there.

VHDestinations

We'd appreciate any property owner referrals -thank you!!

We work together with the property owner to set the rate - usually they have a price in mind- we always do our due diligence with some market research of that particular area and get an understanding for the rates - not only for the vacation homes, but for any hotel rates in the area. We try to be competitive as price is a priority to our renters - thoughtful and well appointed properties are what they expect from us - so that becomes a given when they're planning their next trip.

I'd appreciate your input on which homes you think are underpriced - perhaps we'll need to go back and do another sweep of the market valuations for that area.

Thanks!

Kagehitokiri

TradeToTravel

Hi, All, just wanted to chime in to let readers of this thread know that the company which Kagehitokiri mentions above, Trade to Travel, is currently being discussed in the "Trade to Travel Press Release" thread in the Main Destination Club Forums. I invite you to check it out and here's the link: http://www.destinationclubforums.com...lease-898.html

All the best,
Leah Powell, president TTT

www.TradeToTravel.com
1.800.922.6001