TravelGuy

Hello.

My name is TravelGuy.

I’m an addict… a travel addict.

I’ve been a High Country Club travel addict for two years now … and I can’t stop!


THE QUESTIONS

I’m writing this to explore Life’s Biggest Questions, such as

What is the meaning of life?
Why is the sky blue?
What is the purpose of Stonehenge?
When will the world end?
When will I get my lost luggage?

And of course Life’s mega-universal question for uber-travelers:
Which is the better fix for travel addiction … High Country Club or Private Escapes??

We’ll be exploring these questions in depth in this episode of “TravelGuy explores questions in depth”. Let’s start with the High Country Club vs. Private Escapes question and I’ll deal with the rest of Life’s Biggest Questions at the end.

Here are some of my comparisons, questions and thoughts on High Country Club and Private Escapes (Premiere level membership). I did extensive due diligence on both clubs when I was deciding on membership about two years ago. I decided on High Country Club and have been an enthusiastic member (a.k.a. “addict”) ever since. Take into account that I’m totally jaded by the unbelievable quality of the HCC vacation experience and their incredible customer service when you read the following. (Alright. I admit it. I’m NOT going to be impartial because I’m a HCC addict but I will attempt to be factually correct).


DEAD PRESIDENTS

At the heart of every great addiction is MONEY. Unfortunately, my travel addiction is no different. To compare High Country Club and Private Escapes (Premiere) adequately, we need to consider the costs.

Membership Level Comparison:

Post June 1 Price Increase for High Country Club
Companion = 7 days, $30,000 deposit, $2,300/yearly
Associate= 15 days, $50,000 deposit, $4,800/yearly
Affiliate = 25 days, $60,000 deposit, $7,200/yearly
Private = 35 days, $80,000 deposit, $9,600/yearly

Post-Merger pricing for Ultimate Escapes (Premiere)
Premiere/ Bronze = 14 days, $80,000 deposit, $8,000/yearly
Premiere/ Silver = 21 days, $105,000 deposit, $9,500/yearly
Premiere/ Gold = 28 days, $115,000 deposit, $11,000/yearly
Premiere/ Platinum = 42 days, $125,000 deposit, $12,000/yearly

Cost-Per-Night Comparison:

Here’s a quick note on the Official TravelGuy Cost-Per-Night calculations … don’t try and understand the methodology … just trust the resulting calcs. Basically it works like this - I scribble the pricing of the various DC memberships onto fine Egyptian papyrus, hand it to some scribing monks that I know, they go into a cave with my notes, lager and an abacus and come out several moons later with these Cost-Per-Night figures and lots of empty lager kegs.

Official TravelGuy Cost-Per-Night (As of 6/1/08 & post-merger)
Assumes 10 years of ownership & 5% opportunity cost of capital

HCC Companion = $684/night
HCC Associate= $596/night
HCC Affiliate = $487/night
HCC Private = $464/night

UE Premiere/ Bronze = $1,045/night
UE Premiere/ Silver = $867/night
UE Premiere/ Gold = $733/night
UE Premiere/ Platinum = $532/night

Analysis:
HCC Associate (15 nights) is 43% LESS per night than UE Premiere/ Bronze (14 nights)
HCC Affiliate (25 nights) is 33% LESS per night than UE Premiere/ Gold (28 nights)
< Advantage High Country Club and lager for everyone!


PROPERTY COMPARISON

What’s the good of “cheap” if the goods don’t provide the fix for the travel addiction? Here’s a comparison of the properties.

Quantity of Properties:
High Country Club – 33 < Advantage High Country Club
Private Escapes (Premiere) - 29

Property Quality:

Ski Properties – No comparison. HCC has 14 ski properties. PE has 5. If you want to go skiing and want availability, you have to go HCC. Plus HCC gives you cool Patagonia vests and camelbacks! < Advantage High Country Club

Beach Properties – Both DCs have properties in Los Cabos, OBX, Turks & Hawaii (Big Island)
PE exclusive locations - Belize, Kiawah, BVI, Punta Cana and Watercolor, FL.
HCC exclusive locations - Costa Rica, Hilton Head, Maui, Nuevo Vallarta, Playa Del Carmen and Rosemary Beach, FL. < Advantage High Country Club for having preferred properties among the exclusive beach locations (although BVI is Killer for PE!)

City, Golf and Other Properties – Both DCs have properties in La Costa, La Quinta, NYC and Tuscany
PE exclusive locations - Chicago, Fox Acres (Fox what?), Lake Las Vegas (not Strip!) and Reynolds Plantation (what tha?).
HCC exclusive locations - Orlando.
Mickey trumps all so advantage HCC!!! Just kidding. Personally, I only care about Chicago or Orlando from the exclusive property locations so I’ll give the advantage to PE for a least having a property somewhere within the borders of the state of Nevada. < Advantage Private Escapes

Properties Within the Same Developments for Comparison:

Steamboat
HCC – 4bd Townhome < Advantage High Country Club
PE – 2bd Condo

New York – 1600 Broadway
HCC – 1bd
PE – Studio (PE also has two other NYC properties including Trump Tower) < Advantage Private Escapes for Trump although HCC is better for Broadway

Punta Mita
HCC – 4bd Villa w/ pool < Advantage High Country Club
PE – 3bd, no pool (next door to HCC)

Hawaii (Waikoloa)
HCC – 3bd Townhome < Advantage High Country Club
PE – 2bd Condo

OBX
HCC – 5bd Custom home w/ pool house < Big time advantage High Country Club
PE – 4bd Tract house

“Pinnacle” Homes and the Reciprocity Factor.
PE “Pinnacle” level homes - Abaco, Charleston (why??), Deer Valley, Los Cabos, NYC and Watercolor, FL
HCC “Pinnacle” level homes - Beaver Creek Village Hall, Breckenridge Lodge, OBX, Maui/Mauka and Steamboat (10k sq.ft. w/ranch). La Costa is “”Platinum” level.

“Pinnacle” home reservation days per membership year – PE = 7 or less, HCC = All your membership days.
I already have BC Village Hall and Breckenridge Lodge booked for next Jan/Feb and OBX booked for July. That’s 21 days of “Pinnacle” level homes booked already in the next 12 months … all in PRIME SEASON BABY! < Advantage High Country Club.

New Properties
HCC – I lost track of the number last year. Four new properties so far this year (Maui, Tahoe, OBX and Costa Rica). Expected in the short term future (you didn’t hear it from me) are Cancun, Naples, Sunny Isles/Sobe, Aruba, NYC and probably Chicago.
PE (Premiere) – I only remember Watercolor, Fla from last year and don’t know of any new properties this year. Wazz up with that??? Anyone have more info on this?? < Huge Advantage High Country Club

East Coast Accessible Properties
HCC – Currently has Stowe, NYC, Hilton Head, OBX, Rosemary Beach, Playa del Carmen (2) and Turks. That’s 25% of all HCC properties. Five of the “not-yet-talked-about, you didn’t hear it from me” properties are East Coast accessible bringing the percentage up to 33%. I’ll bet that’s higher than the percentage of East Coast HCC members at this point. Note to fellow right-coasters – stop yo’ bitchin!
PE (Premiere) – Kiawah, BVI, NYC (3), OBX, Reynolds (what tha?), Stowe, Turks and Watercolor.
Since I’m throwing Reynolds, GA out of the mix on a TGTV (TravelGuy Technical Violation), HCC and PE have the same number of East Coast locations and HCC will have way more East Coast properties with the new additions. < Advantage High Country Club for not having a property in Reynolds, GA. TGTV= no beach, no ski, no shopping … no go!


PROPERTY AVAILABILITY

So “cheap” is good and nice properties are great, but what’s the point if you can’t get the fix if the goods aren’t available? Here’s my analysis, impartial as always, of the availability of PE (Premiere) and HCC properties to their addicts, er, members.

The Stats – As of 5:00pm (EDT) on 4/17/08, High Country Club had 56.96% of its property reservations available during the next 12 months. This means that only about 43% of available reservations are booked! Based on the generalizations of the Private Escapes availability percentages in earlier posts, “PE on the other had claims to only have a 50% occupancy”, the advantage goes to HCC by about 6%. < Advantage … Tie because these are stats within the Official TravelGuy margin of error.

“Pinnacle” Availability – I’m told by the scribing monks that the term “Pinnacle” comes from the Latin for “more opulent than you’d ever need unless you’re a mondo-travel addict”. Anyway, when considering the “Pinnacle” level of properties, here is the breakdown of total availability for all members of either PE (Premiere) or HCC:
HCC = 5 “Pinnacle” properties X 365 days/year available = 1,825 total “Pinnacle” days/year available
PE (Premiere) = 6 “Pinnacle” properties X 9 days/quarter available = 216 total “Pinnacle” days/year available *
PE “Preview” membership plan “Pinnacle” days available = 0!!!

* My understanding is that only 9 days per “Pinnacle” home per quarter are available for PE Premiere level members. This stat gets even worse if those 9 days/quarter must be shared with PE Platinum level members!

HCC members have over EIGHT TIMES more availability for “Pinnacle” level properties and I even included the questionable PE Charleston (why??) property. < a “Pinnacle” size Advantage to High Country Club


RESERVATION POLICY

A quick review of what we’ve covered so far:
1. “Cheap” is good!
2. Nice properties are good!
3. Getting to use nice properties is good!
4. The Ft. Lauderdale Marriott timeshare was just closed for fumigation of dog fleas…. oops, sorry, wrong post.

We’ve established that grand travel properties on the cheap are great if they are available. But HOW do you match up property availability to your travel addiction needs? Here’s my unbiased analysis of the reservation policies and issues for PE (Premiere) and HCC.

Why Reservations Restrictions at All? – All of us travel addicts seem to constantly complain about all the restrictions of the various Destination Club reservation systems. High Country Club has more reservation restrictions than some DCs to assure MORE availability of properties for ALL members. Otherwise, savvy travel addicts (like TravelGuy) would book ALL the good properties at the BEST times and leave the lesser savvy unfortunate members with the undesirable destinations … like Lauderdale! < Advantage High Country Club.

Three Year Reservation Period – A reservation policy that allows ressies three years out means that all the good properties get booked three years out. Most of you can’t plan one year out (TravelGuy can) so how will you compete for reservations at THREE years out? Come to think of it, I’d like to lobby HCC to implement a TWELVE year reservation period so I can book properties through the 2020 Wu-Tang Spring Olympic Games. < Advantage High Country Club for having a reservation plan denominated in months instead of years.

Any-Day Check-In & Flexible-Length Stays – Giving the club members the flexibility to book check-in on any day for any length of stay is like a travel addict attending a Four Seasons fractional sales presentation. Both end with the loss of currency and the question of “why the hell did we do that?”. Flexibility for check-in day and length of stay creates “lost” days between reservations that results in unusable inventory. I believe this point is proven by the recent change to the HCC reservation policy that allows ½ week stays in addition to full week stays. That change has orphaned some blocks of property time. Now I don’t know about you but I really don’t want to fly across the country for a three-day stay during mid-week! And what if I book MY six weeks of use from Thursday to Thursday at the “Pinnacle” properties to take advantage of great mid-week air fares. This may effect the day and week that YOU want to check-in. And don’t forget that my six weeks of Thursday check-in has created TWELVE partial weeks for the rest of you! < Advantage High Country Club for caring about their inventory enough not to orphan it!

Long-Term Reservations and Holidays – There is a basic rule of economics for all the great addictions, travel included. That rule is that you can always pay more to get a better fix. In the case of a High Country Club travel addiction, you can always pay a little more and customize your membership plan to convert your Advanced reservations to Long-Term reservations, add a Holiday reservation, etc. The best part is that you can up-convert your HCC membership plan to “travel junkie” status with the additional cost for upgraded reservations and STILL pay less than the Private Escapes dope. < Advantage High Country Club. Note – Thus ends the “addiction” metaphors, similes and analogies as I’m starting to scare myself with all this talk about drugs and addicts.

Frequent Flier – What kind of uber-traveler whines about not having a DC reservation at least a year out so that they can find an airlines frequent flier ticket! Man-up and venture over to FlyerTalk and get the savvy on getting’ the tix! If you don’t’ spend the cash with High Country Club to get all Long-Term Reservations (see previous paragraph) then develop a little FF expertise and book ‘em inside 330 days. Personally, I have the imbibing, scribing monks track my FF miles and book the tickets. In the past year, they have been able to book multiple FF tix to Turks (US Air), Maui (AA through Mexicana <- cool, eh?), Breckenridge (NWA) and Vegas/Non-HCC (NWA through CON) all in season and all at less than 120 days out. It can be done … even without the monks! <Advantage ?? … not even sure there is a point to this paragraph. But it’s been awhile since I gave one to PE, so to be fair and balanced < Advantage Private Escapes.

By the way, I have NOT upgraded my High Country Club membership because
A) I’m too cheap
B) I don’t need to, I get the ressies I want
C) My lager, papyrus and abacus repair expenses are quite high.

The current High Country Club reservation system works for me. Here is an example of my recent reservations and how many days out that I booked them (All is season):
Breck Lodge (365 day)
Beaver Creek Village Hall (365 day)
OBX (365 day)
Turks (120 day)
NYC (120 day)
Orlando (120 day)
Last year I also booked the Breck Lodge in March at 60 days out!

I believe that the High Country Club restricted reservation system is BETTER for all club members, to the dismay of us travel opportunists who would pirate the system of choice properties if we had the chance < Advantage High Country Club partially because I know bubkiss about the PE (Premiere) reservations system.


CORPORATE CULTURE

What’s the point of an affordable, luxurious travel property that you can easily reserve if the company itself won’t be around longer than it takes the Lauderdale Marriott timeshare to shampoo the shag carpeting? High Country Club has been analyzed, examined, evaluated, scrutinized and dissected in every direction since it came on the uber-travel scene several years ago. They have opened their books, shown their projections and welcomed member questioning of their CFO, CEO, SVP, CD and DVD at length. As an example, I recently examined titles to their properties with a prospective member and the HCC CFO was very cooperative.

I don’t believe, or I’m not aware, that Private Escapes has been vetted in nearly as much depth. My theory is that High Country Club falls into the “too good to be true” category due to their efficiency of operations and forward-thinking biz plan. That skepticism leads to more scrutiny of HCC.

That said, allow me to poke a stick at Private Escapes and some issues that I’m uncomfortable with.

Destination Club Association Net Asset Test
HCC – Not only have they completed the Net Asset Test within the DCA minimum standard of about 70% of members deposits, their Net Asset Test shows that they have assets to liquidate to cover over 100% of members deposits. HCC has demonstrated this to the world with documentation from their CPA firm. They announced that this years audit is done and they will soon distribute the CPA statement soon that will again show an ability to cover 100% of member deposits.
PE – I can’t find anything about PE completing a Net Asset Test even though their President is head of the DCA. Did they post for last year? Did they post for this year? Do they have enough assets to comply?? Are they able to cover only the minimum of 70% of customer deposits or can they cover 100% of customer deposits like High Country Club? < Advantage High Country Club for transparency and going HIGHER than the industry standard for covering their members!

Member Resignation List
HCC – They have no members waiting to leave the club and few have left in the past.
PE – A PE (Premiere) member that I’m familiar with (who will remain unnamed to protect my fellow travel addict’s identity) has recently notified PE that they are resigning their membership and requested a refund of their membership deposit. They were informed, by e-mail, that they would be placed on the resignation waiting list and would have to wait up to six months for a refund. I don’t want to read anything into this so I’ll just say … < Advantage High Country Club

New Members and Momentum
HCC – They are very public with their membership numbers and have increasing, straight-line member increases in spite of the economic “pull-back”. That momentum allows them to execute their biz plan, meet their Net Asset Tests, add new properties, keep members happy, etc.
PE – I’m not aware of any recent membership numbers that PE has made public. Does anyone care to advise TravelGuy of the NET new members for PE (Premiere) for last year and this year? I’m interested to see if these numbers tie into any of these other “Corporate” issues. < Advantage ??? – I’ll get the scribing monk’s abaci working overtime on this if anyone can get me the PE membership numbers.

Mergers & Acquisitions - I’ll assume that by the time you get done reading this unabridged post:
A) The Private Escapes / Ultimate Resorts merger will FINALLY be completed.
B) Several years will have passed.
C) Warren Buffet will have been appointed President by a special act of congress after multiple states votes are disqualified because they held their presidential elections before the general election.
D) Circuit City will be bailed out by the Fed as “too big and too stupid to fail”, sold to Best Buy for $1/share and some rechargeable batteries, and the combined company will be rebranded as “Abercrombie & Kent Electronics Club”.
E) Ethanol will be reconfigured to use Spam as the major component due to a worldwide shortage of corn.
F) The Westgate Las Vegas Planet Hollywood timeshare will have sunk into the desert floor due to shoddy construction and fraud by the developer.

With all seriousness, what’s the deal with the mishandling of this M/A??? And you want these people to handle your travel arrangements and dinner reservations for your trip to the third world? What’s next … outsourcing the PE/UR concierge department to Bear Sterns?? ‘Nuff said. < Advantage High Country Club for not botching the publicity, financing, communication and execution of any M/A activities in the last 12 months or so!


THE FINAL ANALYSIS
Here’s a shocker … TravelGuy prefers High County Club over Private Escapes! Nothing new to that. However, the above comparison goes to show WHY I drink the High Country Club Kool-Aid with my fellow HCC addicts.


THE MEANING OF LIFE (with all due respect to Monty Python).

Oh, I almost forgot. Here are the answers to the rest of Life’s Biggest Questions:

What is the meaning of life? - You are born, you travel, you die.
Why is the sky blue? – It’s blue because of an endorsement arrangement with Jet Blue Airlines.
What is the purpose of Stonehenge? – Originally it was a timeshare but fell into disrepair without special assessment charges to the owners.
When will the world end? – When Paris Hilton has children.
When will I get my lost luggage? – You won’t.

In the next episode of “TravelGuy explores questions in depth” we’ll explore more of Life’s Biggest Questions such as :
Are equity based Destination Clubs an abomination to God?
Is Steve Case really an alien?
Should Destination Clubs consider the vicinity of Starbucks as the predominant factor for property locations?
What the hell is the difference between Helium and Halogen?

3DH

Quote:

Originally Posted by TravelGuy Hello. My name is TravelGuy. I’m an addict… a travel addict. I’ve been a High Country Club travel addict for two years now … and I can’t stop!

...and the room replies "Hi Travel Guy" (at least that's the way it happens in the movies)

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

3DH

OK, after analysis, here are my replies (and questions...)

1. Where do we get the lager (that was announced for everyone after announcing HCC the victor in pricing)
2. I personally like the idea of "any day" bookings that my club offers... but to each his own
3. It appears that HCC wins in what you are looking for... me, personally, I prefer the "beachfront" or "ski-in/out" locations that I believe PE offers (not certain here)
4. If you have any extra rooms available on any of those vacations, please advise so I can get packed in time!
5. Explain the Maui (AA through Mexicana) airline gig... please tell me you didn't fly Mexicana all the way to Hawaii!
6. You and Monty still make me laugh -- couldn't agree more with your answers to life's biggest questions!

Keep 'em coming (and keep us laughing!), TravelGuy!

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

want2travelmore

LOL - Great humor and great analysis -TravelGuy. Your point on orphaned properties by allowing any start and stop and any # of nights availability is a good one. I hadn't thought that one all the way through in another post . Instead I had focused on how that super-flex policy raises a DC's operating cost for the properties - which could be passed through to members - or not. Yet, for some types of properties - City locations and maybe the golf/leisure ones as long as not-so-far-away having a two-night minimums anytime might not create as many mid-week orphaned days versus that reservation flexibility trade-off for members (thinking NYC, Orlando, La Quinta, La Costa, Vegas,Chicago,DC,LA, San Fran, others down the road in terms of HCC).

Two points of some disagreement though - Us right coasters will keep bitching, because we know if HCC wants to get to 3,000 members or more, before their big ticket sale to a public company, there are a ton more of us that use-guys on the left side of these here United States. Also, I haven't researched the property, but why the knock on Charleston in the PE portfolio? Charleston is a beautiful place. Charming and cultured are overused, but I'd bet in a dictionary somewhere I wouldn't be suprised to see Charleston cited in a sentence as an example use of both those adjectives. I'd be pleased to see HCC place a home there.

Now...if I was the HCC selection dictator for the next ten spots I'd like HCC to open closer to my side of the world - sure, Charleston wouldn't make it (maybe that is your point?), but I could see it in the next ten or maybe just outside of that top 20 range. Think of how you could combine it with a trip with Hilton Head, Kiawah, Sea Island, Myrtle Beach, Litchfield Beach or even Orlando? Or you jet into Miami or NYC and fly back through Charleston to refresh the artist in you before you head back West.

Bourne

A member of the Kool-aid club.

and I really want to see that shag carpet shampooed in my lifetime. I mean it.

Having lived in Myrtle Beach for a while, I have a soft spot for Charleston. The only culture fix we could get within a 200 mile radius besides Hooters. That said, that property is going off-line pretty soon due to zoning issues.

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The Nile is a river in Egypt......

dwmantz

Should Destination Clubs consider the vicinity of Starbucks as the predominant factor for property locations?

Absolutely YES!

Thanks for the great analysis! Heath owes you a drink at open house!!!

pwrshift

Anyone taking the time to read (or write) posts like the OP's has too much time on his/her hands IMO. Sorry.

Steamboat Bill

I 100% disagree and love these posts. It takes a lot of time and energy to do this and make logging onto this board fun and interesting.

Travelguy has "upped the ante" once again in creative posting and I am glad he joined HCC as I can relate to his inside jokes and agree with most of his opinions.

Disclaimer - I sometimes have his scribes of monks help me decide which HCC property to visit next.

Here are a few comments:

1. Does HCC still give a Spider vest and Camelback to all new members? This is a nice thank-you gift.

2. In all fairness, PE should get an advantage for having daily housekeeping, even thought a few HCC properties include daily housekeeping (Turks), most do not.

3. Access to La Buscadora in the BVI is a huge plus for PE.

4. I have not seen any new homes added to the PE Premier collection in a long time, this is a major reason for concern as it indicates a healthy rate of new members joining.

5. I get the feeling PE is pushing membership into the Platinum and Pinnacle homes as these are higher ticket items like Portofino was doing.

6. IMHO - A perfect combination is joining both HCC and PE Platinum and skipping PE Premier.

3DH

I have been trying to make this point, myself! (Or, at the least, an automatic espresso machine in each home with regular AND decaf espresso)

Sorry pwrshift, I am in agreement with SteamboatBill on this one, too... I love to read TravelGuy's posts!

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

want2travelmore

Me three, enjoy TravelGuy's wit, humor and effo