Russell, the oldest of my three sons, turned four this month. I am generally amazed
and always surprised with the pearls of wisdom, worldly observations, and comments
that make me go “gulp” that come out of his pre-school mouth at the dinner table.
Those of you who are parents know what I’m talking about, and are smiling to yourself
as you remember how you reacted when your innocent child repeated something heard
from one of the neighborhood teenagers in the middle of an otherwise unremarkable
dinner conversation. “Four going on fourteen,” you’d say to yourself.
As your InnSeason Vacation Club enters its fourth year, it’s exhibiting many of
the characteristics of a Club three times its age. That’s because your club was
designed with the advantage of lessons learned from other clubs that were designed
by the large hotel brands, mostly in the 1990’s, adapting their best elements and
avoiding their pitfalls. The issues essentially fall into three categories: consumer
protection, inventory integrity and program flexibility.
The deeded trust model of InnSeason Vacation Club assures all Club owners that they
will have the uninterrupted right to use and enjoy all Club resorts. Title to all
Club properties is held free and clear by the Club Trustee, a division of Stewart
Title Insurance Company, assuring that the Trust will be around to give our kids
and grandkids a lifetime of vacations.
Inventory integrity has three facets. First, your Club documents and the Trustee
ensure that for every point issued to a Member, there is a point’s worth (or more)
of inventory in the Club system. Second, your Club’s inventory management team works
hard to make sure that the inventory the Club owns reflects the interests of its
Members – balancing Summer and Ski Season weeks in Lincoln, NH, for example. Third,
unlike other clubs, especially those operated by an exchange company, point values
change very little in InnSeason Vacation Club. That means, if you had enough points
to stay in a one-bedroom suite at Falmouth HarborWalk for a week in the summer last
year, you’ll be able to do the same next year. These assurances have benefited all
InnSeason Vacation Club Members from day one.
It’s from your Club’s flexible program structure that we’re able to design and deliver
the many additional benefits that have taken many other clubs years or decades to
develop, if they could even get there. You have the ability to add points in increments
that work for you – as few as 5 or 10,000 at a time. More rigid models would force
you to add the equivalent of a full week of ownership whenever you decided that
you had earned the right to a little more vacation enjoyment each year. You can
now redeem your points for a growing variety of leisure benefits – from golf to
meals to harbor cruises to lift tickets – a benefit that other clubs can’t ever
deliver. Your Owner Services team is adding new Destinnations to your vacation options
every month. Hundreds of you have already used your points to stay at the Club Navigo
resorts in Orlando and Ormond Beach. Destinnations in Atlantic City, the Carolinas
and soon in Aruba add value and flexibility to your Club points. Of course, you’ve
never been limited by the location, type of suite, time of year or duration of visit
when you redeem your InnSeason Vacation Club points – just try that at some of the
other “big brand” clubs!
InnSeason Resorts is committed to making your Club Membership one of your most valued
and prized possessions. We’ll soon be announcing new resorts in the Club system,
adding more options for the services and products you can get with your points,
and giving additional rewards to Club members who achieve higher point levels. Those
of you who have attended a Vacation Club University know how much that has helped
you to take full advantage of your Club membership. If you haven’t attended a VCU
yet – or can’t wait to attend another one – mark your calendar, write down your
questions and suggestions, and get ready to supercharge your membership!
Your InnSeason Vacation Club enters its fourth year with nearly 5,000 members owning
more than a quarter of a billion points, and the best is yet to come! The Club’s
security and flexibility makes it the new industry standard – it’s what those older
clubs would have designed if they had a crystal ball. Your Club may just be a youngster
in comparison to the others, but it has the benefits of the biggest and the best
of them. Enjoy your vacations – you deserve them.