# Destination Club Symposium in Orlando



## Steamboat Bill (Apr 12, 2007)

Information Management Network (IMN) is delighted to welcome newly confirmed expert speakers for the inaugural Destination Club & Private Residence Club Industry Symposium. This event is the first of its kind to equally focus on these rapidly expanding industries that target the high-net-worth market. It will take place on April 18-19 at the Hilton Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL.

http://secure.imn.org/~conference/im/index2.cfm?sys_code=20070417_RE_0051&header=on

Christian V. Kirschner, President & CEO, HIGH COUNTRY CLUB will be there!

Lani Kane-Hanan, RRP, SVP, Feasibility and Business Planning, Mergers & Acquisitions and New Product Innovation MARRIOTT VACATION CLUB INT'L will be there ----very interesting!


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## hipslo (Apr 14, 2007)

Steamboat Bill said:


> Lani Kane-Hanan, RRP, SVP, Feasibility and Business Planning, Mergers & Acquisitions and New Product Innovation MARRIOTT VACATION CLUB INT'L will be there ----very interesting!



Very interesting indeed - M&A, New Product Innovation - time to seriously watch where Marriott may be headed in the DC marketplace - great catch, Bill!


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## HeliumSF (Apr 16, 2007)

*Destination Club and PRC Symposium*

Bill, I will be at this conference in Orlando, so will try to report back with any impressions next week. I do expect that the major fractional and hospitality brands will eventually get into the destination club space, but not for another 12-24 months. I think they want to see:

-business models mature
-regulation (or not) and the impact of any on the industry
-further evidence of BIG consumer demand - the opportunity for 10's of thousands of members.

Also, they need to contend with (if they are public companies) the challenge of owning a business that loses money or breaks-even on a cash flow basis in the early years, until the real estate gains can be realized in later years. So from an accounting standpoint, private investors will tolerate this, but the public market may not.

Greg from Helium Report (btw, my partner, Jamie Cheng, may also post under this account, if that is OK)


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## Steamboat Bill (Apr 16, 2007)

Greg and Jamie

It is a pleasure to welcome Helium Reports to TUG and this forum.

I wish I could attend the conference in Orlando, but I have other commitments and this is still a hobby for me.

I would be extremely happy to have you report any interesting news from this conference.

-Bill
Moderator


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## PerryM (Apr 16, 2007)

*Take notes*

This is great – anyway to get minutes from the meeting?  Video tapes?

I would be very interested in the top 3 items they would like to work on during the next year.


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## Sherpa (Apr 23, 2007)

Some notes from the conference:

Dick Ragatz of Ragatz Associates an industry consultancy mentioned that his firm is working with 3 hotel brands to assess DCs. He couldn't say which hotel brands they were.

Lani Kane-Hanan of Marriott was on a panel about PRC business models (so not about DCs). Marriott already have several Private Residence Clubs.

Interesting DC panel titled "What has the industry learned", with several CEOs, Presidents, Founders of DCs on the panel. Their main comments were about destination clubs being transparent.

Overall a couple of hundred execs from DCs, PRCs and supporting industries were there.

Sherpa


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## Steamboat Bill (Apr 23, 2007)

Sherpa said:


> Overall a couple of hundred execs from DCs, PRCs and supporting industries were there.
> 
> Sherpa



Thanks for your post...we look forward to a larger review when you have time. If you post the notes on your web site, we can link or copy it here on TUG and increase the natural search links for your site.


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