# HCC adds new membership category for TUG



## Steamboat Bill (Mar 16, 2007)

HCC has decided to offer a fourth membership type, the Associate Membership.....based upon a discussion I had with them in October on how to market to the TUG users.

Here are the details on the new Associate Membership:

Membership Fee - $30,000
Annual Dues - $3,500
Number of Nights – 15

Reservation Policy – 1 Long Term Reservation (Non Holiday), the other week can be used within 90 days or can be broken up into two 4 night reservations, made within 60 days. 

HCC feels that this could be a great membership for TUG and is a perfect solution for those who want to experience the High Country Club lifestyle, but have limited time to get away. 

It’s also a great membership for TUGers who own several timeshares and don’t have an additional 3 or 6 weeks of vacation. This would allow TUGers to keep their timeshares and still experience HCC. 

It’s also a great membership for HCC financially because it will take 3 Associate Members to equal 1 actual private membership for maintaining their 8 Private members = 1 property ratio. 

So the 3 Associate members will equal a $90K membership fee and $10,500 in annual dues.....it looks like HCC is beginning to tweek their business model and it looks like it will work out fantastic.

Of course, the early adopters will benefit the most because we got in cheap!!!!


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## BocaBum99 (Mar 16, 2007)

Hey Bill,

While your on a roll, see if you can have them offer rentals for units still available less than 7-days in advance of checkin for $100 per night with free guest privileges.

Then, owners will have reduced maintenance fees and I'll rent your Palms unit in Maui.


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## Steamboat Bill (Mar 16, 2007)

Here is my math for the new HCC Associate membership category:

Assume a 5% lost opportunity cost for all initial purchase prices. Divide this by the total nights of usage to get the lost opportunity cost per night.

Assume the annual dues divided by the nights of usage equals the annual cost per night per year.

Assume the total cost per night = lost opportunity cost per night + annual cost per night

HCC Associate Membership:
$30,000 purchase price, $3,500 annual dues, 15 night usage
Cost per night = $100 + $233 = $333 per night

That's right….you can now join HCC for CHEAPER than many upscale timeshares like DVC, Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Westgate, etc.

As a comparison from previous posts:

HCC affiliate membership:
$40,000 purchase price, $5,400 annual dues, 25 nights usage, 
Cost per night = $80 + $216 = $296 per night

HCC Private membership (before May 1, 2007):
$50,000 purchase price, $8,400 annual dues, 45 nights usage, 
Cost per night = $56 + $187 = $243 per night

Ski week (Marriott SummitWatch / Mountainside or Westgate Park City) non-holiday
$30,000 purchase price (resale), $950 annual dues, 7 nights usage, 2 Bedroom
Cost per night = $214 + $136 = $350 per night

Disney Vacation Club 300 point purchase @ $96pp
$28,800 purchase price, $1,290 annual dues ($4.30 pp), 7 nights usage, 2 Bedroom standard
Cost per night = $206 + $184 = $389 per night


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## Steamboat Bill (Mar 16, 2007)

BocaBum99 said:


> Hey Bill,
> 
> While your on a roll, see if you can have them offer rentals for units still available less than 7-days in advance of checkin for $100 per night with free guest privileges.
> 
> Then, owners will have reduced maintenance fees and I'll rent your Palms unit in Maui.



I have spoken with HCC a bunch of times and they are adimate about keeping the useage of their properties to "club members only". I don't think they will consider rentals in the near future.

Besides, with this new category....HCC is within reach of MANY TUGers now.

The only "negative" with the new membership category is that you can't book holiday weeks....but this may not be a big deal to many people.


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## CaliDave (Mar 17, 2007)

Does Holiday,  include summer break?


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## m61376 (Mar 17, 2007)

Most of the summer is not considered holiday weeks. The problem, as I see it, is that they have a dozen holiday weeks a year (they consider a lot of weeks holidays that are generally not classified as Holiday weeks elsewhere), so that's a quarter of the year that is only bookable <90 days (and the selection is likely to be very limited).


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## Steamboat Bill (Mar 17, 2007)

From the High Country Club Rules and Regulations:

Holidays are:
New Year's Day
MLK Day
President's Day
Spring Break - 2007 = weeks of Mar 16, Mar 23, Mar 30, Apr 6
Memorial Day
July 4th
Labor Day
Thanksgiving
Christmas

This new category is a real great introductory deal....I would HIGHLY advise adding a line in your contract that will allow you to upgrade your membership to Affiliate or Private membership for an extra $10k or $20k within the first 3 years of membership.

12 holiday weeks out of 52 weeks is 23% of the year. However, it really depends on your intended usage and this may not affect you and still leaves 77% of the entire year for you to book two weeks. From my searches of the web site....late booking availability has NOT been a problem adn I am very impressed with the amount of properties that can be booked within 30-90 days of travel.

Either way, if holiday usage is important to you, spend the extra $10k and get the Affiliate Membership.


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## travelguy (Mar 18, 2007)

*High Country Club rentals*



Steamboat Bill said:


> I have spoken with HCC a bunch of times and they are adimate about keeping the useage of their properties to "club members only". I don't think they will consider rentals in the near future.



I agree.  I've had numerous conversations with the High Country Club execs and they are totally against renting their properties.  They have some valid reasons and I admire them for not going for the easy rental money like most travel real estate developers.


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## travelguy (Mar 18, 2007)

*High Country Club Holidays*



m61376 said:


> Most of the summer is not considered holiday weeks. The problem, as I see it, is that they have a dozen holiday weeks a year (they consider a lot of weeks holidays that are generally not classified as Holiday weeks elsewhere), so that's a quarter of the year that is only bookable <90 days (and the selection is likely to be very limited).



I believe the only Holiday weeks that High Country Club has that are not generally considered holidays are the four Spring Break weeks.  Consider that one of those weeks contains Easter and that brings the "extra" holiday weeks down to three.  Maybe they should have named all these weeks as "prime weeks" instead of "Holiday weeks" to avoid confusion.

I must say that the selection of available weeks during the High Country Club Holiday weeks has been good so far.  I was able to reserve the 4,800 s.f. ski lodge in Breckenridge during Spring Break at <60 days out!


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## m61376 (Mar 19, 2007)

I guess part of my concern is that I am comparing it to most timeshares which, even if they have a few premium weeks in a floating seek season, only block off Chritmas, New Year's, Presidents' and Easter weeks at most as opposed to including the lesser holidays (such as MLK week, Memorial week, Labor Day, 4 weeks at spring break, etc). Blocking off almost a quarter of the year to reserving only during the last 90 days seems a little restrictive- but that's just my opinion. Obviously it is not a problem for many. I think it is more problematic for people on the East coast who don't really have much or anything driveable at this point (depending, of course, where they're located; the NYC destination is a great location, but I can drive there anytime I want so wouldn't be worried about reserving it).

Another question- unless I am missing something- for the next few weeks, at least, do you think the Associate membership is worthwhile as opposed to the Affiliate membership? There is, of course, less of an annual fee, but the same buy-in price.


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## Steamboat Bill (Mar 19, 2007)

m61376 said:


> Another question- unless I am missing something- for the next few weeks, at least, do you think the Associate membership is worthwhile as opposed to the Affiliate membership? There is, of course, less of an annual fee, but the same buy-in price.



The Affiliate Membership (25 nights) is the BEST HCC bang for the buck and it gives you 3 long term reservations (of which 1 is a holiday week).

The Associate Membership is a good deal for people that want to try out a destination club for a low entry price. However, I would want the ability to upgrade to a Affiliate Membership within the first 3 years.


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## SamH (Mar 19, 2007)

> The Affiliate Membership (25 nights) is the BEST HCC bang for the buck and it gives you 3 long term reservations (of which 1 is a holiday week).



When the affiliate membership was 21 nights, it included 2 long term reservations (of which 1 was a holiday week) and 1 week of advanced reservations. When HCC changed the affiliate membership to 25 days, I thought that the 4 new days were advanced reservations so that the total advanced reservations were 11 days. Did HCC reclassify 7 days from advance reservations to long term reservations? Were members able to reclassify their affiliate membership to 25 days with 3 long term reservations? That would be a pretty good deal.

Thanks.

Sam


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## travelguy (Mar 21, 2007)

*High Country Club 25 day Affiliate Membership*



SamH said:


> When the affiliate membership was 21 nights, it included 2 long term reservations (of which 1 was a holiday week) and 1 week of advanced reservations. When HCC changed the affiliate membership to 25 days, I thought that the 4 new days were advanced reservations so that the total advanced reservations were 11 days. Did HCC reclassify 7 days from advance reservations to long term reservations? Were members able to reclassify their affiliate membership to 25 days with 3 long term reservations? That would be a pretty good deal.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Sam



Sam.

That would be a GREAT deal!

However, the High Country Club new 25 day Affiliate membership still has only 2 weeks of advanced reservations of which 1 week can be a Holiday week.  Holiday weeks can be booked 6 months prior to the travel date. 

The additional M.F. for the new 25 day membership is for the 4 additional days.

Note that I'm not sure how long High Country Club will allow current 21 day Affiliate Members to upgrade their membership to the 25 day Affiliate Membership for the difference in M.F.  Maybe someone who is an Affiliate Member can confirm this (I'm a Private Member).  

I do know that High Country Members always have the option to upgrade their memberships by paying the difference in the membership fees at the time of the upgrade.  For new members, they are no longer locking in the current pricing for 2 or 3 years as they did in the past.  

Hope this clarifies the new Affiliate membership.


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