We posted some feedback from Dream Catcher Retreats members Diane and Tom McMeekin. Two more members from the destination club shared their experiences with Helium Report via email:

Charles Wallas, MD (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)

I have been and continue to be extremely delighted with the houses and level of service provided to me since I joined in November, 2005. I have visited properties in Palm Springs, Amelia Island, Canouan, and my son has visited Jackson Hole. The houses are large, magnificant, well appointed and located in excellent areas near resorts. The service provided by my personal reservation assistant in Colorado and each destination host has been outstanding. I remain in close contact with the sales director who worked with me during the purchase process and receive frequent requests for input from the staff at the headquarters office. This club continues to delight me by exceeding my expectations.

John Gildner (Investment professional; Toronto, Canada)

I’m a fairly new Dream Catcher member, with only one stay under my belt so far and a couple more coming up, so my actual experiences with the club is limited, but so far I am very pleased, and for what it is worth here are my observations:

My assigned Personal Reservation Assistant is first rate, and the hostess at the home we visited was also excellent. The service was attentive without being overly intrusive. I can’t help but think that one will receive more attention at a club with only a few locations in any one destination rather than one with many, many more, where the hostesses will likely just be cycling through a long list of their current guests at all of their homes in that location on a never-ending basis. That was one of the main reasons I selected DCR over the larger competitors.

I also believed that a smaller club might have the potential to slip into some more unique and interesting locations, since the larger ones will only be interested in going into destinations where they can achieve economies of scale. After all, if all I wanted to do is go to destinations where there would be a dozen homes all together belonging to the same club, these are all likely locations where it would be fairly easy to rent a nice resort villa or something similar.

However, I do have to acknowledge that large scale operations have a positive flipside, since they will be able to economize on their services due to their scale of operation – and if they can pass on some of that to their members, all the better for everyone.

As you have pointed out, the access to top DCR management also made a big difference to me – and they continued to be responsive after I actually joined. I tried to get that at one the big competitors while I was making a decision on who to join, and I got nowhere.

Helium Report covers every destination club in the industry. It’s the experiences of actual members that best illustrate the way destination clubs fit their vacation travel needs. If you’d like to share your story as a member (good or bad), email us at tips@heliumreport.com. Include your name, profession, city, and confirm you’re a member and not an investor.

“The Dunes” home – Amelia Island, Florida. Images courtesy http://www.dcr.com.