The Post and Courier, the local newspaper for Charleston, South Carolina, featured Helium Report co-founder Greg Shove in an article today about destination clubs. The story by Kyle Stock highlights the benefits of membership while also pointing out the local zoning restrictions that sometimes make it challenging for clubs to expand.

Charleston city officials also have been scrambling over the past year to keep vacation clubs from getting a toehold within municipal borders.

“We felt very strongly that we didn’t want them cropping up in residential areas,” Mayor Joe Riley said last week. “We figured it would be a matter of time.”

Lee Batchelder, the city’s zoning administrator, said there was a concern that vacation club properties would propagate “a revolving-door” situation.

Charleston City Council passed an ordinance July 18 that beefs up the definition of “accommodations” to include vacation clubs and reiterates that accommodations are restricted to a few small zones, currently clustered around King, Meeting and Market streets.

The regulations are an obstacle that emerging clubs sometimes face as they expand into new destinations. Destination clubs often test markets by leasing vacation rental homes to start and then acquiring after confirming member demand.

Local officials seem to tolerate individual owners renting their homes, but find the concept of luxury clubs a problem worthy of legislation. We did a quick check at VRBO.com and found hundreds of rental listings for Edisto Beach, Folly Beach, Wild Dunes, Isle of Palms, Kiawah Island, Seabrook Island, and Sullivan’s Island.

In fact, we even found a home that’s a comparable size to the typical destination club residence. On a cost-per-night basis, it’s more expensive during peak season than a destination club membership.

One solution to these potential local conflicts is scale. With Exclusive Resorts’ 2300+ members and 300 homes, the club can simply build custom-designed developments with multiple homes in a resort area. Indeed, the industry leader’s recent development plans indicate a deliberate transition to clustered residences rather than purchasing homes one by one.