Consumers looking at a luxury destination club don’t necessarily get the whole story from a club’s promo materials. While Helium Report explains some basic assumptions in our Decision Guide to Destination Clubs, choosing a luxury destination club is a complex process with lots of questions to ask before making a decision.

In the interest of consumers, Helium Report follows new Quintess, LRW member John Baskerville* through his club selection process—part of a new member case study. John lives in San Francisco with his wife and three children, ages 10, 7, and 3.

Helium Report: What made you want to pursue destination club membership?
John Baskerville: The main reason I joined the club is that my parents are retired—they live nearby—and my parents have five children. We joined the club in order to spend more time with my parents in a great setting and to allow them to spend more time with my other siblings in fantastic settings. Everyone’s on the west coast.

HR: What was your vacation plan like before you joined Quintess, and how did that affect your choice?
JB: We actually do have a second home where we were spending time with our parents and with the other sibling as well, but it wasn’t able to accommodate us and enable us to go to different locations. The most important needs for me are the variety of locations and the ability to have large groups and more than one family. A lot of the houses sleep like eight to 12 people.

Location, location, location

HR: What were your evaluation criteria when choosing a club?
JB: The variety of locations and quality of houses, and then I actually spent quite a bit of time talking to members. I asked questions like, “Are the homes impressive? What is the level of service there? Do you like the availability?” Quintess members seemed very happy, whereas a lot of other club members seemed very unhappy.

HR: How did you ultimately decide on Quintess?
JB: There were a lot of soft issues involved. One was that it appeared that they had just raised a huge chunk of money to further development. It looked like they were expanding in markets that I like. From a soft issue, they’d just raised some money and they had houses that my family and I would use. Also a lot of clubs’ house values are declining but Quintess’ house values are remaining steady.

Still deciding

HR: What are your first impressions of the club?
JB: In reality, it’s a service industry, and they still haven’t gotten down how to serve the luxury market. I just joined 90 days ago and then they rolled out these new membership plans. If they had been in the service industry before, they would have advised me that those programs were coming. Did I get a better deal? Did I get a worse deal? What does this mean for my deal? I may change my membership. I still haven’t been able to evaluate it yet, but it looks like it may be a better value.

Also, there have been a couple of instances where I tried to do things and [Quintess] said no. In the service industry, the answer is never “no.” I just wrote a huge check, so the answer is, “Yes, sir,” or “Not at this time, but here’s an option that might work.”

And here’s another example: My mother saw that a house was available on very short notice, like two days from now, and she suggested that we go there. I called to make the reservation, and it turns out that the house needed maintenance or something and wasn’t actually available.

So I had to explain to my mother that green doesn’t actually mean available; it means maybe. I understand that, but she doesn’t. But I’m sure that if you talk to me in a couple of months, I’ll be very happy and have a lot of great things to say. Everyone has been really nice and very helpful.

HR: Have you taken your first trip yet?
JB: We’re going to New York City in a few weeks. My parents will be in New York for a week-long conference. Normally they’d have a decent room in a nice hotel, but it’s still a hotel. Instead they have a two-bedroom 1,800-square-foot place close to the conference. We’re going to join them for about two days and take the girls to see the cold and commercial version of Christmas. They’re reading From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler right now, so we definitely have to take them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

HR: Anything warm in the plans?
JB: There’s a couple things we’re working out. One is that my parents are going to Park City for the Sundance Festival in January. And then they’re taking a trip with my sister’s family to Hawaii, and then they’re going with us to Cabo. I’ll probably have a lot more to say in about four months.

For more guidance to help you evaluate and ultimately choose a destination club, download our free decision guide.

* Name changed for consumer’s anonymity