It’s probably time to bury the concept of “member to home ratio,” a term that was and still is used extensively in destination club marketing materials and by salespeople. We have discussed before the limitations of this metric. The typical ratio was 6:1, meaning for every six members, the club acquired ... Read Full Article »

On Monday, the 874 members of Private Retreats, Distinctive Retreats, and Legendary Retreats received an update from Holly Felder Etlin, Chief Restructing Officer of Tanner & Haley. In last week’s announcement of CEO Rob McGrath’s resignation, the industry pioneer committed to forthcoming communication to its members. Helium Report was provided a ... Read Full Article »

Destination club industry pioneer Rob McGrath has resigned as CEO of Tanner & Haley, effective immediately. Last week’s article in The Wall Street Journal alluded to the possibility of McGrath’s departure as a result of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. On Thursday, a bankruptcy-court creditors committee was formed. “We want to find ... Read Full Article »

On Saturday morning, The Wall Street Journal published its second article about Tanner & Haley – this time featuring the destination club’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing front and center on page A1 (subscription required). Beneath photos of Tanner & Haley properties in Colorado and New York, the article, titled “Vacation ... Read Full Article »

Three weeks ago, we broke the news that Tanner & Haley suspended membership sales. A week later, the pioneer destination club, founded by Rob McGrath in 1998, filed for Chapter 11 bankrutpcy protection. The Wall Street Journal covered the story this weekend and last. Here’s a timeline of events with links ... Read Full Article »

Helium Report broke the news recently of difficulties at Tanner & Haley’s fractional destination club, a situation which has since deteriorated to bankruptcy. T&H was the first fractional destination club, and is the second largest, behind Exclusive Resorts. Its bankruptcy represents the first major failure in the market, and has ... Read Full Article »

Helium Report spoke again recently with David Latko, a financial advisor and author who earlier conveyed his general thoughts on destination clubs and what to consider before joining. We asked Latko, a Tanner & Haley member, about the risks that have been exposed by the bankruptcy filing. Latko outlined his suggestions ... Read Full Article »

As we would expect, destination clubs are communicating with their members, attempting to assure them that their club’s business model is solid given last week’s announcement by Tanner & Haley. Exclusive Resorts sent a letter to its members last night which it provided to Helium Report for publication (click here for ... Read Full Article »

“Bankruptcy Trouble in Paradise” is the lead story for the Money & Investing section of today’s Wall Street Journal (page B1; subscription required). The Journal reports 874 Tanner & Haley members are impacted by the destination club’s bankruptcy filing earlier this week. The number is higher than the 750 members quoted ... Read Full Article »

In the lower right corner of the Tanner & Haley website, we found “Reorganization” in small text. The link leads to a page summarizing the press release from earlier this week announcing their Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The section includes answers to Frequently Asked Questions for both general topics and vendor ... Read Full Article »

Tanner & Haley, the destination club pioneer, filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 today in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. In a press release issued this morning, Tanner & Haley cited four reasons for the voluntary petition to reorganize: “costly short-term leases” “memberships at extremely low annual dues” “pursued various business and real-estate ventures…that ... Read Full Article »

is the title of a new book, by financial advisor and author, David Latko, host of the Money & More radio program. The book is a no-nonsense tour of common financial mistakes – and how to avoid them – from buying a second home to passing on your wealth ... Read Full Article »

Helium Report has learned that Tanner & Haley is no longer accepting new members, pending a review of its business. According to current members, Tanner & Haley has issued an email stating: “the Clubs’ management team believes it is appropriate to pause to reevaluate our business and service models and to ... Read Full Article »

Some thoughtful comments from a reader in response to our “Club Mad..??” post yesterday. “I thought it was a bit unfair to Tanner and Haley,” he points out. His complete text follows: I have a few comments on the Time article. You knew it had to happen at some ... Read Full Article »

We reviewed the destination clubs’ websites for changes and noticed the prices disappeared from Tanner & Haley’s site. Last month, we posted a chart with links to each club’s fees (click here). We were surprised to see the membership deposit and annual dues for Legendary Retreats, Distinctive Retreats ... Read Full Article »

Most of the Destination Clubs do a good job of convincing you that their homes are beautiful and in great locations that you and your family would want to vacation in. They are also starting to try to outdo each other with more favorable terms on the one-time upfront membership ... Read Full Article »

<!-logo and address-> Membership Inquiries: http://www.tannerandhaley.com/ Click here to request more information <!- profile data-> Membership Members (as of 1Q06) Member cap ... Read Full Article »

Frankly, we are not sure why and this move could be interpreted several different ways, but Abercrombie & Kent Destination Clubs have now been renamed Tannner & Haley Destination Clubs. It appears that Ron McGrath has ended his licensing arrangement with A&K and has struck out on his own with ... Read Full Article »