About three years in the making, Distinctive Holiday Homes (DHH) just opened its doors for new members in the summer of 2007. The years of careful planning and preparation have allowed this "members only" luxury destination club to raise the bar of opulent vacations.

Some of their current locations include: Noosa, Queensland, Lake Tahoe (pictured below); a six bedroom home in Beaver Creek, Colorado; a rustic villa in Italy; an 86' motor yacht (pictured right) and 53' sailing yacht and many more enticing locations. "We wanted to make sure that we had the right product to offer before opening the doors to welcome new members," says Robert Good, DHH Senior Manager, USA. "It takes time getting a vacation experience ready that is extremely memorable."

DHH owns every property in its collection of luxurious destination locations. The owners and managers hand-select each home, yacht, sail boat, high-end city apartment and ski chalet for the ultimate vacation experience. The company is in good hands with an entrepreneur such as Nick Wood at the helm. He is the founder and former owner of ihug, one of New Zealand's major Internet service providers, and owner of Octopus Resort in Fiji, DHH's premier location.

"We are not one of those clubs that buys up ten homes in one location. Which is why we can offer superior service, privacy for our members and lower prices overall," says Good. Members can expect their dues to cover a personal concierge, maid service, BMW or Audi automobile (at most locations), a food and beverage allowance of $1,000 per week, in-home entertainment systems and even more. "New extras will be added soon to make DHH even more unique," says Good.

With approximately 14 destination properties on four continents currently in their repertoire and several exciting locations on the horizon - such as castles in France and Scotland and extravagant LA and New York apartments for transit accommodations - DHH can easily keep member-to-property ratios down. Presently it is operating at a 3 to 1 ratio with the cap set at 6 to 7 members per property. "We do not want to expand too quickly and dilute the product. Our goal is to always have more properties than needed so our members can easily reserve the destinations they desire," comments Good.

The club offers six levels of membership plans including a lite, standard, premium, deluxe, platinum and corporate plan (see the Table below). "Most members choose a two to three week plan to start," says Good. "However, after thoroughly enjoying their initial stay, we have had many members decide to add on."

The sample selection below gives an overview of the 2007 plans, vacation days available and costs for each. Starting January 1, 2008 the pricing options will change.

Those wishing to join will benefit from doing so early on, since DHH has already had one price rise from its introductory rates, and is planning another after 31 December. However, if a DHH member wishes to cancel their membership, they will be refunded 80% of their initial membership fee. Prospective members should know that this is a destination club and not a private residence club or luxury fractional. Memberships are similar to that of a golf club in that there is no ownership of property or deed for resale. See how Distinctive Holiday Homes compares to other destination clubs using our comparison table.