Kiersten Hegna, Director of Member Services at LUSSO Collection, recently sent out the results of this destination clubs first, in-depth member survey. The results give some great insights into their members preferences.

The principal reason that people join destination clubs is to enjoy the variety of destinations that they offer. LUSSO asked its members about the types of destinations that they would like to see added to the collection. The results are shown on the right and clearly show that beach and European destinations are top of the list. In the report LUSSO also mentions:

In fact for the specific question on which individual destinations to add, the club received almost as many specific suggestions for ski destinations as they did for beach destinations. This was despite on an overall basis the importance of adding ski destinations only rating 71 percent compared to 93 percent for beach destinations. Similarly, the club received almost 50 percent more for specific European locations than for beach locations. So it appears that while members want more beach destinations they have fewer preferences about specific beaches.

The overall area that was most popular for future beach destinations was the Caribbean with 23 members naming a specific destination. For European destinations, Italy came out on top followed by Paris and London. This almost exactly mirrors the future locations that Bellehavens announced a few weeks ago, with input from its own members. Among ski locations the most popular resorts were Vail, Whistler, Aspen then Jackson Hole and other general locations that members mentioned were the Northeast Coast (Newport RI, Marthas Vineyard, Nantucket) and Napa/Sonoma.

To find out how LUSSO are doing, they asked members to rate them in various areas of vacation planning, ranging from using the online tools to the concierge communications prior to a member arriving at their destination. The results are shown in the table to the right.

Overall the results are very positive. In particular having a 93% satisfaction for "availability of residences" is a key factor, since as a member you want to be sure that you can stay at the home you want, when you want to stay there. This will always require some planning and flexibility on the part of members. If you're looking at joining a club always remember to ask about the availability of the homes and actually look through the booking system before you join. The SherpaReport Guide to Destination Clubs provides a list of other (due diligence) questions to ask before joining.

The LUSSO Experience In terms of the overall vacation experience that LUSSO provides, the members gave very high satisfaction ratings as shown in the table to the right. LUSSO provides airport transfers as part of its standard membership, hence the question on this aspect. As with all the destination clubs, LUSSO has onsite concierges at each of its homes to make sure both the guests and the homes are well looked after. LUSSO holds semi annual, two to three day "Concierge Summits" for its on site concierges. These are training sessions for each of the local concierges which allow them to share best practices.

Club Communication LUSSO also asked about how well they are responding to and communicating with their members. One area that the club and its members really like is the "Member Advisory Committee" which is a more formal way for the club and its members to communicate. Areas that the members asked for more frequent information on, are updates on membership sales and club development, so LUSSO has these in the works.

More and more of the destination clubs are performing (formal) member surveys. If you are planning on joining a club ask for the latest detailed results from the member survey of the clubs that you are looking at. This will give you some interesting insights into the members experiences with the club. Use our table as a starting point to compare the destination clubs.