User:Beekman Brother/sandbox

Overview
The Holiday Club was launched in 1993 in South Africa. The Holiday Club is the largest vacation ownership club in Africa and accounts for 40% of the total leisure industry's sales within South Africa. The Holiday Club has acquired investments in resorts throughout Southern Africa and has developed its own resorts through South Africa. The company introduced a flexible Points System which meant that it's members wouldn't be restricted to one holiday destination as was the case with traditional timeshare business models. The Holiday Club has expanded into both Australia, New Zealand and Botswana.

History
In 1970 two brothers, John Beekman and the late Bram Beekman, started a paint contracting business called Beekman Group Painters. The company was sold in 1980 and the Beekman brothers moved to the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast where they diversified and entered the vacation ownership industry (formerly known as timeshare). Their first resort development at Banana Beach on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast paved the way for them to enter the local leisure industry. It also set the scene for the official launch of the Beekman Group in 1981. This was followed by the development of a further six vacation ownership resorts under the Suntide brand which included Suntide Beach Club (1982), Suntide Illovo Sands (1987), Suntide Winklespruit (1987), Suntide Hotel and Cabanas (1988), and Suntide Qunu Falls (1988). The Beekman Group identified the limitations in conventional timeshare and launched The Holiday Club.

Business Model
Traditional timeshare (also known as vacation ownership and holiday ownership) is a model where a holiday home/chalet/unit/condominium unit is sold for a specific time period and multiple weeks are packaged together. This is usually one week per year (buyers select from week 1 - 52) but there are also options where more than 1 week per year can be purchased.

The Holiday Club introduced a unique Points system where instead of purchasing a set time/week, members would buy Points to the same value as owning a full week or a quantity of points that suited them financially. Instead of being limited to visiting the same resort during the same period each year, members would now be able to go on holiday any time of the year to any resort which their Points could afford. The amount of Points paid for a holiday would depend on the following factors:
 * The popularity of the resort;
 * The size of the accommodation;
 * The number of nights;
 * The popularity of the season;
 * The span of the holiday.

The Holiday Club South Africa
Established in 1993 the Club's current Membership is around 72 000. On average 95 000 holiday bookings are made by it's members per annum.

The Holiday Club International
The Holiday Club Pacific and The Holiday Club Botswana business operations stemmed from the South African Holiday Club concept but now operate as separate business entities

Ownership and Value
Currently valued at around R730 million, these investments are administered by the Beekman Group and are held by The Leisure Property Trust (LPTMA), the Management Association for the Holiday Club. It receives all the Membership fees and uses this to pay all Resort Levies and associated costs. All Holiday Club Share Members and Points Members are members of the LPTMA. In addition, The Leisure Property Trust also owns stock in numerous other holiday resorts across Southern Africa, to which The Holiday Club's Members also have access to.

Awards

 * Industry Award - Most New Enrolments 1993, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
 * Best Marketing Programme Award 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005,
 * Developer of the Year 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007
 * RCI Hall of Fame Inductees:
 * Bram Beekman (Late - Former Chairman)
 * John Beekman (Managing Director)
 * Steve McCarroll (Sales Director)


 * 12 Gold Crown Resorts awarded to the Group’s resorts for 2012
 * The Holiday Club Head Office: Platinum Certification from The Green Path for Group’s green ambitions 2013
 * Tourism Excellence Awards from PMR Africa 2013
 * Vacation Ownership Association of South Africa (VOASA) Awards including:
 * Industry Performer of the Year Award 2009
 * Outstanding Newcomer of The Year Award 2010 & 2011
 * Service Excellence Award 2011
 * Lifetime Achievement Award 2011
 * Environmental Innovation Award - Placid Waters 2011
 * Private Edition Magazine wins Bronze Sappi printing award

Mascot
The Holiday Club's mascot is a tortoise named Max Relax, an African Spurred Tortoise who is displayed highlighting the activities that the Holiday Club can provide.

Private Edition Magazine
The Holiday Club publishes an annual magazine that gets sent to the Club's members. The magazine contains information on the points cost for holidays at specific resorts, contains information on the Club, the benefits of Membership and easy-to-read articles on holidaying.