Nearly every destination club owns a home in Cabo San Lucas, Los Cabos, or Cabo del Sol. The resort towns on the Mexican peninsula are a popular luxury travel destination for west coast residents.

Hurricane John threatened to wreak havoc in the community last weekend, but ended up sparing Cabo San Lucas and hitting La Paz, 90 miles north.

The San Jose Mercury News reported <a href=”http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/15436844.htm http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/15436844.htmhttp://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/15436844.htmhttp://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/15436844.htm”>160 homes lost their roofs and four collapsed. Some areas received up to 20 inches of rain. The airport was closed for two days, stranding travelers in Mexico over the Labor Day weekend.

The three largest destination clubs – Exclusive Resorts, Private Escapes, and the newly merged Quintess, Catch the Dream – own 41 homes comprising nearly 150,000 square feet of high-end luxury real estate. We hope none of the homes was damaged, nor any of the homes owned by the 20 other destination clubs (click here for a complete list). Exclusive Resorts itself boasts 31 homes in the area with an estimated 3,500 square feet per residence.

Assuming 80% occupancy, we estimate as much as 50 destination club members could have been visiting at the time with their families and guests. Of course, some may have foreseen the inclement weather and canceled their travel. Dream Catcher’s website indicates it’s now a temperate 87 degrees in Cabo, although Private Escapes’ online weather tool is currently not working.

Fortunately, Cabo San Lucas avoided the disaster Hurricane Katrina brought last year. In the case of hurricanes, destination clubs are a better option than owning your own second home. The risk of complete loss is diversified among the entire real estate portfolio. Otherwise, your Florida retirement beach home might just turn into a FEMA trailer.

Images courtesy Quintess, Catch the Dream.