Destination Clubs

In March of 2019, Jeff Potter, former CEO of Denver-based companies Frontier Airlines and Exclusive Resorts as well as Los Angeles-based Surf Air, launched a new travel company - Manifest, a chapter-based lifestyle and travel club that provides custom-crafted ‘close to home’ experiences paired with private air transportation.

“I’ve been fortunate in my aviation, hospitality and travel careers in that each opportunity presented me with some successes, and equally as important, some lessons learned, all of which came to bear when I envisioned the concept of Manifest,” said Mr. Potter, CEO and President of Manifest Escapes.

The luxury vacation home investment fund manager, Equity Residences, had a successful year in 2021. Its Equity Platinum Fund attracted a record number of investors who poured $18.7 million into the Fund. New homes additions during the year, mean the fund is over half way to its target of 25 vacation residences.

After recently selling out its fourth real estate investment fund, luxury destination club Equity Estates has announced a fifth fund (Fund V), which is raising $50 million and will buy 12 properties.

Luxury property club Destination M offers its almost 150 members a personalized experience and worry-free investment with its portfolio of 33 residences in locations throughout the Americas and Europe. We recently spoke to one of the club’s members to get a personal insight into his reasons for joining and his experience so far.

Luxury travel company Inspirato is planning to go public through a merger with Thayer Ventures Acquisition Corp. The transaction values the combined company at an estimated enterprise value of approximately $1.1 billion.

The manager of several luxury vacation home funds has seen significant growth and interest over the last year. The new investors joining the latest Fund IV have allowed Equity Estates to buy several new homes, but they have also added a new investor waitlist to help balance the timing of adding well-chosen homes and investor access.

The two new additions to Equity Residences’ Equity Platinum Fund portfolio expand travel options for investors who enjoy mountain and beach vacations. The private equity fund continues to grow with new luxury homes in Vail, Colorado, and Little Exuma, The Bahamas.

Equity Destination club 21-5 is adding another owner Association to appeal to vacation home owners across the USA. The new “All American” Association plans to buy homes in Maui, New York City, Vail Valley, US Virgin Islands and Sonoma.

Destination Club Exclusive Resorts assembles an annual collection of very special trips for their members. The scope of the trips in 2020 and 2021 has been impacted by the coronavirus, so members are looking forward to the 2022 calendar. SherpaReport spoke to Gina Bach, Vice President of the Experience Collection at Exclusive Resorts, to find out what’s on offer.

SherpaReport spoke with Greg Salley, Managing Director of Equity Residences, about how they select real estate investment opportunities and add value to their luxury real estate investment funds. The discussion talked through their purchase strategy and value-added upgrades.

The Calgary based destination club has added a ski in, ski out property at Fernie Alpine Resort in southeast British Columbia. At the same time several new members joined from the club’s waitlist.

In 2019, luxury destination club Inspirato launched their one-of-a-kind subscription-based Inspirato Pass program. Recently, the company announced that the original Inspirato Club membership would also be transitioning into a subscription-based program. SherpaReport reached out to Brent Handler, CEO and Founder of Inspirato, to learn more about the changes and to find out how the company has been weathering the coronavirus pandemic.