Destination clubs, residence funds and luxury travel clubs provide their members with access to multiple luxury vacation homes, located all over the world. The homes are typically multi-million dollar residences, and are sited in major cities, at beaches, in mountains and leisure locations.
Membership of the clubs is an alternative to buying a second home. The clubs are sometimes also compared to, or even mixed up with, private residence clubs, but there are several key differences between the two.
If you're just starting out learning about the clubs and funds read the overview and the glossary. Then you can start to compare them in the comparison table. One way to financially compare them is using a cost per night calculation and we've provided downloadable spreadsheets for these calculations. Here are the top reasons to join a club, but they are not for everybody and here are the reasons not to join.
And for a real in-depth look at the clubs, their homes and services, comparisons to alternatives and questions to consider before joining, download our Guide for Prospective Members.
The latest news and research on the clubs is included below.
We are launching a new series of interviews with executives from various destination clubs. Our first interview is with Rob Vaka, Chief Giving Officer of G2G Collection. While G2G Collection was founded in 2013, Rob was previously with Equity Estates.
The Canadian equity destination club has just acquired two 3,000 square foot, three-bedroom homes in The Rocks Luxury Residence Club in North Scottsdale, Arizona.
For the members of the equity destination club, Equity Residences, there are now dozens of new destinations to choose from. The clubs homes join the global network of luxury residences in Elite Alliance. This includes destinations around the world, such as Napa Valley - California, Florence - Italy, Southampton – Bermuda, Great Exuma – Bahamas, Cabo San Lucas – Mexico, Deer Valley – Utah, La Quinta – California and Sedona – Arizona.
Destination club Exclusive Resorts has recently expanded their Gateway travel card to members in the United States. Previously available only in Canada, Gateway is similar in structure to a jet card. The Gateway Card offers travelers the option to purchase from three to twenty-one travel days over a three-year period. The travel options include the entire portfolio of Exclusive Resorts' homes - over three hundred, multimillion-dollar homes with two to five bedrooms in seventy-five different destinations.
Both of these UK based clubs have continued to grow and expand over the last few years. Both offer fully serviced vacations at luxury villas, residences and city apartments. So how do they compare to each other? Read on....
Portico and Inspirato have just announced that they are combining and will be known as Inspirato with American Express - the largest destination club in the world. Current Portico members will have the opportunity to join Inspirato with American Express with no initiation fees.
Equity destination club, M Private, has partnered with Alberta Private Client at ATB Financial to offer a financing and payment option for new member investors.
This fourth article in the series on luxury travel clubs, shows the daily rental rates at the clubs homes and villas. By comparing different vacation residences, in different locations at various times of year, you'll see how the prices vary. The G2G Collection is one of the newer clubs and already has many luxury vacation homes around the world.
The new equity destination club is seeing some good initial success as it adds investors and homes. The two newest home locations are Longboat Key, Florida and Deer Valley, Utah. The fund is planning to close its charter member round and raise investment rates for new members.
There's an old quote that says "Time is a rare luxury which can never be purchased at any cost." But, in the world of high end travel – think private jets and destination clubs – if you have the money, then you can find ways to create valuable time. We'll certainly agree with Benjamin Franklin who said "Lost time is never found again". Here are a few stories of how people are finding that extra time.
Rocksure has announced the first closing of the Rocksure Crystal Fund with almost GBP 2 million raised. With this closing, the fund will purchase their first two properties - villas in Andalucia, Spain and Antigua. In addition to these two properties, early investors also have use of all Rocksure-owned villas using their current Crystal Fund entitlements.
All destination clubs offer luxury vacation properties in desirable locations and high levels of service, but if you are considering joining one, you may be trying to decide whether to join a rental based club or an equity ownership club. Both have their benefits, but have very different structures. One option isn't better than the other - your best choice really depends upon your personal circumstances and goals. Here's an overview of both rental clubs and equity ownership clubs or funds.
This is the second in the series on luxury travel clubs, which shows the costs of membership. The article compares different vacation residences, revealing the prices at various times of the year. The second club in our series is Private Trade Winds, which offers luxury five-star villa rentals around the world.
Portico, a private luxury villa vacation club, recently introduced the Portico Excursion series with three destinations for 2014. These exclusive excursions are a complement to Portico's
Are you wondering about what it costs to join a destination club like Inspirato. In the first of this new series we'll show you the prices of a selection of Inspirato homes. These homes vary in location from beach to leisure to mountain properties, and display the peak and off-peak prices. So overall you'll get a good feel for the Inspirato membership costs.
The club launched in early 2011 and has grown rapidly to become the largest luxury destination club. The recent partnership and name change to Inspirato with American Express has certainly helped with this growth.
The equity destination club has owned a property at The Crane Resort in Barbados for many years. It recently worked with The Crane to provide additional high season time for its members.
Portico, on the heels of their recent one-year anniversary, has just announced a partnership with MasterCard. As a result of this announcement, MasterCard cardholders can now enjoy access to Portico's growing collection of over 200 luxury homes in 65 destinations with exclusive discounts and special benefits.
The funds are focused on acquiring vacation properties in desirable locations at discounted prices. Investors can use the properties in their fund for personal vacations. The funds plan to have rental income covering all or most of the operating costs.
The members of the Canadian based equity destination club just voted to add in a sunset provision. This means that starting in 2020 the club can sell off its residences and return funds to members.
Reciprocal partnerships between destination clubs are becoming the norm. Exclusive Resorts has recently formed more of these relationships than other clubs. The latest partnership between Ritz-Carlton Destination Club and Exclusive provides additional vacation locations for members of both clubs.
Since its launch in 2007, the Luxus Premiere Collection has grown to over 200 members who own and use 30 luxurious vacation homes. The fund plans to add one more home before closing to new investors.