Destination clubs offer dream vacations
Picture this for a dreamy vacation:
You fly to one of 35 destinations in the United States. or abroad. You are met at the airport and driven to your home on a beach or in the mountains or in a city.
Your million-dollar-plus home – elegantly furnished and outfitted with a Viking range and Sub-Zero fridge, fine linens, plasma TV, DVDs and wireless Internet connections – is fully stocked with groceries and other goodies that you’ve ordered.
Your golf tee times are made, and so are the reservations for any other activities you’ve chosen. A concierge is available 24/7, and a chef is just a phone call away.
You really can have such a vacation – for a price. A hefty price.
All you have to do is join a luxury destination club, a relatively new phenomenon in the travel industry.
Now take a deep breath: Memberships can cost as much as $475,000, and annual dues run about $15,000. You have to write a check for both when you join.
One consolation: If you choose to opt out, you can get at least 80 percent of that membership fee refunded in due time.
Top players in this high-stakes league are Abercrombie & Kent Destinations and Exclusive Resorts. Then there are, according to both firms, a bevy of copycats.
A launch date has not been set by the newest entry into the destination club derby, Leading Hotels of the World, a firm that represents more than 420 of the world’s finest hotels, resorts and spas. LHW’s partners in this venture are heavyweight Cedant Corp. (parent of Galileo, Orbitz, Avis and Budget) and Destination Club Partners, a management group. Other details are pending, a spokeswoman says.
Rob McGrath, CEO of Abercrombie & Kent Destinations, claims credit for launching destination clubs as an upscale product in 1998.
As McGrath saw it, the wealthy had two vacation options to meet their lifestyles. They could choose private residence clubs, a real estate product offered at some Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons resorts. Or they could own second homes.
“The problem with both of those products is that they don’t necessarily meet the demands or needs of the consumer base they serve,” McGrath says.
“The hotel-suite market might work for an empty nester couple who want a getaway vacation. But it certainly doesn’t work for my family – my wife, two kids and a nanny. You have to rent three hotel rooms. You have to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in the hotel restaurant. That’s a pain.
“Hanging out at a big hotel pool, a big public beach, standing in lines to get stuff – it’s like, been there, done that. It’s not that great.
“Buying a second home is an as equally big bummer,” he continues. “Now I inherit the management of the home. So when anything breaks I’ve got to deal with it. I’ve got to go grocery shopping, put the kids in ski school. Got to find a babysitter. Figure out where we’re going to eat dinner.”
A&K Destinations (www.akdestinations.com; 800-230-9310) offers two membership levels. Distinctive Retreats, at the high end, charges $475,000 plus annual dues of $26,950 and a $195 daily charge. Membership in Private Retreats, with homes averaging $1.1 million, is $275,000 plus annual dues of $12,750 and a $175 daily fee. Both allow unlimited access.
A&K’s clubs boast 150 residences in more than 35 destinations, and a total of 736 members. Each level is capped at 400 members.
“We were thinking about getting a second home,” says Ray Lombardi, 49, of Lake Forest, Ill., a CPA and CEO of a tax software company, who joined A&K’s Private Retreats program two years ago.
“I’m very busy, so the thought of looking after another property wasn’t high on my list. I looked at time shares and other options.
“I looked at what I was spending – usually over Christmas-New Year holiday and spring break, both peak periods. In Vail a really nice three-bedroom condo can cost $5,000 to $10,000 for a week or so during the holidays. Before I paid for the airfare, I could be spending a lot of money.”
Lombardi says he evaluated the risk of joining the destination club very carefully.
“It was sort of a no-brainer,” he says. “If we could plan from 14 days of vacation to as much as 28 days, it would be well worth it. I’d be spending a lot less money than if I had bought a place and taking a lot less risk.
“I don’t have to worry about a property, and I’ve got tons of choices of places to vacation. For me, it’s been a good thing.”
Exclusive Resorts (www.exclusiveresorts.com; 800-447-8988), which expects to have a total of 185 residences in 36 destinations, controls more than $700 million in real estate. The newest destination enticement for its 1,300 members: St. Tropez, France, which is booked into the summer of 2006.
“Typically, our members are in their early to mid-40s, family-oriented, two or three kids, obviously financially successful,” says Michael Beindorff, ER’s chief operating officer.
“We have an empty-nester group, kids are gone, have lot of time on their hands, love to travel. For them, this is a great solution. Then we’re seeing more and more young couples, dual income, no kids, who see this as an aspirational product that they can grow into. That’s our core group.”
Full memberships are priced at $375,000, and annual dues can range from $15,000 to $25,000. An affiliate membership, with lesser vacation privileges, costs $185,000 plus $9,500 annual dues. Stays range from 60 days a year at the high end to 15 days at the low, with no daily fee.
Membership fees are 80 percent refundable for those who quit.