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.
The new Inspirato Select is designed for both the leisure and business traveler. Subscribers can choose 3 trips per year from a list of more than 500,000 trip options in 150+ destinations, for an annual fee of $24,000 inclusive of all nightly rates, taxes, and fees.
With an experienced management team behind it, this luxury vacation home shared ownership fund is launching “Homesets” in which a group of 5 homes is owned and enjoyed by 21 people or families.
Inspirato, the luxury travel subscription company founded by Brent Handler and team, has expanded into multiple dimensions, with more travel experiences and options than ever before.
Equity Residences, the manager of luxury vacation residence funds, announced its third investment fund, Equity Platinum Fund 2. The new fund follows the success of earlier Equity Residences funds that have acquired, or are in the process of acquiring, nearly $70 million in strategically located luxury vacation homes, while providing rent-free investor vacations that represent many millions of dollars in rental savings.
Inspirato, the subscription-based travel and destination club, reported 2021 revenue of $235 million. The number of active subscribing members increased to a record 13,802, an increase of 2,075 or 18% year-over-year. Those members traveled for a record 95,994 nights in 2021, an increase of 71% from 2020.
The Calgary based equity destination club has recently issued a new share offering and also added a new home in Greece for use by its members.
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.
Every owner association consists of 21 families, who own 5 beautiful vacation properties at 5 attractive destinations together. Each of the five vacation properties are worth about four times more than the single investment per family.
SherpaReport traveled down to St John in the US Virgin Islands with team members from Equity Residences, to see the steps they go through in preparing and launching a new home. The Equity Platinum Fund had closed on the home just days before we arrived, and the first guests were due a few days later, so there wasn’t a lot of time to make sure the home was in perfect shape.
Inspirato recently began re-opening its homes in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The luxury hospitality company has instituted a new enhanced cleaning program to ensure safety for members. We took a look at the measures in place that allow Inspirato to live up to their promise of “taking care of our members like no one else.”
Equity Residences launched its first luxury vacation home investment fund, the Equity Villa Fund, in 2012. Now it’s launching the first-ever vacation home fund compatible with “like kind” 1031 exchanges - the Mauna Lani Residence Fund.