Abercrombie Kent Residence Club

Good News For The Vacation Homeless: Luxury Membership Options Emerge Following The Ultimate Escapes Bankruptcy

Demeure's Borgo De Vagli residence, Tuscany

For those of us who have followed the fallout from the Ultimate Escapes bankruptcy, it has been a bumpy ride. I have written about this bankruptcy before on Luxist, but here is a small refresher précis.

Ultimate Escapes was a high end, luxury, non-equity based destination club, and the second largest in the industry. Members paid between $150,000 and $800,000 membership deposit, and many thousands more in annual dues. For those fees, they took vacations to exotic places and stay in exceptional residences, villas and condos. There were over 1400 members when the club bankrupted in mid-September, 2010. It was then the fifth major bankruptcy in five years for the non-equity destination club space. Prior to Ultimate escapes was Tanner & Haley, Lusso, High Country Club, Solstice, and now this. For members, industry watchers and many others, this bankruptcy began a serious re-thinking process. What is the matter?

As with many complex problems, this one appeared easy to solve. Many believed it was the non-equity model on which literally all of the bankrupted clubs were based, and in part, but only in part, it was. The first generation non-equity model was broadly based on a kind of Wild West 2004-2008 YAHOO-type optimism: clubs will certainly grow if -- real estate values would appreciate, and if members continued to join. If this growth hormone were in place, and why shouldn't it be?.. then the members will receive what was promised to them: 80% of their deposits back upon resignation from the club, and the 3 in 1 out option borrowed from the timeshare industry: If three new members joined, you could resign. Simple. Seemed so reasonable in those pre-Madoff times.

And because it seemed so reasonable, and times were so optimistic, many clubs bought properties and others were leased when prices were at an all-time high. Then, suddenly, in October of 2008, the perfect storm appeared: real estate values declined, Bear Stearns and Lehman Bros. deflated. But no matter what, lenders wanted mortgage payments and lessors wanted their rent. With these occurrences, the first generation club model looked like a house of cards, easily toppled by the dark winds of a collapsing economy and potential members' deciding against joining any club, even, as one member said to me, "a church group." Thus, with this last bankruptcy, following much the same process as the others, many felt this was the last gasp for the non-equity based club.

BUT! The model is not dead: it is evolving....

Tags: Abercrombie Kent Residence Club, Boundless Journeys, Demeure Club, Destination Club, DUO by Quintess, Exclusive Resorts, Post Ultimate escapes Bankruptcy, Quintess, Second Home Destinations, Ultimate escapes bankruptcy

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Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club And The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club Forge New Luxury Alliance

by Susan Kime (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

It has been announced today, October 25th, that two of the leading, equity based, luxury destination clubs, The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club and Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club, have forged a new exchange opportunity for the benefit of their members. This strategic alliance presents members of both clubs with expanding destination opportunities that only these companies can provide. This affiliation marks a first for the destination club industry through The Lion & Crown Travel Co., LLC, the exclusive external exchange company for The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club.

The collaboration allows Ritz-Carlton Destination Club Members access to 17 Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club residences in North America's finest beach, mountain and golf destinations including Scottsdale, Ariz.; Lake Tahoe and La Quinta, Calif.; Snowmass-Aspen, Colo.; Kiawah Island, S.C.; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Sun Valley, Idaho; Jackson Hole, Wyo.; Deer Valley, Utah; Hawaii's Big Island; Turks & Caicos; Punta Mita, Puerto Aventuras, and Los Cabos, Mexico. In return, Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club Members are able to convert their nights for use at 10 Ritz-Carlton Destination Club locations in Aspen Highlands, Bachelor Gulch and Vail (Vail a future location), Colo.; St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.; Jupiter, Fla.; San Francisco and North Lake Tahoe, Calif.; Kapalua Bay in Maui and Kauai Lagoons, Hawaii; and Abaco, The Bahamas.

Tags: Abercrombie Kent, Abercrombie Kent Residence Club, Ritz-Carlton Destination Club, RitzCarlton, The Lion Crown Travel Company

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Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club's New Offering: 22 Villas in Tuscany, Provence and the Cote d'Azur

by Susan Kime (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Real Estate Developments

Last month, I wrote a Luxist article about Abercrombie & Kent opening seven new Villas in Mykonos, Greece, for their travel clientele. Now, twenty-two new villas have been opened for the use of Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club members, in addition to A&K travel clients. The Villas are located in Tuscany, Provence and the Cote d'Azur. They were added to the A&K Residence Club property portfolio because of increasing interest for family friendly, multi-generational European travel.

These properties are in the most-requested destinations in Italy and France, ten in Tuscany, six on the Cote d'Azur, and six in Provence.

A human amenity of an A&K Residence Club villa vacation is the existence of a dedicated global experience manager, who works works with members and their families to make all the arrangements for the Villa stays, including preparing the home with groceries and other amenities. Managers have insider access to experiences that are unique to each destination.
A&K Residence Club members appear to be inveterate travelers, who explore the areas completely. Here are three thumbnail sketches --all with experiential examples of what is offered on the Villa vacation in these significant areas.

Tags: Abercrombie Kent Residence Club, AbercrombieAndKent, Cote dAzur Villas, CoteDazurVillas, equty based destination club, EqutyBasedDestinationClub, experiential villa vacations, New Destination Club Villas, NewDestinationClubVillas, Tuscany Villas, TuscanyVillas, Villas in Provence, VillasInProvence

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From Conspicuous to Conscious Consumption: Redesigning the Meaning of Luxury

by Susan Kime (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth, By Design

Looking for the green shoots of optimism is not easy -- especially after two winters of discontent. Yet, there appears to be a resurgence of optimism, a new energy that may have the power to redesign as it redefines new ways of perceiving the idea and the reality of luxury.

On the plus side is the Wall Street Journal. In the 03/08/2010 article entitled The Ten Best Places For Second Homes, Steven M. Sears declared, "At long last, the market for luxury real estate is coming back to life. Prices for primary residences, which plunged at least 20% from the peak in 2007, appear to have bottomed. In some of the snappiest locations, scattered bidding wars are breaking out and prices are turning upward. In Greenwich, Conn., realty brokers say, the final months of 2009 were almost record-setters for sales volume, as two years of pent-up demand was unleashed."

Also pertinent are data in the newest Wealth Report (3/15/10), with inferences that seem promising: "Retail chains post a 3.7% increase in February comps, with luxury outperforming the overall group. Consumers are again indulging in luxury purchases."

Could this mean that the 2009 severe recession earthquake is behind us? Well, hopefully. But it's necessary to remember the concept of false positives. In medicine, economics, statistics, pregnancy tests and LIFE, they are results that look good but, after the dust settles, may not yield the results originally expected. Consistently valid results take time. So with the shoots of hope within the numbers above, there is still room/time for questioning. We receive clearer pictures as time goes on, understanding that hope should be tempered by the economic history of the recent past.

Maybe the consensus of philosophers and economists were right – that it takes trauma to change minds and actions, and because of this unexpected economic jolt, what has also changed over the past 18 or more months is an unexpected evolution in the definitions and dimensions of luxury.

Tags: Abercrombie Kent Residence Club, changes in luxury buying, consequences of recession, CRM, Exclusive Resorts, Exquisite Safaris, luxury buying, luxury trends, second home buying

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Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club members Choose their Favorite Home

by Susan Kime (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Real Estate Developments, By Design

The shared ownership industry has made huge strides since timeshares first hit the scene in the 1970s. Besides the market's continued growth even during last year, called fittingly the annus horribilis by many, there has been a noticeable shift in quality and design aesthetics of purchased residences.. Gone are the basic ski chalets with cuckoo clocks, and plastic fern-festooned condos of the early years, and in their place are exceptional high-end residences where every element, both inside and out, is designed with painstaking detail.

One reason for this re-emergence of design relevance is a growing awareness that design is found everywhere -- not only in objects, but also in a vacation experience. If an object is badly designed, no matter how much it costs, it will corrode or fail in some way. If a person has a badly designed vacation experience, the memory created will corrode, and be forgotten. Exceptional design, both with objects purchased and in the vacations experienced, fuses the practical with the aesthetic, the visceral with the cognitive, and has the ability to create a positive memorable experience, anyone's definition of a luxury legacy.

This awareness is quite apparent in the high end hospitality industry, where branded and boutique hotels, private residence and destination clubs, villa residence enclaves, and elite tour operators all strive to make the member, the owner, the guest, and the visitor simply -- happy with the vacation design experience both inside and outside the residence.

In September of 2008, Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club was launched, a new equity based, debt- free residence club with an already established brand. Abercrombie & Kent has been a luxury tour operator since 1962 and is well established worldwide as one of the few great brands in adventure travel. And, the residence club expanded the brand, offering unique travel and lodging experiences in a multiplicity of unusual and traditional destinations. Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club is an equity- based club, where members are the owners, and the club runs in a debt free mode.

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Tags: Abercrombie Kent Residence Club, AbercrombieAndKent, Destination Clubs, DestinationClubs, equity-based, Hawaii, Mauna Lani resort, MaunaLaniResort, Residence Clubs, vacation designs, VacationDesigns