and youre already a member. hes buying? classy
personally, it seems to me that lux chains are liking fractionals - just as their clients do. especially now that theyre increasing their margins above market value. (like little nell) if you want an investment, that certainly seems like a better route to me. (
luxury fractionals and hotel residences / condohotel / etc)
and look at aman ending up not linking up with setai club.
now if setai does follow through and allow unlimited usage for free at all properties once they have a 2nd one, that would be the first real fractional/DC hybrid.
and banyan tree private collection is pretty much like a DC, charging ~$100K/$3K per week. i dont think anyone else shares their residential model either. wonder if anyone is watching them.. or even more i wonder how both models are working for them.
it also matters whether you want condos or villas.. aman is pretty much all villas. same with banyan tree. setai is right now a hotel, but theyre looking at quite a few villas i believe, like many ghm properties. chains like FS, RC, MO have less villas.
im waiting because 3 of the 4 clubs im watching dont have beach properties yet, and id also like to maximize use of the club as soon as i sign up.
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someone here said RC does have unlimited space available reservations where you can either "exchange" your fractional nights into other locations or pay $250/nt for additional nights. not a terrible rate, certainly a lot better than many DCs charge for additional nights. only DHH is close @ $300.
also, 3 of the 4 clubs im watching have membership/property caps. it wasnt something i really looked at, but i do kind of like it.. it is fairly significant that the club has based their business model on a specific numerical goal. so they will profit X once reaching that cap - and then increasing by X over X time, etc. and theyre satisfied with that. it seems like the potential for customer service is better IMHO, not just because youre limiting the number of members, but also because they are demonstrating they are not simply trying to sign as many people / make as much profit as possible - there is a quality assurance aspect - like other limited "clubs" or service oriented things like concierges etc. limits can have real benefits. OTOH if ER selected their properties a little differently than they currently do, i WOULD be more interested in them.. (either now, or just watching them for the future) even though their usage isnt as good as some others, the number of properties could be an advantage.
st regis is also not DC-like, only allowing exchanges, including to starwood points. IIRC fairmont actually allows hotel exchanges by the week, allowing 2 or 3 of your 5 total weeks to be used that way, or something like that. then some other chains > MO's residences are particularly expensive. Peninsula has very few locations, no villas, no residences. waldorf astoria is coming out with fractionals at lake las vegas and residences in vegas. now
rosewood might be an interesting possibility.. they have a numer of residences, i believe both condo and villa style. and while las ventanas are very expensive i believe, the others might be more reasonable. one other that comes to mind is orient express, which seems a little more like an alliance than a chain.
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a rosewood entity might also open up the possibility of other ty warner properties being involved, like four seasons new york..
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actual
questions for bellehavens =
- upcoming destinations/properties?
- what kind of things do they look at when selecting destinations/properties?
- do they have total appreciation numbers right now for their portfolio / are they willing to make them public if they do?
- what do they think of helium report, sherpa report, this forum?
general thoughts on DC industry?
- their thoughts on REIT structure for DCs?
