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 a fallout from a Ultimate Escapes bankruptcy, it has been a rough ride. I have created about this failure before on Luxist, though here is a small refresher prcis.

Ultimate Escapes was a tall end, luxury, non-equity formed destination club, as well as a second largest in a industry. Members paid in between $150,000 as well as $800,000 membership deposit, as well as most thousands some-more in annual dues. For those fees, they took vacations to exotic places as well as stay in well-developed residences, villas as well as condos. There were over 1400 members when a bar bankrupted in mid-September, 2010. It was then a fifth vital bankruptcy in five years for a non-equity destination bar space. Prior to Ultimate escapes was Tanner & Haley, Lusso, High Country Club, Solstice, as well as right away this. For members, attention watchers as well as most others, this failure began a critical re-thinking process. What is a matter?

As with most formidable problems, this a single appeared easy to solve. Many believed it was a non-equity indication on which literally all of a bankrupted clubs were based, as well as in part, though only in part, it was. The initial era non-equity indication was broadly formed on a kind of Wild West 2004-2008 YAHOO-type optimism: clubs will positively grow if -- genuine estate values would appreciate, as well as if members a single after another to join. If this growth hormone were in place, as well as why shouldn't it be?.. then a members will embrace what was promised to them: 80% of their deposits back on resignation from a club, as well as a 3 in 1 out option borrowed from a timeshare industry: If 3 brand new members joined, you could resign. Simple. Seemed so in accord with in those pre-Madoff times.

And because it seemed so ! reasonab le, as well as times were so optimistic, most clubs paid for properties as well as others were leased when prices were at an all-time high. Then, suddenly, in Oct of 2008, a undiluted storm appeared: genuine estate values declined, Bear Stearns as well as Lehman Bros. deflated. But no matter what, lenders wanted debt payments as well as lessors wanted their rent. With these occurrences, a initial era bar indication looked like a residence of cards, easily defeated by a dark winds of a collapsing manage to buy as well as intensity members' deciding against fasten any club, even, as a single part of pronounced to me, "a church group." Thus, with this final bankruptcy, following most a same process as a others, most felt this was a final gasp for a non-equity formed club.

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

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