Darin Gilson

Senior Vice President, Sales and Business Development
Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club

Founder and Chief Executive Officer
BelleHavens

One of the destination club industry's most tenured and respected executives, Gilson helped pioneer the club structure used at Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club during his time at the successful BelleHavens.

A University of Utah graduate, studying economics and political science, Gilson received his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating a Palmer Scholar. Serving as President and Chief Operating Officer at Campus Pipeline, Gilson helped the young start up company grow to be the market leader in portal technology and services in the international higher education market. In 2002, Gilson helped execute a merger between Campus Pipeline and SCT Corporation and subsequently went on to create BelleHavens.

Conceived in 2003, BelleHavens officially launched in August of 2004 with a focus on providing "a group of like-minded members with a phenomenal collection of million dollar homes that they would not only use and enjoy, but also own."

The club's unique structure allowed it to quickly see success and Gilson looked to take his club to the next level.

In 2008, Abercrombie & Kent acquired the club, along with fellow equity club Crescendo Residences, to provide the foundation for their new club, Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club. Many of the elements that Gilson pioneered at BelleHavens have been implemented at A&K Residence Club and Gilson remains an integral cog in the club's day to day operations.

Quotes

"Two or three years into our history at BelleHavens, we felt strongly that in order for our business model and our club to be as successful as it could be, we needed to align with a branded player. My focus for the last year and a half at BelleHavens was just that. We built a good club with a great team. We were delivering on our promise and providing great experiences to members, but we weren't growing as quickly as we could. My focus was on aligning BelleHavens with a partner that could help take us to the next level."

- The Veras Group

"I didn't intend to start a club. My wife and I were looking for a second home about six or seven years ago, and then the rational part of my mind took over and I thought, 'How much will we really use it?' and my wife reminded me that 'you can't even take care of one home.' So then I thought, 'Wouldn't it be cool if I could have a house and share it with friends?'

"As I thought about that, I started to realize that we might all get bored always going to the same place. That was the final piece of the puzzle. I thought, 'Wouldn't it be cool if we had a big group of friends to share a portfolio of different houses in different places?' When I started researching the idea, I had never heard of destination clubs, and Exclusive Resorts and Private Retreats were just getting started. Seeing others doing it actually encouraged me, because I saw some traction in the marketplace for the concept."

- Cigar Aficionado

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