Changes Atop The Oyster Circle Executive Tree

By: Destination Club News
Date: June 22, 2010

Paul Crowe, a long time fixture at the top of The Oyster Circle, is no longer with the club following nearly five years with the Ireland based destination club.

The former Director of Golf and Deputy Chief Executive at The K Club, Crowe was involved with the club's day to day operations, major construction projects, spa developments, and serving as the liaison between the club and the PGA European tour, including ten European Tour Championships and preparation for the 2006 Ryder Cup. Crowe would join with The Oyster Circle in December of 2005 as Chief Executive Officer, helping to guide the young club's direction. Following his departure from The Oyster Circle, the St. Patrick's College alum has returned to the golf sector and is involved with a hotel and golf resort in Ireland.

The Oyster Circle and Quintess announced a partnership last year, giving members of both clubs reciprocal access to the other's property portfolio, totaling nearly 100 properties in 50 destinations at the time of the release.

Since that announcement, the destination club has been surprisingly silent. We spoke to Crowe shortly after the release, discussing not only the club's new partnership with Quintess, but their business structure.

"We are still a relatively small firm so we have not quite reached the point where our annual dues cover operational costs," said Crowe. "We need to reach a threshold of members for that to happen. What we have done is new members are now paying 30 percent more in annual dues than our old members. We didn't feel it to be fair to charge our long time members the same as our new ones."

Crowe would elaborate on how the club was planning to move toward full financial disclosure with members while greatly reducing the club's sales and marketing costs. At the time, The Oyster Circle had already reduced their sales and marketing staff to just Crowe and one other individual. Since then, news from the club has been virtually nonexistent, leading many to wonder about the status of one of Europe's largest destination clubs.

We will continue to monitor The Oyster Circle to see how they progress without Crowe at the helm. We have been directed to contact Director Martin Scully for updates but inquiries to the club have not been returned. Scully has long been with The Oyster Circle, serving as Chief Executive of Oyster Capital Partners, and is responsible for "managing a variety of asset classes, primarily private equity investments in the property, bio-energy and technology sectors."