Featured Property: Banyan Tree Private Collection Italy

By: Destination Club News
Date: July 4, 2010

It may be the Fourth of July, but Italy has been the object of our gaze for the prior week as readers have voted on their favorite destination club property under the Tuscan sun, pitting Banyan Tree Private Collection, Equity Estates, and Ultimate Escapes against one another. Despite being Asia's largest destination club, Banyan Tree Private Collection takes home the honor for having the best property in one of Europe's most popular destinations according to our readers.

Named Casa Lucardo, the 300 year old villa is located on the hillsides of Montespertoli, a municipality in the Province of Florence. Surrounded by a private olive garden, the four bedroom home includes a fireplace and poolside barbeque overlooking the picturesque Italian landscape. Spanning over 5,000 square meters, Casa Lucardo has been described as "a Renaissance painting," combining the artisan landscape that is Tuscany with the warm stone exterior of the property.

Banyan Tree Private Collection has been riding the waves of success over the past year, following each new announcement with another. Last month, Banyan Tree announced four new properties to their roster, giving members two new "own villas" in Lijiang and Phuket and two new "associate villas" in Seoul and Samui.

Earlier in the year, the club would announce a partnership with Habitat for Humanity that would give the organization $10,000 for every individual membership sold. In addition, the club would discount memberships by $10,000 to new members provided that the member directly donated $10,000 themselves to the charity.

The most substantial news out of the club came just days into 2010 when Banyan Tree announced a partnership with The Hideaways Club, Europe's largest destination club. Through this reciprocal union, the members of both Banyan Tree Private Collection and The Hideaways Club would have access to the other club's properties, greatly adding to the number of destinations available to members.

Unlike second home or timeshare ownership where travelers typically must travel to the same destination year after year, destination clubs give members a wide reaching collection of vacation homes in popular beach, city, ski, and leisure locales whenever they please. If you are currently evaluating destination club membership, a good place to begin is requesting a free copy of our Destination Club Guide where you will find useful information about the destination club model, its major clubs, and suggested due diligence questions to ask when you speak with a club.