Moncasa Caribbean Experience Eyes Launch

By: Destination Club News
Date: May 22, 2009

Located in Toronto, Moncasa Private Club Residences has their eyes set on their official launch date in the coming months, bringing their unique Caribbean focused ownership based destination club to the market. Originally announced in June of 2008, the club has been working towards understanding the recent developments within the industry and using them to implement a long-term, sustainable business model.

"Part of the journey for the past year has been positioning Moncasa Private Club Residences as an ownership model given the numerous configurations a potential member finds themselves in when considering such a purchase," started Moncasa Capital President John Collins in an interview with The Veras Group. "We have modeled ourselves around the ownership model plain and simple. The members own the club, the club owns the property. It is something we have worked towards for the past six months while learning from developments within the industry. A year ago, the ownership model was important, today even more so. We don't see the long term success of any other format. The industry has changed. People are now more aware of the fact that if something is too good to be true, it usually is. The sustainability of a successful business model is as important as the product itself, we recognized that and created a club around this premise."

Moncasa's Canadian launch happened in September of 2008 at Toronto's Caribbean Week, catering primarily to investors, family, and friends. "We were at the Caribbean show in Toronto and brought our product to the market in an official capacity," continued Collins. "We have completed our first round of financing by identifying 50 like-minded individuals who embraced our business model. We are now in a soft launch for founding members, including these very investors as well as family and friends. We anticipate our public phase one launch to be within 90 to 120 days. Both launches will include incentives seen across the industry."

Unlike other destinations clubs that spread their real estate across beach, ski, and urban locations, Moncasa Private Club Residences will focus exclusively on the Caribbean. Based on high demand, beach properties account for a significantly higher percentage than ski, city, and leisure destinations across the destination club industry. "We strive to do the Caribbean better than anyone else," added Collins.

While spending a great deal of time on the financial structure of the club, Moncasa also plans to focus on the experience factor of club membership through a unique platform for delivering a variety of experiences. "For starters we have developed a concierge philosophy with author and explorer Jeff McGinnis. Jeff achieved a four-hundred-year-old impossible challenge when he led the first team to sail the Northwest Passage. He has competed in the Eco-Challenge and the World Championships of Expedition Racing; Jeff is in charge of creating these same challenging experience programs for the club members to enjoy. We'll have onsite concierges and each property comes with a member’s SUV in the drive way, so we are looking at not only creating a great place to go, but an experience that is second to none. We want to provide a great product for a reasonable price. We will create these unique experiences around each property and destination allowing us to achieve our goal of 10 members per property. This approach will allow us to have higher usage during the more traditional low season times."

To ease availability, Moncasa has what they call a "flex plan" that allows members the ability to reserve larger or smaller properties based on their needs. "For example, if you have a 28 day plan, you could exchange that for 56 days in a smaller property or exchange it for 14 days in a larger property. You can even mix them up if you choose. The Club portfolio consists of four unique property types based on location and size. They are categorized for member's ease of use. So you can utilize some properties for two months, spend four weeks on the beach in the Cayman Islands in another, or perhaps you want a week in a 5,000 square foot villa backing onto the Pete Dye designed Teeth of the Dog golf course in Casa de Campo. Moncasa Private Club Residences can deliver it all in one plan."

Despite the recent softness in the economy, John Collins is looking at the current state of the destination club industry with a glass half full perspective. "Where we were a year ago was a different environment. The economy has allowed us to expand our club focus from not just a destination club but to a complete second home ownership strategy. With this in mind we have been able to tailor our acquisitions and financial rewards to suit our members' desires."