Portofino Club

One of the earliest clubs to enter the destination club sector, The Portofino Club initially only had to compete against Private Retreats and Exclusive Resorts. Unfortunately, both clubs grew to be industry giants while The Portofino Club followed behind.

Created by Ed Anderson and Ron Tapp over a leisurely dinner in 2002, the concept of The Portofino Club originated by the pair's desire for a better way to vacation. After formulating a general outline of the club's business model, the two would agree that their favorite vacation destination was Portofino, Italy amd the club had their name.

Joining Anderson and Tapp were joined by a seasoned team of executives including Rance Rogers on the club's Board of Governors. While the club slowly grew to over 100 members, traditionally a benchmark of success, Exclusive and Private Retreats, now known as Abercrombie & Kent Destinations Clubs and ultimately Tanner & Haley, had both grown to record numbers and were dominating the industry's market share. To make matters worse, upstarts Private Escapes, Quintess, Dream Catcher, and Ultimate Resort amongst others had launched and provided even more competition.

Despite not seeing the exponential growth of its colleagues, Portofino grew through an acquisition of Signature Destinations, a regional based club in the Northwest. The club made the Signature Collection their entry level offering with properties in the $1 million price range. The Portofino Collection's $2 million properties made up the club's middle membership plan as the club would soon introduce The Continental Collection, the club's highest membership level with $3.5 million homes.

Even with the expansion, the club suffered through many notable changes. Rance Rogers, the former Board of Governor member was appointed to President and had since left. The club was facing continued legal action. Tapp was in court for fraud accusations. Include increasing competition and drastic undercapitalization, and the club was forced to restructure.

Hoping to transition their current base of members to equity members to infuse the club with new capital, several of the club's properties were also liquidated. Early in 2008, The Portofino Club was said to have had approximately 145 members between their three club levels. By May, Portofino was forced into involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The club listed no assets in their filing.

To learn more about The Portofino Club, please visit any of the club's quick links found to the right or request a free copy of our Destination Club Guide.

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