Private Retreats - A New Paradigm In Second Home Ownership Sales of the "Ultimate Private Residence Club" Skyrocket

Date: January 7, 2003

Private Retreats is a unique vacation option revolutionizing the resort second home market. Members of this small, private club enjoy unlimited access to luxury homes and yachts in 26 first-class resort locations in the U.S., Mexico, Caribbean and Europe.

Properties range from million-dollar ski homes in Jackson Hole, WY, beach villas in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and Nevis, BVI to luxurious yachts in the Caribbean, and exclusive hotel suites throughout Europe. The Private Retreats Proprietary Capacity Model, created by Private Retreats, ensures that each Member can use the homes and yachts whenever and wherever they wish.

Private Retreats is the brainchild of Rob McGrath, who, as a real estate specialist for JP Morgan in the mid- 1990s, found himself wondering why only 3% of people who seriously consider the purchase of a second home actually do so. After a year of research, he concluded that consumersʼ primary reason for not buying a second home is a desire to avoid “feeling tied-down” to a single resort location.

In 1998, pulling from business models used by private country clubs, fractional jet companies and resort real estate companies, McGrath created Private Retreats. Nearly five years later, todayʼs Private Retreats exists so its Members will never again have to spend a million dollars on a single home and feel “tied down” to a single resort.

Today Private Retreats Members are able to select from a number of vacation opportunities. Consider these few: a villa at the Four Seasons Resort in Nevis; a 50-foot, five-cabin sailing yacht in Tortola, with captain and chef; a houseboat, ski boat and all the toys on Lake Powell; a fabulous four-bedroom villa in Cabo San Lucas; a golf getaway to St. Andrews, Scotland; a four-bedroom log cabin atop the mountain in Telluride.

“The spectacular homes are only part of the reason why the Club is such a hit,” says Tom Fulton, executive vice president for Private Retreats. “Members also have access to amenities, benefits and services that very few individuals can replicate.”

Each home includes the services of a full-time “local host” tasked with handling all member needs, access to topnotch local country clubs, private spas, and private chefs, use of luxury automobiles for a nominal fee, use of the Clubʼs private fleet of aircraft, and complimentary greens fees & ski passes for the Member and spouse where applicable. Planning and coordination is left to the Member Services staff and ensures that the refrigerator is stocked, tee times are booked, spa appointments set, dinner reservations made and babysitters placed on call. Private Retreats membership cost is $195,000 and fully refundable. Annual dues are set at $7,250for fixed operating costs of homes. A $150 daily fee per night per house (not per person) covers the costs of local hosts, membership dues in the spas and country clubs and the complimentary ski and golf.

“There is quite simply no other way to enjoy all the possibilities of use and resort home benefits as those offered to Private Retreats Members,” says Fulton.