Ritz-Carlton Destination Club

As destination clubs began to show success and quickly emerged as viable options in the luxury travel segment, rumors began throughout the industry that many of the leaders in the travel and hospitality sector would make a foray into the destination club industry. It took longer than expected, but the Ritz-Carlton Destination Club officially launched late in April of 2009.

The club offers two distinct membership types, the Home Club Membership and the Portfolio Membership. The Home Club Membership mirrors the model of the Ritz-Carlton Club where members are fractional owners of a residence. The Portfolio Membership more closely resembles the standard destination club model used throughout the industry.

"Over the last decade of establishing a second home alternative for our current Ritz-Carlton Club Members, we developed intimate and rewarding, one-to-one relationships. With this commitment to deliver luxury vacation homes with a heightened, flexibility while also maintaining the exclusivity our Members have come to expect," said Peter Watzka, The Ritz-Carlton Development Company's Executive Vice President and CEO in the club's launch press release.

Utilizing a points based system where members reserve properties in the portfolio by using their annual allotment of points, each trip has a variable point cost based on the property, season, and day of the week. Also divergent from the standard destination club model is the club's unique redemption policy.

While most destination clubs function as a "right to use," the Ritz-Carlton membership is "the member's asset." Members can sell their membership on the open market for whatever price they see fit, with the Ritz-Carlton Destination Club having right of first refusal.

Members can also can exchange up to 25% of their points for usage at the global collection of Ritz-Carlton hotels.

Still in the Founding membership phase, the club is currently offering special pricing and incentives to the club's first 100 members.

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

You Might Also Be Interested In...

None