Tanner & Haley
Notes From The Club

Consisting of Private Retreats, Distinctive Retreats, and Legendary Retreats, Tanner & Haley Destination Clubs was created by Rob McGrath and is known as the originator of the destination club concept.

Created in 1998, Private Retreats was the world's first destination club, blending components of country clubs with second home ownership and fractional jet travel to create a shared usage model for luxury travelers. The concept would instantly become a success and Distinctive Retreats would be introduced late in 2003, providing members even more luxurious homes than the original Private Retreats.

Looking to further the club's growth curve, McGrath would reach out to travel giant Abercrombie & Kent to not only provide members access to the A&K catalogue of safaris and expeditions, but also to attach the recognizable brand name to the new destination club concept.

Under the Abercrombie & Kent Destination Clubs brand name, the two clubs would continue to see success, but the impact of an unsustainable business model was beginning to take affect.

As part of the club structure, members were guaranteed access to properties even if the club residence in that area was reserved by another member. To meet their availability needs, the clubs would have to enter into short-term leases, draining funds from the club that would be far better used for operations and payments on the club properties.

Poaring money into these non-appreciating assets, the clubs were unable to make their licensing payments to A&K. In August of 2005, Abercrombie & Kent discontinued their agreement with McGrath and his clubs, just as the new Legendary Retreats was launching.

The three clubs would quickly be rebranded under the Tanner & Haley brand, named after McGrath's two children. "We have reached a natural conclusion to this partnership with the sellout of our first two clubs," said McGrath. "The two clubs will continue to operate as they have in the past with no changes. Having just launched Legendary Retreats, a Tanner & Haley Destination Club, we are now focused on expanding the Tanner & Haley brand and its unique identity."

The structure of the club had already had been fractured, and within a year, Tanner & Haley filed for bankruptcy.

Ultimate Resort and the ultra-luxury Ciel would both make offers for the assets of the clubs, with Ultimate Resort's $100 million selected by the bankruptcy judge.

No longer in operation, there are currently no notes available from the club, but many of the Tanner & Haley members remain with Ultimate Escapes, the fusion of Ultimate Resort and Private Escapes.