Originally Posted by blakepilot

FWIW, I've been an Inspirato member for about 7 years now. There seems to be quite a bit of misinformation going around in this thread.



Inspirato actually owns none of the properties they have in their portfolio. They are all long-term leases from owners, which dramatically lowers their overall overhead, thus greatly reducing the end cost of membership. Portico and Inspirato aren't "less expensive" alternatives per se - they're smarter alternatives, IMO. ER's staggering upfront cost includes buying into ownership of properties in the portfolio, which not many people I've encountered over the years that have been a member of both really have an interest in. You can argue it either way, but you're still plopping down a massive nut to become a member of ER, then paying a sizable nut every year to have a limited number of days access per year that don't rollover if you don't use them. It's not practical for most people. I know I don't have any interest in owning a small fraction of a bunch of houses that I really, truly don't even own.





I disagree. Inspirato is a lot more than a rental broker. They offer plenty of services to members beyond just hawking vacation time. Their signature residences are always guaranteed to be great, and they stand by their product if it's not. I've only had one time in 7 years where it didn't exactly meet my expectations, and they comped me for the problems our family had with the house. Good luck with that on VRBO, et al. Not only that, but having a full selection of destination staff that's always in touch with the home office is an invaluable perk. Again, you don't get that on VRBO.

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I would just like to add a few more words of praise about how satisfied I've been with Inspirato. I see a lot of people in this thread complaining about the initiation fee. More than just saying "you get what you pay for," $17,500 really isn't that unreasonable for the access you get to some of their terrific properties. If it was any lower (which I think we paid about $10,000 AI when we joined way back when), there would be hordes of members that would dilute the overall value, IMO. After all, it is a club you're joining. You don't just walk into your local golf club and say "I just don't feel like paying for anything. Why don't you just give me everything for free and I'll go tell everyone about how great this is!" I know we all come onto this site and bargain hunt, but even with the run-of-the-mill Amex discount, Inspirato is still a great deal if you appreciate having 5-star hotel service in multimillion dollar homes that can house large groups/families. Off peak nightly rates rival that of most 5-star hotels, but you get so much more with Inspirato.

Then, we compare to ER. ~$300k upfront, $30k per year for around a month's worth of included days. It would take me decades to spend over that threshold with Inspirato, and require me to vacation many weeks a year during peak times to get even close. $17,500 + $2,500 suddenly looks like a bargain. ER does have some spectacular properties, but so does Inspirato for a lot less cost and risk.

I, as well, would be happy to answer any questions. I've been to a ton of different Inspirato properties over the years. I've already spent 2 weeks in 2 properties this year, and headed to Tuscany in a couple weeks for another, then back to Cabo late April with family. We use it quite a bit, and I've seen tremendous value out of it. I've referred 2 members, and they're both also very happy with their membership and the value they get out of it. I've also connected with many members in the club through both Inspirato sanctioned events and meeting members through travel. Not once have I met anyone dissatisfied with their membership.

EDIT: looks like I responded to some 2 year old posts. Oops!