Inspirato and Exclusive Resorts Memberships
 

As a sometime lurker, I have enjoyed and learned much from the forums here. Amount of info is overwhelming and a search on both Inspirato and Exclusive Resorts came up with nothing.

www.inspirato.com/
http://www.exclusiveresorts.com/

Was wondering whether anyone here had any experience with either of these and had any advice for someone thinking of joining. Are there any alternatives to consider?

I am a newbie poster so excuse me if I posted in the wrong place or missed past threads on the subject. TIA.

I think you have probably posted in the wrong forum as Inspirato and Exclusive, are, as you no doubt well know, destination clubs, so not my thing at all, although some in this forum may be overcome with excitement about the concept...you never know

:rolleyes: @ OP

if only there was a DC that owned primarily aman/FS residences. :D

its unfortunate the industry history is so horrible when the concept of being exchange free was brilliant. just need to stick with debtfree owned residences.

DC forum = http://tugbbs.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=48

I have been a member of Exclusive Resorts for three years now. I find it to be quite nice and it appears that they are coming out of the real estate abyss. Unlike other clubs, they are the beneficiary of partial ownership by Steve Case, who has helped underwrite the club through hard times. They are doing some interesting things with Banyan Tree properties and one off adventures. I would recommend you take a look.

A friend of a friend belongs to Inspirato and stays in amazing properties. Thus, I was intrigued when I got a note inviting me to try a stay within joining. Anyone can do so with this link: inspirato.com/takeatrip. You'll note that you have to sign up and then get a phone call.

We are members of Inspirato. It has been wonderful for our family. We probably take around half of our vacations with them. The service is top notch and most of the houses are very nice. We have an executive membership and I have a few more slots for folks to join on mine at a reduced rate if anybody wants to send me a PM.

I noticed that Inspirato's portfolio includes several luxury hotels.
What would be the difference between booking directly with the hotels and through Inspirato?

Do you enjoy certain discounts or benefits when staying at those properties?

The hotel deals are hit and miss. They are supposed to be heavily discounted and we did stay at the Castello di Casole last summer for around 70% off. However, I have found you can usually do just as well with free nights through Virtuoso or FHR.

They also send out email "Jaunt" deals every Wednesday which can be very very good for the houses and hotels.

odd they (all) lack ultra high end. inspirato no longer differentiates, but leases some units at luxury hotels. some of those units are owned by ER. ER owns residential villas at castello di casole, think there is enough demand that they do not pass availability / lease to inspirato. (personally castiglion del bosco appeals more to me.) ER does own several on The World / Residensea which does not rent anymore, but demand high. (number of members vs units)

while ER was building their costa rica development, members could pay $300 or $600 per night to stay in estate residences at FS costa rica, which ER leased. these (there is a 4th) now run about $10,000 to $30,000 (latter xmas/nye) per night last i looked. >
fourseasons.com/costarica/accommodations/private_residences/casa_del_cielo_residence_estate/
fourseasons.com/costarica/accommodations/private_residences/casa_del_mar_residence_estate/
fourseasons.com/costarica/accommodations/private_residences/casa_de_la_luna_residence_estate/

I had an Exclusive Resorts membership for a couple of years. The homes in resort areas were lovely. The properties in cities - NY apartment, for instance - I wasn't so thrilled with. I most enjoyed arriving to have the home stocked with the shopping list I had provided and that the concierges had a good list of private chefs to come cook for you. I always utilized the chefs. The homes were quite large - a gorgeous home I had in Whistler was 4000+ sq ft - and the concept was that you had a place for your extended family or friends to vacation with you. It got more difficult for me to fill the space and even more difficult to justify vacationing in large properties with only two or three of us. One sort of minor but still annoying thing was that Case put an audio/entertainment system he developed into all the properties. That system was not simple and drove me nuts. I'm guessing that's gone or significantly improved by now, at least hope.

inspirato could offer a few really nice city properties but seems they stay under a certain price level. one of the higher end clubs that (tried to) start right before market crash seemed to have a large condo in time warner building, not sure whether MO residences or other tower.

ive wondered if any clubs have chefs who offer weekly/daily rates

or how often they would work with top restaurant chefs

Exclusive Resorts doesn't show specifics but Inspirato does. I looked at their listings for my home area (San Fran) and it included places like the Fairmont which are nice but definitely not luxury. So I am moving this thread to the "other accommodation" forum.

RichardInSF, moderator, luxury hotels and travel

Wow Kagehitokiri, you’ve been researching DC’s for years....still haven’t joined I see. I am an Exclusive Resorts member and one of the perks is being able to also join Inspirato without paying their initiation fee so it’s the best of both worlds to join ER. The main difference between the two is that with ER you pay a set annual fee and for the most part there are no other fees. With Inspirato you pay an annual fee, then a daily fee plus taxes for each reservation and the pricing is based on season and day of the week. I think ER is a far better value.

At Exclusive Resorts there is a combination of higher-end and luxury. The portfolio includes FS, Peninsula, Banyan Tree, Auberge and RC as well as The World Ship by ResidenSea. These are outside of the core residence portfolio of large homes in very nice resorts. Not too shabby.

Inspirato Initiation at a Reduced Rate
 

We are members of Inspirato for 5 years. We vacation with the club several times per year and also utilized their Jaunt discounted trips and membership partnerships which are relationships that they have with other companies that give members free deals. For example: I received $1,000 in free tutoring for my daughter from Revolutionary Prep tutors. I am also excited that they have expanded their hotel deals and have over 40,000 hotels you would find on Expedia and the like. In addition, members now have exclusive Virtuoso benefits.
The discounted hotel rates you can get are lower than internet discount sites: Travelocity, Expedia, Cheap Hotels etc For example, I am taking my Son on college tours and booked several hotels via Inspirato that were cheaper than Expedia in several standard college towns throughout the US. My membership value goes beyond just luxury travel. The Inspirato service is top notch and the homes have all been vetted so they are all amazing, in the right location, have the activities that suit my family, and I receive personal assistance that is pinpointed to the way my family enjoys vacationing. If you were interested in Inspirato and want to save on the Initiation fee we have an executive membership which affords us extra slots for folks to join on my membership at a reduced rate. PM me if you are interested.