Tom Filippini, left, who co-founded Exclusive Resorts, and Erik Mitisek have launched Next Great Place, an online travel company that streamlines the process of planning unique, complex vacations. A subscription is less than $1,000 a year.
In recent months, two of the founders of the Denver-based Exclusive Resorts destination club have launched new companies focused on luxury travel at more affordable levels than their initial venture into the industry.
Brent Handler, who left Exclusive Resorts at the end of 2009, spent last year raising $5 million to develop and launch Inspirato, a destination club that gives its members access to a portfolio of multimillion-dollar homes operated by the company through long-term-lease arrangements.
Meanwhile, Tom Filippini, another founder of Exclusive Resorts, and Erik Mitisek raised $1 million to start Next Great Place, an online travel company that streamlines the process of planning and booking unique, complex vacations.
Exclusive Resorts has weathered the challenging economy, reporting that sales of new memberships and membership upgrades increased more than 50 percent to $66 million in 2010 compared with the prior year. The privately held company, started with financing from AOL founder Steve Case, owns luxury residences around the world and leases them to wealthy vacationers.
The increase in sales occurred late in the year, said Jeff Potter, the company's chief executive.
"Consumer confidence is slowly improving," Potter said. "December was our best month in three years."
Potter said Inspirato's model of leasing vacation properties to offer its members will be challenging.
"The margin for villa-rental companies is thin," he said.
Though they have different business models, both Inspirato and Next Great Place are dedicated to giving their members a luxury experience at a lower cost than Exclusive Resorts but without the risk of the unknown that comes from booking online with companies such as VRBO or HomeAway that don't offer personal service and support.
"People love the idea of renting on the Internet, but they don't like the uncertainty," Handler said. "We call that vacation roulette. With branded clubs, you know what you're going to get."
Inspirato combines the advantages of independent villa rental with the personalized services and amenities of private vacation clubs.
Members pay a one-time initiation fee and market-based nightly rates for each reservation they make, plus an annual renewal fee. The current initiation fee is $9,500, but that's expected to increase by at least $5,000.
The average cost per night for all properties in the company's portfolio is about $1,000, with some value-season rates at just a few hundred dollars.
Inspirato uses a revenue-management system similar to those used by airlines and hotels to control the supply and demand for its properties. Unlike Exclusive Resorts, where members pay the same price for a vacation property no matter when they go, Inspirato's prices drop during off-peak seasons.
Next Great Place combines technology with customer service to improve the way custom vacations are planned and delivered. The concept is the result of Filippini's frustration when he was trying to plan a trip to Belize with his family.
The Internet is great for booking flights and standard hotel rooms but becomes overwhelming and complicated if a traveler is looking for a vacation rental or a unique experience such as a safari, helicopter skiing or a bicycle tour, Filippini said.
With Next Great Place, a traveler spends about 90 seconds to submit a vacation request, which includes such parameters as destination, budget and number of travelers. A subscription to the service is less than $1,000 a year, which members recoup by booking just one vacation, Filippini said.
Next Great Place submits the request to its vetted group of suppliers in the chosen destination. The suppliers come back with custom travel proposals within 48 hours. The traveler then has 48 hours to choose a proposal and lock in the price.