View from the top: these days, fractional ownership has gone way beyond buying a piece of a condo. Today, owning a piece of a jet, a mansion or even a yacht is well within the realm of possibility. The fractional market has become a huge pie, and there's a piece available for everyone.(travel and yacht clubs offerings and trends)

Publication: Oil and Gas Investor

Publication Date: 01-JUN-06

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COPYRIGHT 2006 Hart Publications, Inc.

Imagine having your luggage whisked away a day before you leave for your $3 million private home in Cabo San Lucas. A limousine motors you to a private jet where the ride includes a massage and green tea Facial. When you arrive at the house, you're greeted with a blue agave margarita and ceviche de camaron. If it weren't for the fact that you feel cool marble under your bare feet, you'd swear this was heaven.

And therein lies the seduction of fractional and membership clubs for the ultimate in luxury travel including resort homes, sleek jets and sumptuous yachts.

"On a macro scale, we're fundamentally changing the hospitality industry and re-creating how people experience that," explains Rob McGrath, founder of Tanner & Haley Destination Clubs, Scottsdale, Ariz., one of the industry leaders. "We try to give people an epic experience. In almost all of our destinations, there's some kind of adventure thing that our members should do."

For example, he says, there's a bay 80 miles north of Cabo San Lucas where a crusty sea captain will take you to see 3,000 whales leaping out of the water. Or, they'll arrange a heli-hike for you in Telluride, complete with a picnic spread, chaises for napping and a botanist.

McGrath started experimenting with fractional home ownership in the mid-'90s before launching his membership model. "I thought the second home experience in a resort area was inefficient," he says. "I got 10 guys together to purchase a condo in Telluride, but after a couple of years, I realized the product was not that consumer friendly because the 10 guys were always fighting for New Year's week."

His answer was to create a multi-faceted company that includes three layers of membership with more than 300 beautiful private homes in 40 destinations around the world. For example, you can join Tanner & Haley Villas and pay $2,500 a night; you can purchase a private...

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