Exclusive Resorts increases stake in Hawaii

A Colorado-based company that offers an alternative in accommodations for well-heeled travelers who want more than a hotel but don’t want to commit to buying a second home in the islands is increasing its stake in Hawaii according to a report in Pacific Business News in March.

Exclusive Resorts, which owns 16 homes on the Big Island’s Kohala Coast and two in Maui’s Wailea Resort, is planning to buy an additional 40 homes on Maui for a total investment of some $200 million in Hawaii real estate.

Hawaii native and America Online founder Steve Case is the majority shareholder and chairman of the company, which calls itself a “residence club” or “destination club” that sells memberships that allow travelers to spend 15, 30 or 45 nights per year at any one of the company’s 300 homes in 35 destinations.

Unlike buying a second home, a time share, or a fractional ownership, members can cancel their memberships for an 80 percent refund of their initial buy-in, which is either $225,000, $325,000 or $425,000. Members also pay annual dues of $12,900, $19,900 or $29,900.

The company owns 80 percent of the club’s properties, which cost an average $3 million each. About three-quarters of the 2,600 members are upper-income families with children, mostly people who like to travel in groups with extended family and friends. 

People who stay at one of the company’s two units in the Wailea Beach Villas can use the amenities at the nearby Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa under a deal with the resort.

Exclusive Resorts also is buying 12 two-story, three-bedroom townhouses in the Hoolei project being built across Wailea Alanui Drive from the Grand Wailea. The units, which average 2,800 square feet each, will be available in late 2008, Beindorff said.

The company also is buying 28 three-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot homes at the Residences at Kapalua Bay in the Kapalua Resort, a partnership with the Ritz-Carlton and Maui Land & Pineapple Co., of which Case also is a major shareholder.

Members who stay there will have privileges at the Kapalua Bay Club, Beindorff said.

Exclusive Resorts was founded in 2002, and Case, who declined to be interviewed, bought a majority stake in the company two years later.

“Hawaii is one of the highest-demand locations that we have,” Beindorff said. “I suspect we’ll continue to grow in Hawaii as the membership grows.”

By Janis L. Magin