Vacation clubs court the wealthy.

Private Escapes Destination Clubs, founded in Fort Collins slightly more than a year ago, last month passed the 100-member mark in its two high-dollar vacation clubs, one of which, the most popular, is billed as "affordable" because its entry fee is less than six figures.

The Private

Escapes club charges members an entry fee of $85,000 and annual dues of $6,500 in order to book private-home vacations at resorts and premier properties around the globe. The club and its sibling, Private Escapes Platinum, which pays a dividend on members' investments in Platinum, represent the second Colorado-based entry into the exclusive rent-a-vacation market for wealthy customers.

Steve Case, founder of AOL, became chairman of the second Colorado company in the market, Exclusive Resorts, late last year. Exclusive Resorts membership sales last year passed the $250 million mark. Its real estate is valued at more than $600 million.

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Private Escapes, founded by Richard Keith, Karen Siwek and Ed Powers, has booked 95 members in its lower-priced club, and 26 in its Private Escapes Platinum club, which charges $190,000 entry fees, and $10,500 a year in dues.

Members of the clubs--depending on which you belong to--can book apartments in Trump Tower in New York City, a condo or other property in Beaver Creek, a yacht docked in the British Virgin Islands, or a house on the beach in Belize, Los Cabos, Mexico, or on Kiawah Island, S.C. The value of Private Escapes' real estate portfolio is $25 million.

The company adds a new property every time it adds six members, in order to maintain a ratio that allows all members to use the facilities as frequently as they like. Its 100-plus membership is more than twice what the founders had set for a goal for the company's first year.

--Instapoll cobizmag.com

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