Ultimate Private Resort Rentals
World's Best Private Beaches
In April, Sanctuare, a marketing company that organizes private island rentals, planned a 50th birthday party for the wife of a prominent Toronto businessman on Musha Cay, a 150-acre private island in the Bahamas.
The group of 18 guests spent eight days boating, practicing yoga, swimming and snorkeling on the property's seven beaches. Dinners included a beachside tiki torch gathering with music from a five-piece band flown in from nearby Nassau, and a formal affair in a glass-walled dining room culminating in a 30-minute fireworks show.
The final bill? $345,000.
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Yes, it's more than many mortgages, but for some, the appeal of taking over a resort or private island is worth the price.
"The affluent traveler today has stayed in the best hotels and has rented private villas," says Kimberly Wilson Wetty, co-president of Valerie Wilson Travel, a luxury travel consultancy in New York City. "Now they want the exclusivity and privacy of having an island or resort all to themselves."
Many argue that Necker Island, a 74-acre swath of land in the British Virgin Islands and owned by Virgin CEO Richard Branson, was the first habitable private island to be rented out when it entered the scene in the mid-1990s. Today, experts estimate there are around two dozen islands worldwide that can be rented out exclusively to one party. The number of land-based resorts or hotels that can be taken over entirely is fewer.
John Steinle, president and owner of Stamford, Conn.-based Sanctuare, says most guests choose to take over one of the company's 10 properties to celebrate a milestone birthday.
Creating a "wow factor" also figures in.
"It's a dream to have one's own island or hotel where everyone is running around after you," Steinle says. "Since there are so few people who actually do this, it's considered very exclusive. You earn bragging rights and get your ego stroked."
High-profile people and celebrities looking for ultimate privacy are also apt to take over a resort. Sanctuare's clients have included Oprah Winfrey, Robin Williams, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.
Necker Island remains the company's most popular property. A staff of 64 is on hand to pamper guests in a 10-bedroom main house (each room has a private terrace and ocean views) and four freestanding, Balinese-style homes. Guests can enjoy hiking on several nature trails, water-skiing, sailing on Hobie catamarans, kayaking, working out in the sea-view gym or swimming in the pool, complete with a waterfall and swim-up bar.
Though costs run $46,000 a night, the island is booked more than a year in advance.
Rarified Resorts
Though properties like Necker are undoubtedly remote, you can achieve exclusivity without being completely cut off from the outside world by renting out a resort. In fact, for some, this is the draw.
Bill Fisher, owner of Fisher Travel, a membership-only travel club in New York City, regularly arranges hotel and island rentals for his clients. He says they generally don't venture to far-flung locales.
"The cachet is about having an entire place to yourself," he says, "not so much traveling to a far-off destination."
The Grove Isle Hotel & Spa, for example, is on a 20-acre island, accessible by car and less than 10 minutes from Miami in Biscayne Bay. It rents for $52,000 a night and can accommodate 100 guests in its 49 rooms, which have Italian marble baths, four-poster beds and bay views.
Activities and amenities include a spa with Watsu massage pool, swimming, sailing, boating and tennis. The on-site Euro-Asian restaurant features dishes such as Thai lobster bisque and Szechuan basil seared tuna.
If you're willing to shell out $50,000 a day, Amanpulo, an Amanresorts hotel in the Philippines, awaits.
The property has three and a half miles of beaches and can accommodate 100 people in 40 casitas, built on a hillside or on the water. Each has coconut shell tables, a DVD player and a marble bath with a separate shower and soaking tub. There are two additional four-bedroom villas. Activities include laser-boat sailing, tennis and nature walks. Guests can also get massages at the spa or take a pontoon boat on diving and snorkeling excursions to the many reefs in the area, such as Jalah, which is teeming with tuna, mackerel and turtles.
While most of these resorts can accommodate 10 to 100 guests, you certainly don’t need a group to rent one out. Steinle says there have been several couples who've reserved Necker Island just for themselves.
Exclusive indeed.
Source: forbes.com Shivani Vora, 09.07.07, 12:00
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