Jonathan Harding, President and COO of Ciel, spoke with Helium Report recently and provided some insights into the high-end, invitation-only club. He works closely with founder J. Joe Ricketts, whom Harding credited as the “visionary” of Ciel.

In October, we covered the launch of the ultra-luxury destination club and posted some information from the membership materials.

Harding confirmed some details about Ciel:

• $1 million membership deposit
• $65,000 annual dues
• 100% refundable
• 60% of deposit goes to capital reserves to acquire real estate; 40% in T-bills
• 100-member cap
• 6 homes now; 5 available for reservation
• 5:1 property ratio
• $5.5 million average value

According to Harding, the club’s target member has a net worth over $30 million and already owns a second or third home. Ciel is a competitor to Yellowstone Club World and the former Legendary Retreats club of bankrupt Tanner & Haley.

Harding emphasized Ciel’s experiential focus, stating the members are more concerned about “what to do and how they’re taken care of than where to go or where to stay.” Ciel’s website supports the claim with its heavy focus on events and activities instead of the typical places and homes of other destination club websites.

Butlers With Culinary Skills

Rather than form a team with hospitality backgrounds, Harding and Ricketts opted to staff homes with butlers from the household management industry. After a 30-year career running software and consulting firms, Harding himself trained to become a butler and chef to manage household services for wealthy people. All but one home has an apartment for the resident Ciel butler who manages local staff and works with designers to “program” the travel experience for members.

Harding says Ciel will offer the “next step [of service] past a concierge.” As an example, he notes a concierge would source tickets to the Super Bowl, whereas Ciel will help its members with the overall experience of the entire event. He also described a trip where “gourmands and wine people will visit the St. Barts home and experience wine tasting for the 6 major wine regions.”

Most of the capital for the new club will come from the Ricketts family, states Harding. None of the funds from member deposits is used for operating expenses. Harding said the Tanner & Haley bankruptcy demonstrated the need for fiduciary responsibility for destination clubs. He cited TD Ameritrade’s 6.1 million accounts and $267 billion in assets under management as evidence of Ricketts’ and the club’s commitment to ensuring the membership deposit is refundable at any and all times.

$108 Million Bid

Today, Ricketts made an unexpected bid for the real estate assets of Tanner & Haley, trumping Ultimate Resort’s $98 million offer from last week by $10 million. Both Ricketts and Ultimate Resort CEO Jim Tousignant are vying to acquire about 60 luxury homes and as many of the Tanner & Haley’s 874 members in an attempt to form the second largest destination club by member size. The residences are valued at $3.5 million according to the bankruptcy filings, but the bids are attempts to acquire the resort homes at a bail-out price of roughly $1.6 to $1.8 million. We’ll continue to post more news about the battle as it develops this week.