11 minute read
MEMBERSHIP THAT GETS
MembershipGets You More
WORDS SUSAN MCKEE
In the time of Coronavirus, what subscription travel offers is a sense of being in this together – apart
Some call them “isolation vacations”. Others call them Corona breaks – safe travels to beautiful spots where you can cut away from your crowded daily life and try out a new normal in holiday-making without getting tripped up by COVID-19 worries of gloom and doom. Comfort has become king. When I first started travelling extensively, I joined a travel club to be assured of likeminded companions, a staff dedicated to smoothing my journey end to end and amenities keyed to my contentment. It made travel easy, comfortable.
These days, travel is fraught with difficulties involving not only the intrinsic hassles of the experience, but the unknowns due to global pandemic.
Once again, clubs come to the rescue. But growing trends in membership clubs and subscriptions are taking hold. They’re the travel equivalent of gated communities offering private transportation, vetted accommodations, expert-travel advisors and on-site concierge services, plus stringent cleaning protocols and contactless check-in options.
The two basic categories for these arrangements are the travel and the stay.
GETTING THERE
Air travel is an essential. Business travellers fly to meet clients because it’s inefficient to drive long distances. Most companies cannot afford to have private jets and dedicated pilots on standby. That’s where business jet clubs and subscriptions come to the rescue.
Of course, business travellers can buy tickets on commercial carriers, but flying on a smaller jet means being exposed to far fewer passengers than on larger aircraft, thereby lowering the exposure possibilities to COVID-19. In addition, terminals reserved for private jets enable passengers to avoid the often-long screening lines at the public terminal. The ability to schedule flights at the passenger’s convenience is obvious win too.
CLOCKWISE: Elite membership perks on private charter; Comstock House from luxury hospitality company, Inspirato; The Sandpiper in Hilton Head, also from Inspirato;Private Jet from Jet Linx
Chartering a jet is pricey – that’s why flight clubs have emerged.
Flying private is expensive, but if you’re “sharing,” it’s not as much as you might think. “When charter flights fill empty seats, typically the price of the flight goes down for all the travellers,” according to Carl Marbach, President and CEO of SharedCharter, a flight-sharing service.
How does sharing work? The process starts online. Passengers can search the network for existing flights or sign up for a no-cost membership to initiate a new itinerary or join an existing trip. When two parties match a flight, SharedCharter provides secure, anonymous communication between them to discuss specifics. Assistance from the company’s concierge can manage flight arrangements among potentially thousands of private air travel brokers and certified FAA aircraft operators.
Jet Linx, a private jet membership and aircraft management company, has opened its 19th private terminal location in the United States, providing service in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Fort Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York, Omaha, San Antonio, Scottsdale, St. Louis, Tulsa, and Washington, DC.
Jet Linx Jet Card members, who have access to more than 5,000 airports around the world, are charged a round-trip rate based on occupied flight time only, as is the one-way rate. There are additional fees for catering and de-icing. The company guarantees availability of an aircraft with 24 hours advance notice.
If your company has a private jet or two, it’s likely yhey sit on the tarmac more than they’re in flight. Jet Linx offers aircraft management. Your aircraft becomes “part” of their fleet, available to Jet Card members when your company doesn’t need it.
JetAway Charters arranges global private air travel and air charter service with access to more than 6,000 aircraft and 50,000 airports worldwide. The company’s Private Jet Charter Cardholder Program takes a somewhat different approach to membership, which involves buying “transaction units” at one of four card levels: Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Black.
At the Silver level, a JetAway Jet Card would cost $10,000, which would buy 50 units. You can then redeem the units for charters. Flight legs within 1,500 miles of origin, for example, on a light aircraft would “cost” 10 units each, so you could fly a total of five legs on the card. At the highest level – Black – you’d purchase 550 units for $50,000, and be able to fly 55 times at an attractive cost of about $91 per unit.
Some airlines are experimenting with books of flight coupons (think: amusement park ride tickets – buy a bunch and use as you need them). Lufthansa Innovation Hub launched SWISS Flight Pass last September, and Austrian Airlines Flight Pass in December. The Flight Pass offers 10 flights within Europe at a fixed price.
For tWISS passengers, The Discover Europe Pass offers 10 one-way flights within Europe from or to Geneva. The City Pass offers 10 one-way flights between Geneva and a single European destination of the holder’s choice. The Austrian Airlines Europe pass includes access to 60+ destinations, whereas The City Pass functions like a book of 10 tickets for flights between Vienna and a European destination of the passenger’s choice.
For flights within Mexico, Volaris offers the v.pass plan, providing monthly flights for a predetermined fee starting at $299 MXN pesos (about US$16) per month. The VEMpresa, aimed at the corporate account or frequent traveller, gives a 30 per cent discount for all three Volaris fare categories for $335 per year, plus the ability to make one name change per ticket at no charge.
Airline lounge access is routinely granted to those who purchase tickets in business and first class. Priority Pass membership gives passengers at all price levels access to airport lounges. Holders of an American Express Platinum card can use Centurion clubs.
GETTING OUT OF THERE
Emergencies do arise during travel, and medical transport is costly. Medjet memberships offer both global air medical transport and a travel security option for travellers.
As a MedjetAssist Member ($295 per year), if you become hospitalised internationally or domestically – 150 miles or more from home – Medjet will arrange medical transportation to a home-country hospital of your choice for inpatient care.
In addition, COVID-19 patients can be transported from within the US, Canada, the Caribbean, Costa Rica and Mexico back to their home hospital.
MedjetHorizon, pricier at $444 annually, includes all the medical benefits
FROM TOP: Michigan Grand Beach Estate from Inspirato; Selina CoLive in La Candelaria, Bogota of a MedjetAssist Membership, plus worldwide travel security, crisis response and evacuation services powered by FocusPoint International. This is the coverage for terrorism, kidnapping, natural disaster, violent crime and other safety concerns.
STAYING THERE
Accommodation clubs are more problematic for business travellers. Geared toward the leisure market, they’re often located in out-of-the-way resort locations rather than city centres. If you’re a digital nomad who can work from wherever there’s fast Internet connection, a month-long stay at an out-ofthe-way luxury property might be perfect. For the “if it’s Tuesday, it must be Cleveland” road warrior, it’s not much of an option.
At the top end is Inspirato, a luxury hospitality company with an extensive collection of branded vacation homes. The monthly subscription fee is $2,500 (plus a one-time enrollment fee of $2,500).
The company has added a subscriptionbased travel option. Instead of paying that monthly fee to access “free” nights in one of the company’s properties by participating in Inspirato Pass, those who join Inspirato Club pay $600 per month (plus a one-time enrollment fee of $600) – but they do pay nightly rates when they travel.
US locations offered by Inspirato include Hilton Head, SC, Sedona, AZ, Nantucket, MA, and Telluride, CO.
SoHo House, founded in 1995, has a motley range of memberships. The “every house” membership, priced at $2,250, gives access to all 28 locations around the world (except Malibu – a special case).
Selina Nomad Passport specifically targets the wandering worker. Subscribers purchase specific numbers of nights in advance at a discounted rate and can use the credits at any Selina location (there are, currently, just five in the United States). In addition to a place to sleep, Selina offers a variety of local adventures including everything from wellness packages to rappelling. Selina CoLive is for the digital nomad who stays at one property for a longer period of time (in this case, at least one month). Programmes start at $300 per month. The B2B Remote Work Pass is aimed at the frequent traveller who wants to stay at a Selina property for a fixed period each month.
PLAYING THERE
ClubCorp membership doesn’t include hotel accommodations, but it does provide amenities. As an owner and operator of more than 200 private golf and country clubs, city and stadium clubs in markets across the country, on offer are golf courses, restaurants, fitness centres and swimming pools.
The corporate level O.N.E. membership offers multiple designees for companies that want to enroll five or more active Golf or Social Members. Members may select from a range of different club locations.
The long and winding road
Ever-changing COVID travel restrictions made our columnist’s route home from the Continent a particularly scenic one
DEREK PICOT A HOTELIER FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS AND AUTHOR OF THE HOTEL DETECTIVE AND HIS LOVER
Like many people, last year I became an expert in COVID quarantine rules and how to obey the necessary protocols without becoming completely housebound. And so, in my bid to get home from Europe last November I found myself driving rather than flying.
At the time, only certain countries were on the permitted “travel corridor” list and it felt as though the lights were going out across the Continent. Having been in Italy for 12 days, I started my journey home from Milan, calculating that I could drive through seven countries in a circuitous two-day route to Boulogne and thus complete my 14 days’ quarantine as I reached the Shuttle.
One small issue – France and Belgium were not on a travel corridor. So I called Eurotunnel and asked whether, if I filled the car to the brim with petrol in Aachen, Germany and travelled nonstop through Belgium to France, I could drive straight on to the train without getting out of my vehicle. “Yes,” the reply came, “but don’t stop at the terminal – drive straight on and only climb out of the car in Folkestone.”
TOP GEAR Off I went. It was an interesting route – a sort of Grand Tour without much of the sightseeing. On the Italian-Swiss border I instantly received a message on my phone saying that if I stopped at all I would have to lay over for seven days’ quarantine. No pausing for a fondue lunch, then – instead, I pressed on to Liechtenstein for a brief sojourn in its capital, Vaduz. Not a place that many business travellers are likely to have visited unless they are bankers or Swiss watch salespeople. It’s a lovely town that when I visited enjoyed the benefits of no mask wearing and low COVID rates.
Having overnighted and filled the car, it was back to Switzerland for a quick drive into Austria, with a similar message appearing on my phone en route. Here, HM Government had not permitted quarantinefree travel so there was no stopping until I stern receptionist explained by way of an apology. “But I come from Liechtenstein!” I cried. “Oh!” replied the receptionist. “Your English is excellent for a German speaker.”
Thus avoiding further cross-examination, we – unlike the unlucky couple from Nazareth – avoided the stable. The next day I crossed into Belgium for the final 350km stretch, skirting around Brussels then on to the coast and the French border. The prospect of home had rarely seemed so inviting.
UNION FLAGS Since then, of course, everything has changed again with the new border restrictions brought about by Brexit. In future we will each have to consider the impact of the 90-day limit on stays in the Schengen zone in any 180-day period. Spend too long and you could be fined for overstaying your welcome.
In our household, the Irish branch of the family tree means my wife and our children will be able to apply for Irish passports. I am sadly excluded so if I want to go over the 90-day limit in, say, France I will have to apply for an annual extended-stay visa. This is all rather painful and merely adds to the current general levels of misery.
Still, there is one cause for optimism and that is the speed with which the various vaccines are being approved for rolling out. I hope that by the time you read you or your loved ones will have had the chance to be inoculated. While we couldn’t all meet to indulge in Christmas pudding, we will hopefully be able to enjoy an Easter egg together.
reached the German border. A safe haven – or so I thought, until we got to Cologne.
Checking into the Courtyard by Marriott, I was asked if I was British, for if I was I would not be allowed in owing to new restrictions brought in that day. Arrivals from west of Germany had to go straight back home.
“It’s the same for people from Ireland,” the
