Luxury travel subscription company Inspirato has announced a major strategic initiative to accelerate expansion of its growing portfolio with the launch of Inspirato Real Estate, which will assist potential vacation home buyers find a property to acquire and then lease back to Inspirato.
“We launched Inspirato Real Estate to add another dimension to our strategy to grow our Inspirato residence portfolio, so that we can offer more choices to Inspirato subscribers,” Founder and CEO Brent Handler told HOTELS on Tuesday. “Over time we realized that in addition to providing travelers with exceptional service and certainty for their vacations, we also deliver a valuable service to our residence landlord partners by providing them with a worry-free ownership experience available nowhere else. This is due to the fact that our homes are available exclusively to our closed network of Inspirato subscribers, a highly affluent, built-in audience with predictable booking patterns, which enables us to invest in and take care of our landlord partner’s homes like no one else.”
Inspirato leadership would not divulge a specific amount invested in the new venture, but did say it is investing significantly. “We have built an extensive broker partner network to provide local market expertise,” Handler said. “We have built up our own internal team to ensure we have expertise to work with families to help them find their perfect vacation home with the right balance of lifestyle benefits and investment return. And we are investing in marketing to build awareness about the Inspirato Real Estate value proposition to prospective home buyers.”
Launched in 2011, Inspirato is expected to go public in the fourth quarter of this year in a blank-check merger with Thayer Ventures Acquisition Corp. The deal gives the combined company an estimated enterprise value of US$1.1 billion. In addition to the special-purpose acquisition company merger, a private investment in public equity will contribute about $100 million to the deal.
Prospective buyers explore a vetted collection of properties in dozens of vacation destinations directly on the Inspirato Real Estate website. Once they decide where to buy, Inspirato Real Estate’s team connects them to a local real estate professional. Prior to closing, they receive a personalized lease overview and financial return profile, including a net income projection for their chosen property. At closing, they lease their new home to Inspirato.
The benefits for buyers, according to Inspirato:
- Leases (typically five years) that provide for predictable fixed rental income regardless of bookings.
- Flexible owner usage plans with services like daily housekeeping and onsite concierge.
- 24/7 property management, including everything from marketing and booking to guest service, housekeeping, bill payment and maintenance.
- Pro-active planning and improvements to help maximize property value.
- A complimentary Inspirato Club subscription, with members-only rates for travel throughout Inspirato’s portfolio of 385 luxury vacation homes in the U.S., Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe.
At launch, Inspirato Real Estate is presenting a selection of properties in more than 50 luxury vacation destinations including Vail, Colorado; the California wine country; Park City, Utah; Scottsdale, Arizona; Rosemary Beach, Florida; and Los Cabos, Mexico.
Existing homeowners can submit their properties for consideration for the Inspirato portfolio and, if accepted, are eligible to receive the same benefits as new buyers, including a lease that provides for fixed rental income.
Inspirato connects buyers with local real estate partners to help them select and close on their vacation home, charging no fees directly to the buyer. “To the contrary, when we lease their home for our portfolio, we pay buyers predictable fixed rental income,” Handler said. “When a buyer purchases one of our featured homes and leases it to us, we provide them with fixed rental income and cover full property management services – there are no ongoing fees for the buyer.”
Unlike typical online broker sites, under Inspirato leases, Handler said it pays rent each month regardless of bookings. “We work with each buyer to help them achieve their specific goals. As a result, the return profile is different for each home, and varies by market, asset type, desired owner usage, and other factors,” he said. “Our goal is to provide the best possible total return for buyers through the benefits provided by our Inspirato lease, which include a fixed rental return greater than market due to our built-in demand base, expert property management service to help maximize appreciation, and flexible owner usage together with a complimentary Inspirato Club subscription.”
The goals outlined by Inspirato on this venture is help it meaningfully increase the pace at which they add new residences to the Inspirato portfolio. “This includes building additional scale in our existing core destinations, and also adding new destinations for our subscribers to visit with us,” Handler said.
The biggest challenge? Markets are tight in many luxury real estate destinations right now, according to Handler. “Homes often go under contract with multiple offers the first day they are listed,” he said. “So, we need to ensure our team is vigilant, educated, and highly responsive.”