Interview with Sebastian Orr of The Gilt Club
At PrivateFly we work with selected partners, providing private air travel to their customers. Many are travel agents (read more on our recent partnership with the Virtuoso network) but we also work with travel management companies, airports, sports agents, concierge groups and others.
One of our more unique partners is The Gilt Club. Members give access to each other’s private properties, opening up exclusive global getaways. And when The Gilt Club’s members need to reach their own properties or others? PrivateFly can provide on demand private jet and helicopter charter, around-the-clock.
We spoke to The Gilt Club’s CEO and founder, Sebastian Orr, to find out more.
So what makes The Gilt Club better than other travel club memberships?
It’s an entirely unique concept; one based on how our members actually want to arrange their travel rather than how a travel club decides they should. We give our members the freedom to use their own assets and property to fund their own travel plans – whether through rentals or ‘house swaps’ with other members – and we don’t charge commission or stuff in added extras when they do.
There’s a simple annual membership fee, which gives our members access to the world’s most impressive properties, and the services of the Gilt Club team, who work closely with them to find the best and most interesting solutions for their travel requirements, however unusual or ambitious they may be.
How can you join? What’s the vetting process?
Memberships works on two levels: Owner Members have to have a suitable asset that they want to list with the Gilt Club. We meet all of our prospective Owner Members personally, and our curation team visit every asset to assess its suitability before we either list the property or admit the member. If they don’t want to list an asset, someone can join as a Guest Member, subject to their being proposed by an existing Owner Member or approved by the Gilt Club membership panel.
Is there a typical Gilt Club member?
Our members come from diverse personal and professional backgrounds, but they tend to be off-the-radar individuals who value respect, discretion and security. They believe in treating others how they wish to be treated – they are categorically not the entitled ‘I’ve paid for this, so I’ll behave however I like’ sort of people.
What can members expect from their membership?
To put it simply: Access to the inaccessible. The Gilt Club opens up a world of properties and assets that are rarely found anywhere else; the kind of places that, literally, money can’t buy – from historic country estates to private Indian Ocean islands. They can also expect to be treated with genuinely personal attention and the utmost discretion and respect, without the added stress of having to pay inflated commissions. One member joined after he let his house through an agent only to find the client had paid double the amount he had received. With the Gilt Club, that never happens.
What is the annual subscription fee?
It’s a flat fee of £5,000 for owner members; £1,000 for guest members.
Why would guests choose to stay in these properties over luxury hotels?
There’s a host of reasons. Gilt Club properties offer a level of privacy and a degree of personal space that no hotel can match. Staying at a hotel, you’re beholden to the agenda of the hotelier and the daily schedule of the property – with the Gilt Club, you’re in complete control of where you go and what you do, and you have the freedom to treat the place as you would your own home. And there’s no need to compromise on service – all Gilt Club properties are staffed to hotel standard, or better.
Where in the world do your assets cover? Are there areas you are looking for new properties/assets?
Now, after our first year of operation, we list properties across Europe, Africa, South America and the Caribbean. Within the next 18 months, we expect to have complete global coverage – but we don’t believe in expanding the portfolio for the sake of it. Our growth will ultimately be determined by the quality and uniqueness of the properties we represent.
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