The Margaret River region is set to take a generous slice of the luxury travel market with the upcoming launch of Karma Resorts’ exclusive international travel club.
The Margaret River region is set to take a generous slice of the luxury travel market with the upcoming launch of Karma Resorts’ exclusive international travel club.
The brainchild of Karma Group’s Perth-based chairman, John Spence, the Karma Club offers members access to the group’s multi-million dollar properties throughout Asia, Europe, and Karma’s only Australian resort in Margaret River.
The 25-year membership can cost as much as $US1.1 million, and includes access to the club’s private boats, discounted private jet services and a 24-hour personal concierge.
Mr Spence said the club was the first of its kind in Asia, with similar clubs operating successfully in the US.
“We think there’s a big gap in the marketplace and a big demand for this type of product,” he told WA Business News.
Most of the villas in the club’s inventory are located within Karma-owned resorts in Bali, Thailand and Margaret River.
Members also have access to stand-alone properties on the Greek island of Mykonos, at St Tropez in France, in the Swiss alps, the Caribbean, and India.
Mr Spence believes that the ownership of the villas guarantees quality and availability, creating peace of mind for members.
“We, as a company, are ideally positioned to create this product, primarily because we have both sides of the equation,” he said.
“We have Karma Resorts, which is a very high end luxury all villa resort company, and we also have Royal Resorts, which is a large marketing company…so we have the sales and marketing expertise as well.”
But with three levels of membership – gold, platinum and corporate – starting at $US140,000, the Karma Club is definitely not for everyone. Numbers are restricted to only 200 members worldwide.
Memberships will work on an allocation basis, with marketing directed at a small number of hand-picked markets and a strict quota of members per territory.
Mr Spence believes that, with Western Australia’s booming economy, the club will no doubt peak the interest of some of the state’s business elite.
“I think the whole profile of Perth is changing; there’s so much wealth and so much success in Perth and its becoming such an affluent city,” he said. “People want something a bit different and a bit special.”
And with the soon-to-be built Karma Margaret River one of the club’s destinations, the wine region is expected to be on the receiving end of some high-end tourist dollars.
As a member of the Tourism WA board, Mr Spence said he was involved in promoting WA as a tourist destination and increasing the profile of the region internationally.
“Over the past few years WA's profile has gone up and up and up, particularly in Margaret River,” he said. “It’s also one of my favourite places in the world, so it’s easy to pitch.”
