Hideaways Club offers shares in portfolio of upmarket holiday homes
Hideaways members own stakes in a portfolio of global upmarket homes - and can stay in them
When Iain Johnston was looking for luxury accommodation on his global travels in January this year, he discovered The Hideaways Club, a property investment fund that owns and manages a series of upmarket holiday homes around the world.
He joined as an investor, or "member" of the club, but two months later found himself its new chief executive.
"The founders did not want to run the company any longer and they were looking for a chief executive to operate it," said Johnston, an entrepreneur who set up his own software technology company in 2000.
Johnston accepted the invitation and is now running the club, which is set up to provide investors with a share in its portfolio of luxury holiday homes and also the opportunity to holiday in them.
The club was established by a group of international entrepreneurs in early 2007. One of the founders, Mike Balfour, also founded the London-listed Fitness First health club in 1992.
Hideaways now manages two international investment funds and has 350 members, 40 of whom come from Hong Kong.