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Exclusive vacation business introduces members to unique setting in Red Feather Lakes

Paris. New York. Red Feather Lakes.

A disjointed sequence of destinations on the surface. But for members of Private Escapes, the Fort Collins-based vacation home club for the well to do, each place fits nicely in an exotic package of geographic possibilities.
The likes of Lake Tahoe, Maui, Cape Cod, London, Los Cabos and Palm Springs are also among the current and future properties on the menu for members of Private Escapes.
But amidst the glamour of the aforementioned sites, nothing could be as private, or as much of an escape, as Red Feather Lakes, located about 50 miles northwest of Fort Collins.
Private Escapes owns a 2,000-square-foot townhouse at Fox Acres Country Club, the out-of-the-way and out-of-thin-air golf-and-tennis club in the otherwise rustic surroundings of Red Feather, about 8,000 feet above sea level.
Golfers call it paradise.
?I?m in a business where I?m fortunate to play a lot of the great golf courses across the country,? said Private Escapes member Len Moscati, a stockbroker for Morgan Stanley in New York who stayed at Fox Acres last summer. ?This course is every bit as good as the nicest courses I?ve played.?
But vacationers ? even wealthy ones ? do not thrive on golf alone.
The preference of Richard and Jean Gillespie from Fort Defiance, Va., who stayed at Fox Acres in September, was calm and solitude.
The Gillespies? daughter, a college student in Florida, was escaping the string of hurricanes at the time.
?She was delighted to be just relaxing,? said Jean Gillespie, who called the setting ?serene.?
Depending on the season, fishing, hiking, bicycling, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling and snowshoeing ? and serenity ? are all within easy reach of Fox Acres guests and residents.
The secret to Private Escapes, and the reason members pay handsomely for the rights, is to make each of these activities convenient.
For starters, Private Escapes supplies a closet of goodies at Fox Acres that includes a golf cart, fishing rods and tackle, tennis rackets, bicycles, water bottles and fanny packs, as well as a rowing machine.
If the activity is not available on the country club grounds, directions and reservation information are printed in a guidebook, or available via telephone from the designated host who is assigned to pamper the member during each stay.
Even before the trip begins, Private Escapes offers orientation and planning advice to members.
Once the destination and dates are determined, the member connects with an ?Escape Planner? who is responsible for fine-tuning the trip. Details such as advanced dinner reservations, tee times, booking local guides, and even stocking groceries, are all handled by the planner.
Finally, in the days just prior to arrival, the planner generates a weather forecast makes contact with the member to check on any additional needs.
Private Escapes is the brainchild of Richard Keith, a Fort Collins entrepreneur who previously built a temporary employment agency and a call center business before selling each. With his proceeds, he launched Private Escapes in the fall of 2003.
Members pay an upfront fee of approximately $85,000 to join, for which they get their pick of Private Escapes properties as they desire. Unlike timeshares, where users must schedule months in advance to secure a one-week or two-week window, Private Escapes intentionally keeps membership small so there is little, if any, conflict over property access.
Despite the off-the-beaten-path locale of Red Feather Lakes, Private Escapes thinks the Fox Acres property will experience consistent use.
Many users have combined a stay at Fox Acres with stops at Private Escapes? other Colorado properties, which currently include Beaver Creek and Steamboat Springs. The company also has Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Santa Fe, N.M., on its list of future acquisitions.
Moscati, who spent 10 days at Fox Acres with his family, including four children between the ages of 10 and 16, took advantage of most of what Private Escapes had to offer. Golf, horseback riding, fishing, mountain biking and rafting were all part of the itinerary. The Moscati children also enjoyed trips on the golf cart, with which riders can meander throughout the 460-acre reserve.
Still, nothing topped the surprise Moscati received when he arrived at Fox Acres.
Moscati?s 16-year-old son competes for his school?s crew team in Connecticut. As the vacation approached, he was concerned he?d miss too much of the team?s pre-season workouts.
?Richard (Keith, chief executive of Private Escapes) talked to me about it and said ?Don?t worry about it,?? Moscati recalled. ? When we got there, there was an ergometer (rowing machine) on the back porch.?
The back porch itself is one of the amenities that Private Escapes provides at the Fox Acres property.
The view from the porch captures the 17th fairway, but thanks to rock formations and hovering pine trees, there?s privacy. ?You can see the golf course, but the golfers can?t see you,? Keith said. There?s also a propane grill for cookouts ? possibly the catch of the day at one of the club?s 16 fishing ponds ? and patio furniture for kicking back.
Inside, the chalet-style interior includes vaulted ceilings, dining room, full kitchen, living room, a loft with bedroom and lounge, a master bedroom, tub with Jacuzzi, gas fireplace and closets bigger than college dorm rooms. There?s a sound system, three televisions with satellite service and DVD players, and an Xbox video game system connected to the 42-inch plasma screen TV.
Considering the Private Escapes clientele, for whom travel seldom occurs without business, the house also features a computer and wireless Internet connection.
All of the comforts of home, even if you don?t need them.
One of Jean Gillespie?s most pleasant surprises came after a day of hiking. The clubhouse restaurant at Fox Acres was closed, and the hungry family didn?t feel up to cooking themselves. Instead, the Gillespies tried their luck for dinner at a restaurant in Red Feather Lakes.
?This restaurant ? it was a pool hall kind of a place,? she said.
The Gillespies were anticipating choices of hamburgers and hot dogs.
?But they had a real gourmet chef in there. And the waiter was just delightful. So it came completely as a big surprise.?
Meanwhile, Moscati plans on returning. Odds are he won?t touch the ergometer.
?I plan on going back next year with my golfing buddies ? Now take it in the right context. I belong to some really nice clubs in the northeast I can play every day. But that was such a great experience.?

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? For information about Private Escapes, visit www.private-escapes.com, or call (970) 212-1600, or (866) 536-4700.
? For information about Fox Acres Country Club visit www.foxacres.com, or call (970) 881-2191.

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