Quintess in Tuscany Rocks

Byron  and I had the good fortune to be guests at a Quintess property in Tuscany for 11 days. Quintess was voted as the best "moderately" sized luxury destination vacation club. (Exclusive Resorts received the nod for the largest luxury destination club.)  These two organizations represent a different approach to owning a vacation or second home. The system in some respects is an amalgamation of a country club, time share, and hotel rolled into a single system. Members pay a membership fee to join, just as you would in a country club. Part of that fee may be refunded if you terminate your membership. You also pay annual dues based upon how many days you use the club.

The villa we stayed at was nothing less than mind blowing. Five bedrooms and two kitchens in the main house, plus numerous patios, spectacular views, top of the line everything, wine cellar, negative edge pool, all located on acres of the breathtakingly beautiful Tuscan hillsides. We stayed in the pool house that was about 2000 square feet including a full kitchen, living room, plus two bedrooms and two baths. The property easily accommodated all 14 of us. There was maid service every day and a cook available if you wanted. You had all of the amenities of a five star resort coupled with the experience of staying in a private home.

Quintess offers your own personal concierge who will arrange just about anything you want or need. We had an Italian cooking lesson, a wine tasting and amazing luncheon at a local winery, plus wonderful food from the local markets.

On Sunday, we attended the annual festival in Siena where each of the different sections of the town dawn their medieval apparel, march through the town (there were 19 different groups) with their knights and pages leading the residents. They then close the town square where they have a horse race and pack over 1000 people into the center of the square. Imagine our surprise when one of the horses came running past our car as we were getting ready to leave. It dashed into the traffic and kept running as its owner and the police chased it. We don't know whether it was safely captured or not.

Driving on the Italian roads was an experience. As Byron put it, the center line is merely a suggestion.  The Italians don't believe in staying in a "lane." When we were going to return our car to the rental agency in Florence, they advised us that it would be wise to keep it since there was a train strike and driving would be the only way we could get to Milan to catch our return flight. Navigating to MIlan was an adventure, the toughest part of which was merely figuring out how to get out of Florence.

If you are thinking about buying a vacation home, I would seriously consider this as an alternative. You have the convenience of having every amenity taken care of without the headache or cost of maintaining your vacation home during the 10 or 11 months you're not using it.

Posted by Bernice Ross, CEO, RealEstateCoach.com