Episode 137: 'The Resort'- A New Concept for Lifestyle Vacationers

Transcript

Speaker1: This podcast contains explicit language and content and is for mature audiences only. Hey, you teenagers out there. If you're under 18, this show is more for your parents. So now that you have that mental picture stuck in your head, put some music on and get back to doing your homework. We are a longtime married couple who's decided to chronicle our personal adventures and share our sex positive discussions as we navigate our way through the swinging lifestyle. Care to join us? Hello, everyone. I'm Mr. Jones. And I'm Mrs. Jones. And we want to welcome you to episode 137 of the We Got a Thing podcast. 137. So this is about, quote, the resort. A New Concept for Lifestyle Vacationers. And we mentioned last month in episode 133 the formation of this new resort. That was the tease. We teased you a little bit and gave you a little bit of information about what it's about. So now this is the big reveal. Yeah, this is the big reveal. And probably a lot of you have already figured out that this is the George that we have been associated with for quite a number of years. For those of you who have been with us, from the beginning almost. You know, episode nine, I think it's titled Who the F are you? And it was just after we went to the first Just for Dinner with George. And we enjoyed that so much that we talked about it. And I think as we talk about how our podcast has evolved, I think episode nine and 10 was about the time that we started getting a little bit more comfortable with all the recording equipment and how to do the podcast. podcast. Do you remember? Yes. Yeah, so we talked about how much we enjoyed that, and then February of 2016, in episode 19, we talked about our weekend in Miami at the Fontainebleau, and we went to the Miami boat show, or was it the yacht show? Honey, I think those were yachts. Remember, they wouldn't let us even step onto the yachts unless we had our tax forms with us? Right. Yeah. Right. One guy, he found that we were from Virginia and he was from Portsmouth, Virginia and he felt sorry for us and led us on the littlest boat there. Yeah but I remember being at the top level of the Fontainebleau Hotel looking down the beach towards Miami or up to Fort Lauderdale I mean and thinking what are we doing here we're just the Joneses. I know that it was a Saturday night penthouse party it was like the culmination of the weekend and yeah that was that was an experience. So if you want to hear that that's way back in episode 19, almost 10 years ago. And then George came to our studios and recorded episode 61 with us back in March of 2019. And that's when the concept of the group was talked about. So if you want to know more about the group, which will be mentioned in this podcast, you can go back and listen to episode 61. But for today, we are not alone. No, across the table. George has graced us with his presence. again live. It's good to see you again, George. And we've teased this out a little bit, and we've had quite a few people reach out to us and say, okay, what's this about? Sounds interesting. When are we going to learn more about this? Well, this is your opportunity to learn more because George is here with us today. So we're going to have a conversation. I'm going to let you introduce yourself first, George, and then we'll get into kind of the background of what's going on in your world. and a little bit more about this resort that we're all excited to hear about. Well, I appreciate you having me on today. And it's, it's been a minute since we've, uh, last been together in the, it has been. Yeah. First thing I want to do is, is make a correction for the record that my wife actually handles all of the dinners, all of the hospitality and probably does 75% of them by herself, spanning 62 cities and five countries as of today. Wow. So it's really, I'm just the pretty one. now. She's actually doing all the work. So brains and beauty. True, true. She is. That's what you meant, correct? Oh, well, no, of course I meant you. Well, then you'd be wrong. No, we've had the pleasure of meeting your lovely wife. Thank you. And she is pretty spectacular. She is. And the reality is her taking over as director of hospitality for the group gave me the bandwidth. to commit what's now been years putting this project together. The amount of time that it's taken, this entity that we acquired had a Jamaica entity, St. Lucia entity, U.S. entity. So we ended up with six law firms working for over a year to structure it. It was pretty, pretty complex. the benefit of. And the truth is, COVID really changed a lot of people's thinking, right? Folks were exiting careers that they were, you know, ready to move away from or moving into new hobbies and opportunities. And for us, shutting down the group for, you know, over a year fostered a change in thinking about what this was really all about. Yeah. So let's talk about some definitions. So just for dinner is where this all started. And it is, I'm not going to say simply, but because it's pretty elegant, um, just in the evening at a very nice restaurant, uh, with a small group of people, uh, who are either, um, in the lifestyle or interested in the lifestyle, um, to come together for, for a, uh, just an evening meal. I'm going to roll back further than that. Okay. So the first parties I started doing, first weekend events were 2005. And it started off as friends and friends of friends and somebody knew someone who they met somewhere and they got invited along. And eventually we were getting requests from folks we didn't know at all. And you try to do your best to vet and screen online on the phone. And, you know, if you have a small group and one couple's not a good fit, you can get through the weekend. unscathed. But it got to a point that we were getting multiple requests and people grossly misrepresenting who they were, are, how old they are. And so we needed a method to just spend a little time. You mentioned the fountain blue. And on the right over here, we were talking about one of the couples that had found their way into that event, who grossly misrepresented who they were. And it was situations like that that led to the dinners. It happened quite by coincidence. But we realized the value of being able to be in multiple markets, meet with our existing members, and meet their referrals and other folks before inviting them off to a week in Cuba or five days here or four days someplace else. a small event. You want everyone to have a good time as the host. Right. And if someone's going to be a significant outlier, I'd rather deal with it at dinner than, you know, four days trapped in a foreign country. Yeah. So that vetting process kind of happened naturally. And it's very similar to our community and that people find out about our community because of our podcast. And if our podcast message resonates with them, they have a pretty good idea that they're going to enjoy the community. So then you start So then, okay, don't let me interrupt you. So that was prior to Just for Dinner, and that's the reason for the Just for Dinners. So how did the group then evolve after that? So over time, again, we started off with a sort of a core membership, and Just for Dinner became one method into the become a member. The next two were jackets required for those who's 40 and under, and stiletto social for women, regardless of their orientation or relationship status. And then the fourth way is as a guest of an existing member. And it's interesting. You just said that your podcast helped build your community. I have to say that your podcast helped build our community as well. Those episodes still resonate, and we still have folks that say, oh, I heard about you on the Joneses. That's still a regular occurrence. It's honestly a big part of why I'm happy to be sitting today and giving you guys the first peek behind the curtain on this new project. Yes, and it's quite a peek. So we'll get to that in just a second. So let's talk about COVID a little bit more, George. If you're an event planner during COVID, that seems like almost a death sentence. Can you talk about that period of time? Sure. The amount of work I got done on my house is spectacular. And I think a lot of us will remember back to there were those waning days of COVID. Things weren't quite open or you could go out. You could only have four people and stay 20 feet apart and stand on one foot. Right. You know. And I had folks in the group who were reaching out saying, when are we going to get together? I can't stand my family anymore. We never had that conversation, did we? No, honey, never. Okay. Um, and so that led to, um, buying a boat. And so a few of us put our shekels together and bought a, uh, not insignificant boat that we could host the group on. It's so funny. I knew you did that, but it never clicked about the timing of it. That's brilliant. That was it. Yeah. And, um, And that went so well that we started talking about how do we have a clubhouse? I mean, we've been this virtual community country club for over a decade. And the next thing was a couple members of the group, extraordinary lawyers, said, well, we need a private placement memorandum. And we need a Form D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. And I smiled and said, whatever you say. And so my friends put this together for us. And we, in pretty short order, within about 90 days, raised several million dollars from within the members of the group and bought a estate in Jamaica, four acres on the ocean. And so that then dovetailed into this resort property. We had been looking all over the Caribbean, Eleuthera, Antigua, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and finally found what I knew was the right property for us. In short, if I was to change the uniforms and put Four Seasons on the front of the building, nobody would know the difference. It's that level of construction, of architecture, So it's a pre-existing. It's a pre-existing building. The staff has amazing credentials. It's been voted the number one luxury hotel in the Caribbean, not just Jamaica, but in all of the Caribbean for two years in a row. TripAdvisor named it in the top 10% of all hotels worldwide 90 days ago based on reviews. This is a property that celebrities travel to from L.A. and around the world Because again, it's quiet. It's out of the way. It's not a big-named, high-velocity resort. You can be discreet, low-key, and not the trappings of a high-volume property. Right. So let's talk about the property. How big is it? How many rooms? What are we going to see when we finally get to take a peek behind the curtain? of standard kings, junior suites, one-bedroom suites, and then there are several villas on the property as well. The villas have butler service. The amenities, again, something you'd find in a Ritz-Carlton or a St. Regis. Part of what's united the group over all these years is just the caliber of venues. When we talk about these weekend events, it's, you know, in places like Napa or Aspen, Deer Valley, Manhattan, Miami, et cetera. And so, you know, the members are used to staying in those sort of properties, a St. Regis, a Montage, Amon. And so we needed something that could be delivered at that same level. And that's where this property, I mean, we looked at everything on the West End. I mean, literally stayed at every single property. So the West End is literally the West End of Jamaica. It is. So if you are familiar with where Hedonism is located, it's another 10 minutes down the road, down to the area, referred to as the cliffs in that section. And how many rooms? A total of 33 rooms, suites and villas. At this point in time. At this point. And then there's some more coming online after the first of the year. Oh, nice. Will that be a new build or is that? Yeah, these are all new builds. We've already acquired the property next door. The architects are already submitting drawings. And now we're just, you know, moving through the permitting process. I had the opportunity when you and I were having coffee this morning to take a look at the layout design of the villa. And it's amazing. I mean, you have what could be two separate rooms, but you could also combine it and have two couples staying in the villa that's exactly exactly it we have you know couples that will bring other guests be it single men single women another couple right we have couples that prefer to take a two-bedroom unit for their own reasons and this really facilitated both that you could either take the whole unit or take one side and share it with friends but it looked like it had a kitchen and a dining area and a courtyard and a hot tub and a pool. I mean, just in this particular villa. And it's on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Oh, and it has its own cave. So if you want to do a massage or have dinner in the cave right at the water's edge. Oh, it also had a massage room, I noticed. It did. You know, because so many times we have to ask for a massage table to be brought. Massage table is like the gateway to play. Whether it's just the two of you or, you know, that's something that a lot of people are comfortable doing. no matter what their level of experience. I think it's really cool that you have a room already there with a massage table in it. I'm disappointed, Ms. Jones, that there is not a massage table here in the studio, now that I know this information. Well, it's hidden in a closet. It's hidden in the front guest room. It's readily available. So I'm imagining, okay, west end of Jamaica, overlooking the water. The description of the property itself sounds amazing. What is the experience that I'm going to have as a guest? From the time that I book, and we'll get into the booking later, but from the time that I commit to going there, what is that experience going to be like for me as a guest? There's a really famous hotelier, Horst Schultz, and he said the secret of a successful stay is first impression and last impression. So starting with that, at the end of the jetway before they even get to customs. A staff person with a plaque with their first names on it will escort them through immigration and then out through customs and then directly to one of our waiting vehicles. The point being, I want to get everyone to the property safely, comfortably, and let them enjoy the ride, not be shaken like a cocktail shaker in some crazy minibus. Jamaica is absolutely beautiful. It has this incredible culture of hospitality. There are amazing high-end properties that not everyone knows about. So the resources for us for provisions, for staff, for training are all there already. Yeah, so can we talk about that a minute, George? You were mentioning to me earlier how Jamaica and the hospitality business are so ingrained with one another. Can you talk more about the history of that? Not that I can do it justice. I've stayed at a number of properties. Half Moon has been around for decades. Round Hill, I had a chance to recently stay at. And the gentleman who was there had been working there for 40 years and pointed to the villa that JFK wrote his inaugural speech in. Ralph Lauren has a home on property. Next to that, is Triall, another famous golf resort, similar to maybe Kiowa Island or Ocean Reef, something in that land. I remember when, you know, we've been to Dominican Republic a few times, and what we've noticed, especially they've gotten better over the years, but it was almost like they were a very friendly culture, but they had needed some training. Well, you could tell tourism was like a new industry, you know, for the country. Yeah, but it sounds like Jamaica, it's a lot of that. A lot of that stems, I think, back to the original, you know, British colony aspect of the property. So I walk into meetings or I've been walking into meetings now for the last bit with bankers and private equity folks in Jamaica. And everybody is Mr. Jones and Mr. George. And, you know, everything is formal, even for folks that have known themselves, known each other for 40, 50 years. Yeah. You know, Mr. James, Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown, Mr. James, how are you doing? It's very interesting. It's also very interesting. We talked a little bit about why Jamaica. Having looked at, you know, properties that were already built in other countries, we started narrowing down what was on our wish list. And first was access. I mean, the BVIs are beautiful, but if you live west of Atlanta, it could take you 30 hours to get there. So heavy airlift, easy access. So folks could come and go. at a moment's notice, come for a few days, that it didn't have to be a big ordeal. The second was an employment market that was large enough to staff the property and that we could find the caliber of staff that we needed moving forward. Again, we looked at a beautiful property in Eleuthera, but the nearest town had 200 people. So for us to have the staff, we were now talking about work visas and housing and a lot of things that were just going to make the project more complex. So do you think a lot of the staff that are there now will will stay or will you be looking? Well, that's the third part. And, you know, we looked at places like Anguilla where, you know, we talked about another podcast that had a tragic situation there because it wasn't friendly to, you know, a lifestyle audience. Jamaica has had hedonism for 49 years. And I've walked into the meetings with professionals, be them accountants, and five minutes in, they're talking about going to hedonism as casually as a banker in Las Vegas would talk about going to a casino. It's what adults do. It's been around. My wife and I go once a month to the strip and gamble. It was just that casual. So it's not one of these cultures where it's, we feign and fan ourselves when people mention it, but then behind their backs, we go there and just don't tell anybody. This is out in the open. They embrace it. It's a part of their culture. If it's been around, it's, you know, hedonism is a very large property. It's 300 rooms. The amount of staff they've had in 49 years, if you haven't worked there or one of your friends hasn't, then maybe one of your parents has or one of your aunts and uncles. I mean, it's been around that long that it's just part of the culture and that it's not an issue. It's not off-putting. Right. Okay. So back to my a car ride. So we're in the Mercedes being taken to the resort. So what are we going to experience when we come in to the door? What is going to really differentiate the resort from other properties? Again, for those that know a little bit about the schedule of Just for Dinner and the frequency and the number of cities, we travel nonstop for a living all over the world at this point. And that ability to get to your room, relax, unwind, unpack as easily as possible is something that's become important to us. And I use the example with one of my staff recently. She asked, you know, do you see a role for me at the resort? And I said, I do. I kind of imagine you like Tattoo from Fantasy Island or Julie McCoy from The Love Boat, you know, with the clipboard. And I started singing a little bit of The Love Boat theme song. And when I was done, she looked at me and said, I don't know any of those words. I was a little, you know, and then I responded, well, that's why we can't date. And she looked at me and said, yeah, that's the reason. So again, think about, think about fantasy Island. Remember those episodes? You know, they're standing at the top of the boardwalk and tattoo goes, Oh, this is the Joneses. And you know, they like this and they're going to stay here. And there's no check in process. got walked right to their villa right why why right in a membership organization do we need to do anything more i know you're coming i've picked you up right i know where you're staying because i've already prepped your room why do we need to check in why can't i walk you right to your room exactly and for our returning uh members again borrowing from the yacht world for those you know that have grown up with vacation homes or vacation condos you have the idea of an owner's closet. But we know that from our guests, their needs change. You know, one week they want a king, and the next weekend they want a villa because they're bringing friends. So instead of an owner's closet, we came up with a program we called Island Closet. So whatever our guests want to leave behind, sundresses, snorkel equipment, golf clubs, shoes. Oh, please, shoes. Bikini bottoms. One last suitcase we have to pack if we can leave your shoes there. That's it. And, you know, when you get used to just traveling with your, you know, your laptop on your shoulder and not having to carry all that stuff, it becomes that much easier, right? To just flip back and forth. And that, again, we're not looking for high-velocity turnover. We want to create a clubhouse, a place that our members can return multiple times a year and connect with the folks that are on the same wavelength, right? the group's about connection, not anonymous sex in a dark room with strangers. I think we talked about that last time. Yeah. So then once I am escorted to my room, I'm assuming that everything in my closet has already been placed in my room. Exactly. Yeah. And I've got my, the pillow that I want. What are they at the mansion? Oh, the pillow menu. But we can, we can all roll back and go, well, what about the champagne and water menus for a ride? And again, borrowing from the, the yacht industry, A lot of folks think that a charter broker is just there to pick the right yacht for you and want to upsell you so they get a bigger commission and that's not really it. A smart charter broker wants to put you in the vessel that's right for you because then the real work starts. It's now curating that experience. What time do you like to have breakfast? Do you want to have it in your room? What sort of beverages do you want to have? Do you want them in your room or are you just happy to have them poolside and to curate every detail of that so we again borrowing from that space created this really role of a proactive concierge so instead of waiting for you to get to the property and sit around for two days and go gosh what should we do our staff reaches out ahead of time and helps curate that experience before you get there so that's so helpful because a lot of times when get to that first day of vacation. We kind of spend that first day trying to figure everything out. So if it's already figured out for me, then I we can actually like take a breath and just enjoy that first day. That's going to be amazing. Yeah, it's again because of the experiences that the group has had collectively and just the amazing properties, the amazing restaurants, the entertainment that we've all enjoyed together. Being able to instill that into the property is really the benefit, right? It's the idea that, and I hate to say it, it's starting to sound cliche now, but that idea of returning home, that you're going to hang out with the people. I had a friend a few years ago that he, a physician, and he was leaving hospital life to start his own practice. And he was incredibly busy because he had no business skills at all. You know, they don't teach that in medical school. So he was spending all day, He's all day working as a physician and all night trying to figure out how to be a business person and he was coming to every weekend event back-to-back which is a little unusual for our our members and at one point I said gosh Mike I love seeing you but why why are you here so much and he said oh because you help pick my friends for me yeah yeah and that's and again that's something that you know after doing this for 20 years right there are still active members of the group from 2005. Right. Um, that I spoke to as recently as yesterday. So, uh, not only we talked about the pillow menu and the shoes and all of that, but it's also like, I'm assuming if you have food allergies, if you have any particular requests, that's the kind of information you're going to gather before we even arrive. So we already have that information, right? You've, you've been to a dinner. So just recently, one of the members of the group wanted to go, even before we closed on the property. And I reached out to the general manager and said, by the way, this woman has a mushroom and truffle allergy. So the first time she sat down for a meal, the waitress came over and said, ma'am, I understand you have this dietary restriction. Is there anything else I need to tell the chef? And I heard about it the next day. Yeah. And a nice little thank you message arrived. I mean, it's such a simple thing, but it means so much. Yeah. Well, we have we have another couple in common and we were speaking about this again earlier who regularly go to another property and they go for his birthday and her birthday and bring friends and they were recently at a dinner and expressed their just dissatisfaction that after all these trips they've made they still check in and they're asked oh is this your first time here yeah and there's no acknowledge even though they have their and know exactly, you know, they're just another number, you know, checking in today. And I don't think anybody wants to be another number checking in today. Right. So what about, okay, so that all sounds really great. That level of service would be amazing. What is the vibe? What is, what is the concept when we get there? Is it clothing optional? Is it topless? Is it, you know, What kind of behavior and vibe is is the resort going to to send off to people? Well, one of the equity members, in fact, he was he was just there this past weekend. After we sat down and talked for a bit, he said, wait a minute. What you're saying is you just want a four seasons in the Caribbean for folks in the lifestyle. I said, yes, that's it. And when we sit at these dinners, And there's now been over 600 dinners. You know, we get feedback of every cruise, every party, every club, every night. And depending on how many glasses of wine we are into the evening, has a lot to do with how much we hear. But, you know, the issue of decorum comes up a lot. You know, what are people wearing? Are they dressing for dinner? Are they, you know, engaged in sexual congress on the Ottoman as I'm trying to get to breakfast in the morning? What we chose to do was, again, borrowing from properties like the Wynn in Las Vegas, is make the main pool in the center of the property top-tional. I love that term, top-tional. Yeah, that kind of self-describes. I look great top-tional. And now we are also doing a clothing optional pool, but not in the center of the campus, so to speak. So for those folks that want that experience, that opportunity is there, but not as in your face. Right. So no, how about any sex in public by the guests or playrooms? So no playrooms. That was another, that was another interesting conversation I had. And I said, you know, to the gentleman that asked, I said, I have not met a woman in the group yet that wants to lay down on a vinyl covered mattress. Um, and again, you, yeah, we've been there and it's not comfortable, but again, Again, because we're already starting with a five-star property. I mean, this is a property that's doing, you know, quarter million, million-dollar weddings to the vanilla world right now. So they're used to that level of service. But to extend our housekeeping into the wee hours so that if, you know, two in the morning, you want a new set of sheets or your bed changed, I'd much rather provide that option than that vinyl-covered mattress. And I think all the little... Somebody asked about party makers and playmakers and... and, you know, blowjob contests and air guitar, you know, contests. And no, none of that. I'd rather see us bring in, again, like we do now with the group, you know, bring in a Grammy winner, bring in a celebrity chef. If you're into cycling, let's, you know, connect you with, there's an amazing road cycling community in Jamaica. If you're into scuba diving, it's some of the best scuba diving. So why don't we take the best Tour people and put you on one of our boats and bring you out. It's, again, this attention to detail and just giving you the best experience possible every step of the way. You know, when we go to other resorts and the staff comes out and they introduce the staff, the people that get the biggest applause are the food and beverage managers. a little bit about, you know, is there going to be a restaurant on site? Are there multiple restaurants? And what kind of bars, what kind of experience are we going to have at the bar? The group really is the League of Extraordinary People. And as we were putting this project together, all of the financial, technical, legal, capital stack structure all came from within the group. And now that we're into upfitting and operational. Again, that expertise is coming from within the group. Um, there is a gentleman who has restaurants from Asia to the Middle East who has now taken the helm to redo our, uh, and again, upfit, not that there's anything wrong with what we have, but you know, everybody wants to put a little lipstick on their, uh, new prize. And so there's an existing restaurant that again is one of the top reviewed in the country as is. We're taking another space and converting it to an after-hours lounge. The example we used is the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis in Manhattan or the one in Mexico City is very similar. And then, of course, you've got the pool bar. There's a, I don't want to call it a tiki bar, but there's another bar lower on the cliff face. And then, of course, for those with villas, they have their own spaces and butlers as well. So we've got a few different options. Please tell me you're going to have Grey Goose vodka. I brought as a little gift today a bottle of Appleton 12. Yes. Appleton's an amazing rum. There's a 15. There's a 21. Now there's a 51-year-old rum. Wow. But there's also a locally made vodka made out of yams. Huh. So when you come to Jamaica, you're going to have to try the local vodka. And then we'll have Grey Goose as a backup. Nice. So we could have a bar in our room depending on all the rooms have bars. There's an amazing property in Beverly Hills called La Hermitage on Burton Way. It's a fantastic boutique property and their bars aren't mini bottles. Their bars are full-size bottles and it was very simple and very easy to copy that and put that in all our rooms almost immediately. So what about is the restaurant where I'm going to eat breakfast lunch and dinner? If I choose to eat on campus? Yeah, you can do that, or you can also try, again, we're not an all-inclusive property. I don't think that our members are afraid of going out into the countryside. There's no reason to be. I mean, Negril is a beautiful, safe space, and there are a lot of really famous, unique restaurants, hotels nearby. records Chris Blackwell has the caves famous property and I'm guessing that you'll have a concierge that will help make dinner reservations off both before you get there and on site oh nice right right in fact I have to share I have to share a little quick story sure so Island Records was Jimmy Buffett Bob Marley you to Grace Jones were all signed to that label and if you wanted to sort of hang out with the boss, you'd stay at his big resort on the east end called GoldenEye. But if you all wanted to avoid him and just hang out with your friends, maybe smoke a little substance back before it was legal, you'd go to the caves. And the caves is an amazing boutique property that's been there for 50 years. And one day, Jimmy Buffett came in with his friend, you know, Jimmy Buffett likes to fly and he's into boats and he brought his seaplane. And, uh, He brought Bono and Bono's kids and Bono's nanny. And the folks from the caves rode out to meet the seaplane and bring him in. And this is back in the 80s. And one of the neighbors thought it was a drug deal. So they called the cops. The cops stormed the fence. And from the from the lighthouse, they were shooting at the plane over the heads of Jimmy Buffett and Bono. You know what? I read that story. Jimmy Buffett tells that story. Well, it's a song. You have to go back and you have to go back. It's called Jamaica Mistega. That's right. And now that you kind of know that it really happened, it makes the song that much more fun, especially after several glasses of rum. Yes. So, you know, it reminds me that when we were in Ibiza last year, we went to a club that was in a cave. Oh, very fun. Yeah. It was built into the side of a mountain. So I imagine it's a very similar kind of experience. Is there a beach? There is no beach for a a very good reason. What's the reason? It's on a cliff. But I've been asked that question before, and there's a second reason. And for those familiar with the Caribbean, private beaches aren't a thing. If you want to go to a private island like Richard Branson's Necker Island and the BVI's, you can still walk on his beach. He owns Mosquito Island next door, 600 acres. You can still walk on his beach. And so again, feedback that we've received, Being panhandled and vendors. Well, discretion. It's part of it. And then the other part is there are folks in the group for whom privacy is paramount. Right. And it's why when we're talking about Just for Dinner, we never tell you the restaurant beforehand. When we're talking about a weekend event, we don't tell you the hotel beforehand. We only tell the people that are going the week before the event. That way, we don't have to worry about people sitting in the bar in for that dinner event. And the same thing is true for the resort. I don't want to worry about somebody walking down the beach with a telephoto lens to see who our guests are. And if there's no beach, it solves the problem. Yeah. How long have you been working on the resort itself, getting this up and running? Four years, two months, and three days. Not that I'm counting. And I know that Desire just tried to open a resort. In Dominican, and what they experienced was it's a little bit difficult to do business in a different country. So I imagine you had to learn what it would take to do business in Jamaica. I think the bigger part for us was understanding that the cultural aspect to execute is huge, right? I mean, that's why Grand Meeches went, you know, the way that it did. It's why the, you know, Prime Minister Anguilla got his, you know, an uproar as he did. There was a real benefit to hedonism being up the road and being there for 50 years. People don't think twice. And that's just kind of the whole culture, right? I mean, clothing optional resorts have been around since the 60s. You know, weed has always been legal. Psilocybin, mushroom tea is legal. I have a very conservative realtor that I've been working with this whole time. an amazing woman who's been nicknamed Miss Patience as a result. And her family has some rental units, some villas on the other side of the island. And she started welcoming therapists doing guided therapy for like PTSD and other issues with the mushroom tea. So there's a very relaxed atmosphere to things that in the U.S. would get you know, people pretty upset. Right. So at other all-inclusive resorts, and we've been to quite a few in Mexico and Dominican, each resort seems to have a routine. You know, there's breakfast, you know, there's pool games, there's pool bar in the afternoon, there's volleyball, you know, then there's hot tub, and then, you know, there's restaurants, and then there's nightlife. It sounds like to me, George, that you're putting together almost an a la carte sort of experience for the entire resort because you're bringing in chefs you're bringing in entertainment what what is a typical if i if we're going to go there for five days like is there going to be a routine or is there is it going to be a little bit different each day that's up to you so if you're coming off the wet west coast and you're experiencing jet lag maybe you're on a different schedule maybe you want your your chef for your villa to prepare meals differently maybe you're you're vegan or pescatarian or paleo or eat clean or eat according to your blood type, right? You know, all those things should be taken into consideration. And again, before you get there, um, cause not all those provisions are readily available. The other part is again, how we're programming, you know, how you pick your music is how you pick your audience. I've always felt that way. So if we're looking for a 40 something, you know, theme for the event for people in their forties, I want to pick a band from the 90s. If I want an older crowd, I'll pick a band from the 80s. If I want a younger crowd, let's go to the 2000s. Oh, so when you make your reservations, you'll be able to see the event schedule in advance about who's going to be there. Yeah, who's performing, who, if we're bringing in a celebrity chef, if we're bringing in something else unique for that time period. Right. You know, as an example, for New Year's, it only seemed fitting that we're bringing in a very well-known reggae performer. So I'm going to challenge you with how you're going to answer this question, but I have confidence that you can. A lot of us, and when I say us, I mean like Americans, when we hear all-inclusive, the first thing we think of is, oh, that's really cool because I'm going to pay this much money, but I'm going to get this, and I'm going to get this. What is it going to cost me, and how are the fees going to be structured? So let's start with all inclusive. Our property, like we said, is not all inclusive. Right. And again, we get a lot of feedback on the other properties. And we know that those all inclusive menus aren't necessarily all inclusive, that they'll upsell you for a better steak or a bottle of wine or an excursion. Yeah. So what really is included? And is it the caliber that you would normally go with? The question number one is, was the money really your concern or the value of your time? Right. The second is, these all-inclusive prices, and I'll go back to this, you know, putting this transaction together. When I was sitting with bankers in Kingston and using comps of some of these other properties we've talked about, and you say $1,000, $1,200, $1,500, $1,800 a day, they're thinking six-star Dubai property, and none of these properties are six-star Dubai properties. The analogy I finally came up with is supply and demand. Imagine you had the only gay bar in San Francisco. What could you charge for a beer? Quite a lot. Exactly. And that's really what we're seeing with the limited number of properties available to those in some form of open relationship. So our strategy was very simple. Again, we spend enough time in hotels that I will tell A Ritz-Carlton in downtown Chicago, if it's not Chicago Marathon, is going to be $450 to $650 a night. So why are some of these other properties $900 and $1,000? So as we were doing our performas, we said, that's our number. That's where we wanted to be for an Ocean View king room. If you're somebody that needs a villa with a private pool and a hot tub and a chef, well then you're probably not so worried about the budget. But again, that that young professional, you know, in their thirties who we all remember, you know, wives looking at us going house, kids, student loan. Right. And you know, how much you spent on vacation was a big deal. Right. Um, and if you start doing a thousand or 2000 a night, you start losing that audience. And at the same time, I can afford a little bit more now that I'm older. I, my time is valuable. Right. I do want to stay at a nice hotel. I do want nice, I do want good food right and good service and so to be able to bring that all together again we've had four years to not just work through the transaction but also get down on a granular level with all of these details all the way through now is it comparable to other Jamaican resorts that may be you know of the same quality again there are some great great properties in Jamaica But just, you know, regular Half Moon Resort has been around for decades. Round Hill, Triall, these are all amazing properties along the North Shore. And this property absolutely stands up to them and does now. I mean, those are the properties that we're competing with. I mean, if you want to have a 500-person event, sure, go to Half Moon. But if you want to have a 100-person event, then you're already going to our property or you're shopping our property with others. So, all we're doing is basically taking a boutique five-star property and taking it private. Again, similar to Ocean Reef and Key Largo or the Yellowstone Club, that it is a members-only property. Members can bring guests. And it's curated through, again, just for dinner, jackets required, stiletto social, and again, referrals. So I wanted to ask about tipping. We get asked this question a lot because especially when it's not in the U.S., we know what the tipping culture is here. But what about Jamaica? You mentioned traveling abroad. And my wife and I have been spending a lot of time in Asia. We found out that the 12-hour time difference actually made it a vacation from our job and our staff. And one of the first things I noticed in Seoul was there's no tipping. Not a little bit of tipping. Not some tipping. There is no tipping. I brought cash to tip the bellman, the valet. They never had their hand out. I got in a taxi. There was no place on the credit card receipt for a tip. I went to a restaurant. There was no place for a tip. So. When people say, oh, Asians are terrible tippers, well, Asians haven't had to tip, so why would they be good tippers? And again, going back to the country club format, we've built in a simple service charge of 10% and then no tipping. There's no need to tip. Again, I want this to be as easy and relaxed and comfortable for you to come and go as your schedule allows and not worry about the economics and how much cash. I mean, honestly, that's one of my biggest challenges is making sure I have cash. I'm going to Atlanta tomorrow and New York on Saturday. I know I'm going to need cash for the Bellman, which means I have to go find an ATM. Right. It's getting harder and harder. Well, we had to open a bank account in our community for the sole purpose of getting ones and fives before we go on vacation. Right. Because you can't get ones out of an ATM usually. Yeah. If we want to be a part of this, if we want to visit the the resort. How do we find information out about that? Well, first of all, to visit the resort, you're going to need to be a member of the group or the guest of a member who's on site the same time you are. You can learn more about the group at the-group.co or the-group.co, however you want to say that. I believe you said we'd put a note in the show notes. Yeah, you can, there'll be a link in the show notes and we'll also put a link to it on our website at wegotathing.com. We had talked earlier, too, about why is it called the resort? Interestingly enough, I've watched people out in dinners talking code. You know, they don't want to say hedonism or desire or, you know, trapeze out loud. Right. And so following the format of just for dinner or weekend in wine country, the resort seemed like a viable answer. You know, those who know where it is, know what it is. No, those who know, you know, you know. I like the phrase, those who belong here find their way. And that's really been the axiom. We were talking about that earlier, about how do we promote, how do we get the word out about the group? And I always refer to it as a trail of breadcrumbs. You know, we'll put a little post here, leave a note there, post a dinner someplace else. And those who understand what it is, you know, who are curious, start digging into it, start looking for it. So how easy is it? One of the complaints we hear, George, about other places is that... I thought you were going to say about me. No. No, that's on another list. Okay. I remember when we first got married, we made the mistake of buying into a timeshare. We were excited about it at the time, but then once we realized we couldn't go where we wanted to go, when we wanted to go, a lot of people have that same issue. You know, you make an investment in a property or a... you know a timeshare or whatever you want to call it and then we can't get there so what what is the what is the experience going to be like once i'm a member how do i book or do i have to worry about there being a room for me i have to say that that was something we took a lot of a lot of thought in and i know a lot of your listeners will remember those days when you looked at your spouse on wednesday and went oh my gosh we don't have the kids this weekend what do you want to do yeah and with that in the goal was to, again, make it as easy to get to, as easy to book as possible. What's wonderful about Montego Bay is it's one of the largest airports in the Caribbean. There's 42 cities with direct flights to Montego Bay. So if you draw a line from Edmonton, Alberta to Houston, pretty much every first and second tier city east of that line has a direct flight along with eight cities in Europe. So access is easy. And again, we already know who our members are. So book your days through our app. Enter your flights when you have them. We'll pick you up at the airport. We'll take you to the property. We'll call it the Mr. Rourke check-in because again, we don't need you to check in. So we'll have Tattoo, you know, walk you to your room. And departure is just as easy. Again, we have our members information already on hand. That ability to just come and go at your leisures and And whether you want to stay for three days or three weeks in a villa, that's all perfectly fine. Okay, so that was going to be one of my questions. So, you know, it's Wednesday evening. I look at Mr. Jones and I'm like, we don't have any plans this weekend and the weather's going to be crappy here. Let's go. So, I could book a long weekend, right? Correct. But then what if we just want to unplug? Like, I found out that the month of January in the Florida Panhandle isn't as warm as I thought it was going to be. But it'll be a lot warmer in Jamaica. Yes. So what if we want to do an extended stay? So there's no limitations on the length of your visit? Correct. Okay. Some things will vary, season, room type, villa type, if there's some celebrity entertainment or something else to that nature going on. Again, the goal was not to put in, I'll call it cruise ship grade shows or entertainment. We've had enough experience and enough access to the A-list people, whether it's electronic dance music, DJ, or a Grammy-winning pop artist, those phone numbers are already in our system. So it's easy to put those people out on stage. And will we know, at least the super big names, so we'll know who the entertainers are going to be ahead of time. So when we log into the app, will we see that kind of thing? Yeah, we do that now. And when we book acts, again, we're also concerned about their reputation. And, you know, when we spoke on episode number nine or spoke before episode number nine, you asked if you could talk about the dinner and if I had any requirements or requests. And I said, let's not name names. Don't say the guy sitting next to you was the chairman of whatever. And I don't think Michael Mina opened this new restaurant in Georgetown to be known as the big swinger hangout. And we pass that same respect on not just to our guests, but to our staff, to anybody performing or cooking for us, that within the group, we know what's going on. Outside of the group, you don't need to know what's going on. Because again, I don't want that up-and-coming artist to be tarnished with a brush that she had no intent of. Right. So then the artists themselves will know, they'll understand the whole concept of what they're walking into as well. Correct. But again, members of the group value discretion. Yeah. Confidentiality. Right. To be a bit more crass, the reason we've been able to do this for as long as we have and as many amazing venues, hotels, restaurants, et cetera, is that I don't have to worry about any of our members walking down the hallway of the Four Seasons with their dick hanging out. Right, right. I think we all understand the etiquette. There's a time and a place for everything. Well, but again, how much of the reputation for the lifestyle community is tainted by that reputation? Yes. Well, I think when people start thinking about opening their relationship and exploring the swinging lifestyle, I think that's their first impression. And then it takes experience and finding their tribe to figure out that it's not necessarily like that. Right. And again, there's none of this is new, right? Roman orgies really were Roman orgies that happened a long time ago. Right. Um, no one has found any place new to stick anything different. It's all been, all been sorted out at this point. You know, we're just the folks doing it now. Right. Right. So, well, you know, the thing that I'm really looking forward to is that when we first got into this lifestyle, uh, we had no idea what to experience. It was an underground world that we knew nothing about. And in a part of that exploring, we have enjoyed just about every level of experience, entertainment, parties, hotel takeovers. You know, this is not meant to be, this is not meant to be, this one is going to be better than any other experience. It's just a new level of experience. that we have been expecting and actually desiring for a number of years. Was that a pun? No, it wasn't. It wasn't meant to be that way. So just like naughty in New Orleans might not be for you, this might not be for you, but it's opening up a new opportunity for people who have probably not, would have been comfortable doing something else into a lifestyle. People who have a, you know, a certain expectation for travel and customer service. That's really been missing in the lifestyle for a while. And the way that clubs and hotel takeovers and things, as I think the lifestyle in swinging is becoming more and more mainstream, it only makes sense that all segments of the population have an opportunity to go experience that to whatever level that they choose. I have to say that, again, having been hosting just for dinner and my wife hosting far more than I have, when we go to a city like Dallas or Miami, where there's so many opportunities, clubs, parties, things going on, there are folks that are looking for something on a different level and having trouble finding it. But ultimately, the lifestyle is about the other people you meet, right? Right. And in description of the resort, I would say that, you know, 42, 48% of the equation is fit, finish, service, and all the elements that make up a five-star property. But the other 52% is who you're going to meet at the pool. Yes. And the only way to curate that is to curate that, which is obviously something we've been doing for a long time. Right. In cities that don't have a lot going on in the lifestyle, I'll use Boston as an example. We host a dinner and the the wide-eyed look of couples walking into the room is rewarding, if nothing else. It's that, oh my gosh, there are people that look like me, dress like me. Right, there's normal people out there that want to do the same thing we do. Exactly, exactly. And so in those markets where the opportunities and the options are a little slimmer, it's where we have, I think, a lot more interest. Because again, if there's 20 events going on in your city, you can eventually work your way through them and meet a few couples that you want to hang out with. But if there's nothing going on in your city, and again, to put this in context, I'm in Atlanta on Friday night at a Michelin-starred restaurant. I'm in New York on Saturday night for a buyout of another Michelin-starred restaurant. This really is for folks who are looking looking for their peers. Yeah. Right? Yeah. You know, another thing I'm really excited about, because I'm like, my head, you know, my wheels are turning and thinking about how Mr. Jones and I could take advantage of the property. And like, what we've been doing in our lifestyle journey recently is getting together with a small group of friends, you know, maybe four or six couples and traveling together, you know. So, like, we rented a house in Costa Rica a couple years ago. And it was just a fantastic experience. So I'm hearing you describe these villas. I want to ask you a question. How long did it take you in your time in the lifestyle to find those five or six couples that you just, you know, looked forward to getting together with? How many weeks, years did that take? Years. Okay. Years. I mean, I would say probably five or six years to really get this group of people we're super comfortable with. That's, I think, the trade-off for the group, right? Yes. You can do all this legwork yourself, and I can immediately think of names and couples and faces who, you know, a couple from the East Coast met a couple from the West Coast, and they became fast friends and started traveling together. Yes. You know, meeting in different cities. I know another couple that met some other friends, and they started doing the Porsche factory tours through Europe. There's another group from a Toronto dinner. that they've all met through the Toronto dinner. There's four couples. They're now arriving at group events together. They're now doing their own things together. And we see that, right? We see people meet their new best friends, sort of peel off for a while. Well, we've made connections at each of the dinners and the weekend event we did with you that have stayed, we've stayed in touch with. Yeah. No, absolutely. And it's funny, I think, again, It's 20 years since this started. So I've watched folks go through the, we're in the lifestyle, but now one of the four of us is pregnant and now we're out of the lifestyle. And then we're back in because the kids are older, but then one of them gets into travel sports and we're back out again. And just those sort of the rhythms of life. And I never would have thought of this originally is once you find yourself comfortable in some form of open relationship, however you choose to define that, it's part of who you are, right? If you're gay, you don't hit 30 and go, okay, I'm not gay anymore. I'm 30. That doesn't, it's not, it's not a thing. And I think that's part of what's made the group interesting is that you do have folks that have been part of it for 20 years and you have folks that have been a part of it since February. Right. And it's not curated on age as much as it's curated on character. Yes. You know, No, I was going to mention that earlier. Like every event we've gone to of yours, it's been a wide range of ages, but very like-minded. I think the thing about the lifestyle and the group in particular is it's more of a mindset. It's not how often you have sex with other people or how many other people you've had sex with. It's just this open-minded mindset. Again, I'm looking for the massage table. Well, patience, my friend. But you know what I mean? It's more about this mindset and just being able to connect with people on a deeper level through really amazing conversations you can't necessarily have with your next-door neighbor. Or at a club with the music so loud that nobody can hear you. Oh, that's a valid question. I'm glad you said that. Yes. either have dinner or sit by the pool and not have to scream in somebody's ear to be able to converse with them. Absolutely. Bless you. And again, I think, you know, in life, everything's on a spectrum. Yeah. And I think the lifestyle is no different. And I think at one end, you have the folks that are, as we said once before, looking for anonymous sex in a dark room with strangers. And at the other end, the folks who think the great sex starts between the ears, not the thighs. Yes. And the group. leans more towards the latter. It's a collection of professionals who want to hang out with their peers, enjoy the best the city has to offer, and venues, and accommodations, and food, and music, and entertainment, and where sex is an element of the weekend, not the sole focus. That's a great way to put it. And the music, the entertainment at night, is more, I remember when we were in Miami, and we saw Inner Circle, and it was, first of all, it was a small Right. Very intimate. But it was more than a concert because there were so few of us compared to a large venue that there was a lot of interaction between the performers. And they were telling stories and inviting people up on stage with them. It was more of an experience. And it wasn't somebody who was brought in to play music while we danced on the dance floor and tried to talk to each other. It's a different vibe. It's a different type of experience. Kind of like when we went on the Virgin Cruise and Flo Rida was there. It was really fun because it was such a small, intimate venue. And you really get to know the people that are on stage performing. It's not just this troupe that comes in and does their 20-minute thing and then jots off to the next resort. So having spent a lot of time working with some of the biggest agencies like Wasserman's, And some of the smaller boutique agencies representing different talent. If you have a group, I'll say, you know, under 80, 100 folks, the talent, the performers are typically happy to do a meet and greet, tell stories. It's when they have the big crowds that they're worried about, you know, their health, their safety, you know, what have you. But again, to your point, to hear sort of the behind, you know, to sit with a performer, that you, you know, grew up listening to or some new up and coming artist and really hear the stories and what, you know, what was the inspiration behind their, their music or their art. Right. Um, it is on a different level, right? It's, I mean, listen, we've, we've, we're talking about going to the sphere recently and the sphere for those who haven't been is absolutely amazing. And photos on TV don't do it justice. Right. It is experiential. And this is no being able to sit down with, you know, having a, having a, a top artist come off the stage, you know, with his cordless microphone and start dancing with your wife. You know, um, I saw that happen last spring with a, with a well-known band. It just takes everything to a different level or being able to afterwards, you know, sit with somebody you, you know, had their poster on your bedroom wall and have a conversation with them. Um, is a different it's a different thing yeah and i think at this point in our in our lives um we're looking for experiences that are memorable and i mean i could sit here and and describe our our first um just for dinner i can describe our trip to miami um coming home thinking wow you know we'll probably never do anything like that again little did i know right um but those experiences um you know a lot of people use the term How much is something going to cost me? And we like to say, how much are you willing to invest in your relationship and in an experience? And are you getting the value for whatever that investment is? And don't we all have numbers in our head? Yeah. I mean, and I'll, as an example, I've talked about men's shoes. And if I said right now, you're walking through the mall and you saw a pair of men's shoes and below this number, you're buying the shoes, not you're going to walk around the mall once, maybe have lunch before you buy the shoes. What's your number, Mr. Jones? What's my number? For a pair of men's shoes. Oh, I thought you were. Above this number, it's an indulgence. Below this number. Well, I have a confession to make. He has no idea how much his shoes cost. I don't buy my shoes. There's this magic counter in the bathroom, and I come in there at night, and there's clothes piled up on it. and there's shoeboxes there. They just appear. So honestly, I can't answer that. Okay, but you get my point. I get your point. Yeah, yeah. How about a glass of wine? If I walk into a fancy hotel and I go to the hotel bar and I order a glass of white wine and it's $24, does that sound reasonable? That depends on the city. Well, okay, New York this weekend. You know, if it's a nice glass of wine, sure. What about a cup of coffee? It's $24. No. No. Why? It's because you have a number in your head. It's the same amount of fluid, right? The beans probably traveled further, right? So we all have these numbers in our head, but somehow in the lifestyle, we're asked to lower our expectations and pay more. Everywhere, everywhere. Yeah. And that just didn't make any sense to me. So why can't we offer the level of product, the level of service that we're all looking for? but put it in a price point that's reasonable that's competitive with the vanilla world yeah that's a great point don't let the scarcity influence exactly okay so let's talk about membership i think everybody's intrigued now so how how do they like become members you know what are the where's the entry point all right i'm going to circle back so So back to the group website, there's a few gateway events just for dinner as we talked about, jackets required, stiletto social, or of course being a guest of an existing member. And at the resort, and again, this is just years of feedback on some of these other properties we've talked about, there are equity members that are actual equity members that own a share of the real estate, of the operation, of the property. And those folks have priority access. So any date, any event, any spot on the calendar, they always have preferential window before it opens up to the rest of the members. For the villa and the resort itself, we also created two more tiers that are annual membership. So a resort membership, a villa membership, or compulsory if you're 50 and above. And then beyond that, or below that, I should say, are just this members of the group, and there is no annual fee to be a member of the group, but there is an annual minimum. Okay. That's really exciting to hear all of this, George. I know that there has been a need for something like this, because there just aren't that many options to... We've talked about them till we're blue in the face. Yeah, yeah. I'm really looking forward to having you both come down and see for yourself firsthand what this is all about. Yes, it's already on my calendar. Even though we're in Florida, it still gets a little chilly in here in January. So I think that might be a good time. Already? Already? My blood's already in Virginia. It only takes one season, George. We talked about, my wife is from Ohio. And when we were dating, she would take me to her daughter's soccer games. And we would sit in sleeping bags, in the bleachers, in winter coats, while the girls played in shorts in the snow. Yeah, crazy. And now she complains about the weather in Florida being too cold. I don't understand. I don't understand how people make this transition and sort of block out that they ever lived where there was snow. I know. Don't miss it at all. That's for sure. So we are going to go ahead and close. We are looking forward to visiting the resort in January. And when we get back, I'm sure we'll be talking about our time there. Also, George, I want to thank you for most of our podcasts that we do with guests are remote. And the fact that you chose to get on an airplane and fly all the way here to sit with us is very... So did you giggle when you landed at our airport with all seven gates? As a resident of Charleston, South Carolina, I remember when that airport, you know, they pulled up the walkway and they handed you umbrellas as you came down. the stairs. I had sort of flashbacks pulling in today to those. That is the smallest airport. That's smaller than Jamaica. That is a very, very small airport. But it's growing. I mean, the good thing is it's only seven minutes from home, but the bad thing is that you've got to connect everywhere. So I suspect we're not going to get a direct flight to Jamaica. Oh, I already looked. Yeah, we do have to connect, but it's going to be easy. All right. Well, thanks for joining us. We will have this information on our website. We will have the links to the group in the show notes of this podcast. So you can, our website is, what is our website? Wegotathing.com. You can send me an email at mrjones at wegotathing.com. Or me at mrsjones at wegotathing.com. We will also be sharing this information out on X and on Instagram, on social media accounts. And thank you again, George. It's been a lot of fun. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. All right. Thanks for listening. We are Mr. and Mrs. Jones, and we got a thing. What's your thing? We'll see you next time.