“Conspicuous Leisure” was a term coined by American Economist Thorstein Velben. Per Wikipedia: The term denotes visible leisure for the sake of displaying social status. The term is generally reserved for those forms of leisure that seem to be fully motivated by social factors, such as taking long vacations to exotic places and bringing souvenirs back.”

It appears that we are shifting away from this “Conspicuous Leisure” and its parent, “Conspicuous Consumption”. Yes, our retirement portfolios have taken a hit and it’s a lot more expensive to fly privately and to relax in fully stocked, wholly-owned pied-a-terres but I think it goes deeper than that. Add the “Green” element – i.e. waste conservation et al – and conspicuous consumption just isn’t cool anymore. To put it another way, I doubt John McCain is too thrilled about owning seven homes right now.

What is cool? Sharing is cool. Fractional is now hybrid; it’s the Prius. Sure, mega rich socialites in Hollywood could afford any gas guzzler of their choosing but that’s not cool to them. It isn’t cool because it isn’t right. Not only is it trendy to proclaim multiple second homes as waste dumps, it’s accurate.

I keep reading things that continue to back it up.  More good news for our industry. See the rest at my blog:  

http://www.piercegroupllc.com/fractionalblog/2009/04/fractional-ownership-acceptable-conspicuous-consumption/

Thanks, 

Eric Pierce