SEATTLE, June 1, 2010 – LuxuryRealEstate.com, the most viewed luxury real estate website in the world, announced today it has acquired The Society of Leisure Enthusiasts (“The Society”), an online marketing solutions company focused in the luxury vacation rental industry.  The Society brings a selection of over 3,000 of the most luxurious vacation rentals in the world as well as an advertising distribution platform to LuxuryRealEstate.com.  The Society was privately held and is based in Colorado.  The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Society client base includes vacation home owners, property managers and resorts.  They market the homes to affluent travelers through their own website, TheSociety.com as well as through an advertising platform called The Global Bundle.   The Global Bundle technology distributes property listings to the finest luxury websites, the leading vacation rental websites and to several social media outlets.  Distribution outlets have included DuPontRegistry.com, LuxuryTravelMagazine.com, RobbReportCollection.com, WSJ.com, LuxuryRealEstate.com, Paradizo.com, Affluence.org, HomeAway.com, VRBO.com, and more.

“We are thrilled to join forces with LuxuryRealEstate.com,” said Michael McFadden, CEO of The Society.  “They are the leaders in luxury real estate and together we will bring the finest vacation rentals to affluent travelers around the world.”

“Vacation rentals, especially high-end properties, have become an essential force in the luxury real estate ecosystem.  The Society has carved out a great niche in the marketplace.  This acquisition will allow us to provide our clients with the best marketing solutions for their luxury properties,” explained John Brian Losh, CEO and Publisher of LuxuryRealEstate.com.

The newly created Vacation Rental division will to be managed by the former CEO of The Society, Michael McFadden.

About LuxuryRealEstate.com

LuxuryRealEstate.com, a 2009 Webby Award Honoree, has been voted ‘Best of the Web’ by Forbes magazine multiple times, praised by the International Herald Tribune, Town & Country, the Wall Street Journal and has been ranked ‘Best Website’ by consumers according to surveys by the Luxury Institute. Since its debut in 1995, LuxuryRealEstate.com has remained the #1 portal for luxury properties on the internet, consistently driving more traffic to member websites and generating more qualified inquiries than any other website. LuxuryRealEstate.com has several times more $1,000,000+ content of any near-peer.

Also known in the industry as the Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate network, a global collection of the finest luxury real estate brokers in the world, this group of more than 1000 brokerage firms and 95,000 professionals in more than 65 countries collectively sells in excess of $190 billion of real estate annually, with an average sale price of $2,450,000. Members sell homes for record prices and handle transactions of incredible complexity and magnitude with complete discretion. Every member is carefully selected by CEO/Publisher John Brian Losh, one of REALTOR Magazine’s 25 Most Influential People in Real Estate and broker of fine properties and estates through his Seattle-based brokerage firm, Ewing & Clark, Inc.

About The Society of Leisure Enthusiasts

The Society of Leisure Enthusiasts provides vacation home owners, estate managers and vacation rental firms the most complete one-stop-shop marketing solution called the Global Bundle (www.TheGlobalBundle.com).  This premier offering ensures marketing exposure for all luxury vacation rental listings on the finest luxury websites, the most dominant vacation rental marketplaces, and the most viral social media outlets. The Society of Leisure Enthusiasts also owns and operates an online luxury vacation rental marketplace www.TheSociety.com.

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We are augmenting some of our preliminary research before we go live.

If you know anyone else that has recently (within the past 2 years) tried to book or look for a rental I would greatly appreciate you passing it on.

Thanks
Mike

More to come www.thesociety.com