Capricorne Villas

Buying into a luxed-out timeshare would allow you to play Super Host in a palace you've convinced chumps you own -- but you'd be a fool to tolerate the structured dates and cultish recruitment meetings. Get dream pad access without signing your life away, with Capricorne Villas.

A private residence club, CV lets you rent out 70 mega-cribs around the world (Maui, Cabo, Tuscany, etc) for a nominal membership fee, as opposed to the typical 6-figure buy-in -- letting the everyman travel the planet like Manny Ramirez during spring training. There're two membership levels ($4000/yr Globetrotters can book all 70 spots, $2000 Jet Setters about 60 of them), but both let you choose your own dates and destinations with no blackout days, save those when you've over-provisioned on local rums. The joints are massive (6-12 bodies), with sick views/pools/hot tubs/home theaters; CV also provides pre-trip planners, to-and-from airport transport, and on-site concierges -- to make last-minute reservations, tee-times, or go to Tallahassee to pick up Waffle House every morning.

To sample the service before committing a couple grand, $100 nabs you a yearly Voyager membership. Join, and get monthly updates about half-off villas that've remained un-booked, letting you assume a role that benefits everyone: SuperSecret-Cheap Host.