On a Mallorcan beach in 1950, a row of simple straw huts — not one of them with an ensuite — was made ready for the first Club Med holidaymakers. The huts had no lights, and the gentils membres (GMs) shared communal washing facilities, but the founder, Gérard Blitz, a yoga-loving Belgian and former water-polo champion, had started something big — the all-inclusive resort had been invented.

Fast-forward to 2009, and what Blitz would have made of his company’s latest venture is not clear. After decades in which it has provided increasingly state-of-the-art holiday accommodation to its GMs, Club Med is taking the next step: allowing them to buy their own huts. Or, rather, five-star villas.

This week, the company is unveiling the first of 40 supremely luxurious properties to be built at its complex in Mauritius, which have not only multiple “washing facilities”, but private pools. Not quite communal togetherness — though I’m sure Blitz would have been impressed by the five-star yoga mats at the spa.

The Indian Ocean development, called La Plantation d’Albion, reflects a broader trend: Club Med is joining a growing number of hotel and resort operators that offer properties for sale on their private chunks of paradise in some of the world’s most desirable locations. To the holiday-home buyer, this provides the option of choosing a villa within a resort complex, rather than one that’s out on its own. Buyers have access to all the deluxe hotel, restaurant and sports facilities, but they own the properties outright, just as they would if they bought somewhere in a nearby town. In most cases, they can hand over their properties to an in-house management company to let out to other holidaymakers when they’re not using them.

“This is a second- or third-home option that’s increasingly common,” says James Price, head of international residential development at Knight Frank estate agencies. “The advantages for owners wanting to earn revenue in the weeks when they don’t use it are that they’re buying into a high-level hotel or resort brand, with all the quality assurance, security and marketing expertise that comes with it.”

The concept of villa ownership linked to hotel groups and resorts has been popular for years with American buyers; Caribbean destinations were among the first to attract those looking for a top-end holiday home with concierge service. Each of the companies in this market has its own geographical areas of expertise — Mandarin Oriental and Banyan Tree in Asia, or Ritz-Carlton in America and the Caribbean — although many are expanding their networks. The one with the broadest reach is Four Seasons, which is now pretty much global.

There are plenty of smaller operators, too — either running high-end exclusive resorts in, say, Tuscany or the south of France, or less luxurious (and cheaper) complexes in Alpine ski resorts, or dotted throughout the Mediterranean. At the top end, you can buy villas at £5m and above, but you can pick up flats and two-bedroom townhouses for £300,000-£400,000.

Prices for Club Med’s Mauritius villas, which are due to be completed next year, start at £850,000 for a two-bedder; a four-bedroom garden villa is £1.36m. Designed by a local architect, Jean-Michel d’Unienville, with native products such as culm, rough wood and lava stone, the properties are fully furnished; owners can choose between African, Asian or Indian decor.

In the Seychelles, Four Seasons has just opened its latest resort offering unusually large plots — “an acre of paradise” — on the edge of the Indian Ocean. These are at the spectacular end of the spectrum: each villa has a unique feature, such as a 50-metre infinity pool, and costs £4.5m. At that level, admits James Davies, international director of Hamptons, who is handling sales, owners are likely to come and go as they please without bothering about rental possibilities.

“We’ve sold two of them to British buyers,” he says. “There is plenty of choice with hotel properties now, in the Caribbean particularly, and the Mediterranean. On Mauritius, excluding Club Med, you can get a four-bedroom villa in a hotel complex, with a garden and a stunning view, for £600,000. And because of the global situation and the increase in the number of such properties, buyers can drive a hard bargain.”

At the opposite end of the global brand spectrum are the one-off exclusive hotels that also offer property sales. In a beautiful spot on the island of Madeira is the 200-year-old Palheiro Estate, which includes a small family-run hotel: once a hunting lodge, now with a golf course and spa. Here, prices start at £278,500 for a one-bedroom flat, rising to £1.45m for a large villa.

David and Elizabeth Vine, a retired couple from Devon, snapped up a three-bedroom, three-bathroom home on the estate in 2007; it was recently valued at £685,000. “We’ve owned holiday homes where the so-called management was virtually nonexistent,” Elizabeth says. “We are happy with this because everything is so easy. We don’t have to worry about security, and if you want flowers in the rooms when you arrive, you just ask.”

With many British second-homers coming horribly unstuck thanks to dodgy dealers and managing agents in Spain and central Europe, the added appeal of such developments is the assumption that the hotel groups behind them are not going to invest in locations or markets without doing some decent research.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that they are all good deals, however. “There is a premium for these hotel villas,” Price says. “Branded premier properties can cost 20% more than comparable villas outside these complexes, and the service charges are also likely to be 20% or more higher.”

For those hoping their holiday home will pay its own way, this means having to let more weeks at peak times — although using it yourself for one chunk of the summer, then letting it out for the rest of high season and the Christmas/New Year period, could work. (Christmas income is one big advantage of resort complexes, which market the season aggressively to maximise hotel profits.) There are also the potential risks associated with buying off plan — as you do with most of these schemes. The developer may promise a well-known hotel brand, but the chains can, and do, walk away from projects in the early stages. For that reason, buyers should make sure their solicitor checks whether a hotel has made a legally binding commitment.

Rental contracts must also be scrutinised carefully. “These vary enormously,” says Miranda John, international manager at Savills Private Finance. “Some will tie you into an agreement for 10 years, because hotels want this type of commitment for long-term business plans. They can be difficult to get out of without losing money.”

In particular, she says, you should make sure the contract sets out clearly what the various service charges will be, and how the rental income is divided between you and the operator. If you find it difficult to assess your likely income, then warning lights should be flashing.

Resale is another big issue. If you are tied into a rental contract, you will have to sell to someone who will take on that rental deal, rather than simply use the property themselves. “Beware of very large resorts,” Davies adds. “If you want to sell a villa that’s the same as 500 others, how easy will it be?” This sameness has other implications. You may own the property, but you will have to comply with regulations stipulating what you can do, to the interior as well as the exterior. The villas will have to look “like a hotel” to fit the brand.

Still, let’s get things into perspective. Back on Mauritius, sipping a Club Med cocktail by your private pool, the fact that you can’t choose your own tea towels may be the last thing weighing on your mind.

La Plantation d’Albion, www.villas-chalets.clubmed.com;

Four Seasons Seychelles, seychellesresidences.com;

Palheiro Estate, palheiroestate.com

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