Indagare, a year-old Web enterprise that has created a community among luxury travelers, is aiming for 5000 members at the end of three years. Founder Melissa Biggs Bradley, a journalist who was with Town & Country for 12 years and founded Town & Country Travel, is well on her way to her goal although there is a price for membership that ranges up to $1200 annually. 

Her idea, says Bradley, was “to use my connections – to bring together my experience in journalism with my network of correspondents and travel specialists around the world--- – and combine that with user-generated content.” Some of those relationships are with the most respected leaders in travel – like George Butterfield, founder of high-end hiking and biking tour company Butterfield & Robinson; Regent Hotels founder Robert H. Burns; fashion designer Tory Burch; Sotheby’s vice chairman Jamie Niven; and beauty magnate Frederic Fekkai, who are on her advisory board.
    Says Bradley, “I wanted a well-curated archive of sophisticated cheat sheets that I could tailor, and I craved the ability to tap into a community of worldly friends and trusted experts – people who understand my tastes and share my passion for authentic experiences.”
 “I see the site as having three spokes,” says Bradley: “members, journalists and industry experts. All are having a conversation.”
Clearly that conversation has proven valuable to members – who are either invited or may apply. Indagare has three regular levels of memberships: Basic at $250, Elite at $450 and Connoisseur at $1200 (discounts in each category for multiple-year signups). To the surprise of some observers, says Bradley, “the majority of our members are in the two top tiers”. Another surprise: while she had anticipated a mostly female readership, half of her members are men.

    The higher the level the more access to Bradley herself and her network. So popular from day one was the personal advice that Bradley decided to begin an in-house travel agency, though, she says, “That is not the main focus of our business, but a service we added because of member demand.”   

As for her business model, says Bradley, her three sources of revenue are: memberships, commissions and selling content to other media. And, while she does  not currently carry advertising, she may in the future. Indagare does work with suppliers to produce special events for members.
    “Our leverage,” she says, “is in our relationships.”
We met with Bradley at her Upper East Side offices – where she has a staff of six. Following are more highlights from our discussion:
     *Indagare is Latin, meaning “to discover, explore, seek or scout.” And, on the day we met with Bradley in her office on New York’s Upper East Side she was, indeed, preparing for a two-week “scouting trip” to Egypt.
* At its core, Indagare is a media product; Bradley has correspondents in place all over the world and will use her own resources to send journalists to destinations important to her members. Aside from the Website and bi-weekly e-mail blasts, Indagare sends out an attractive bimonthly print publication.
    * Members enjoy a cluster of benefits, including: content from field experts, journalists and tastemakers like those mentioned above; customized reports to create itineraries and files; an advisory and booking service; and a forum for sophisticated travelers to share their insights.
Indagare Connoisseur Members also become automatic members of Abercrombie & Kent’s Marco Polo and Relais et Chateaux’ 5C Club, VIP categories that provide their own benefits.

     *Bradley is a believer in the affluent being able to make a positive impact on the world, saying, “The strongest response to anything we’ve run were a series of letters from Kenya and Burma when those countries were  in the thick of  crises.”
       * Bloggers from other “troubled” spots also generate intense interest, says Bradley, who sees the phenomenon as being heightened by tough economic times. “A lot of over-the-top spending will be taken out of the system,” she says; ”people are coming down to earth and focusing on being better citizens of the world. “

See www.indagare.com.