About Villa Espada & Robert Bender

Villa Espada is owned and personally overseen by Robert Bender. This is not a management-company listing or a booking-platform middleman — the person behind this website owns the estate, is a member at Punta Espada Golf Course, and has renovated, stayed in, and golfed from the villa himself.

Meet Robert Bender

I'm Rob Bender. My wife, Kelly, and I — along with our four children — purchased Villa Espada in 2025 after years of exploring the Caribbean. We visited most of the islands before deciding that Cap Cana was, for us, the best of all worlds: championship Jack Nicklaus golf, genuine privacy and security behind Cap Cana's gates, and a short, easy flight from the United States.

After buying the estate, we completed a $1.5 million renovation to bring the entire property fully up to date — a modern 15,000+ square-foot home directly on Fairway 5 of Punta Espada, with large smart TVs in every bedroom and living space, a whole-house and outdoor Sonos sound system, and a private in-house spa. The goal was simple: a villa we would want to stay in ourselves, and one we're proud to hand to every group who books it.

Why this matters for your stay

I'm a member at Punta Espada and have played the course dozens of times. So the golf guidance on this site — how tee times work, the member-guest discounted rate, how to pair Punta Espada with Las Iguanas or the Casa de Campo courses — comes from someone who actually plays it, not from a brochure.

I stay closely involved with every booking. Once your group lands on the island, our trusted local partner, Palmera Villas, manages the day-to-day guest experience — so your stay runs seamlessly from the airport transfer to checkout, alongside the villa's full staff of private chef, butler, and daily housekeeping.

Background

Beyond the villa, I'm an experienced real estate investor. In 2009 I founded Fortis Net Lease, a boutique investment real estate brokerage firm, where I serve as Founder and Managing Partner. The same discipline that firm is built on — knowing an asset inside and out before standing behind it — is exactly how Kelly and I approach Villa Espada.

You can connect with me on LinkedIn or read more about my professional background at fortisnetlease.com.

A note on this website

The guides and articles published here are researched and drafted with the help of AI tools, then personally reviewed and approved by me before they go live — checked against facts I can verify first-hand as the owner and a Punta Espada member. If something on this site states a fact about the villa or the golf, it's because I've confirmed it.