Members’ clubs are experiencing a surge in popularity not seen since the Gilded Age, and hotels are following right along with the trend. You can thank the pandemic, apparently.
By Mark Fedeli
Marketing and Editorial Director, Tablet Hotels
Google tells me that members’ clubs are as popular as they’ve ever been. It seems that the pandemic broke everyone’s brains, leaving them unable to function properly in public settings. Social clubs came to the rescue, providing a comfortable context for mixing and mingling. The evidence of this is absolutely showing itself in our neck of the woods. A verifiable trend in hospitality is the public hotel located within a private club, or at least containing one.
It’s true that this isn’t exactly a new phenomenon, not even in recent times. Soho House has famously been doing this exact thing for the entire century. In fact, they’re so synonymous with members’ club hotels that we won’t even bother listing any of them below, and will instead point you toward our excellent Soho House article. But below, a handful of others, some of whom aren’t new to the dance, and some who’ve just joined the party.
The Aster
Los Angeles, CA, USA
The Aster is, before anything else, a private club, a much-needed oasis at the very public intersection of Hollywood and Vine. The obvious way in is to become a member — but the Aster’s 35 suites are open to overnight guests as well, and it’s perhaps no surprise that they’re up there with the finest suites in town — a bit bohemian, a bit retro, more than a bit warm and welcoming, understated in their luxury and, above all, memorable.
Casa Cipriani
New York City, NY, USA
Lower Manhattan’s iconic Battery Maritime Building, a 1906 ferry terminal in an ornate Beaux-Arts style, is the venue for Casa Cipriani, a members’ club and luxury boutique hotel by the legendary Italian restaurateurs and hoteliers. Inside is probably the purest dose of contemporary Italian luxury design available this side of Milan. The Club restaurant is classic Cipriani while the Jazz Café is modeled after a prewar supper club, live music and all.
The Battery
San Francisco, CA, USA
If you’re expecting a private members’ club in today’s San Francisco to be a sort of ping-pong playground full of app-pitching tech hucksters, then you’ll be very pleasantly surprised by The Battery. And if the moody, bohemian vibe is more Hellfire Club than boys’ club, then so much the better. The only way into the club is by nomination and acceptance by the board — or by reservation, which earns you one of 14 stylish, tastefully luxurious suites and rooms.
Clayton Hotel & Members Club
Denver, CO, USA
A few miles to the south of downtown Denver and the stadium district, in the upscale country club–adjacent enclave of Cherry Creek North, the Clayton Hotel & Members Club aims to thread a very particular needle: to be desirable yet inclusive, chic yet unstuffy, to be a private members’ club without universally drawing from among the already privileged. It’s a side of Denver you’ll be glad you went a little bit out of your way to see.
Hotel Bardo
Savannah, GA, USA
Quite a lot of the appeal of the American South lies in its attachment to history and tradition. But there’s room for a little creativity. While other Southern mansion hotels feel dry and airless, preserved in amber, Hotel Bardo Savannah is a fantasy — behind the walls of this treasured 19th-century Victorian mansion is a hotel that’s caught between two worlds: the tranquil seclusion of a resort and the convivial bustle of a private members’ club.
Home House London
London, UK
The most uniquely London form of hospitality just might be the members’ club. These meeting places have historically been approximately one part shared workspace to two parts secret society, and they’re exclusive by nature. Lately, though, a few of them, like Marylebone’s venerable Home House, have offered another path to (temporary) membership: if you can demonstrate that you’ve got the good taste to book a room for the night, then you’re a member for the duration of your stay.
The Ned London
London, UK
The landmark building at No. 27 Poultry never lacked for atmosphere, and now this Edwin Luytens original has been put to great use as a Soho House–style members’ club and luxury boutique hotel. It’s no surprise that the end product is an impressive one. The Ned opts for the classic glamour of an Art Deco ocean liner, and bedrooms that eschew modern design in favor of a period-correct Twenties and Thirties vibe.
Estelle Manor
North Leigh, UK
Estelle Manor is the sister to a London members’ club called Maison Estelle, but by virtue of its setting — there’s quite a bit less incidental foot traffic in the Cotswolds than in Mayfair — it can turn its focus from exclusivity to full-on conviviality. There’s space for quite a few guests, thanks to the diversity of accommodations, which range across the main house, the converted stables, and a number of freestanding cottages and houses.
Commodore Perry Estate
Austin, TX, USA
The Commodore Perry Estate, set on ten acres of land in urban Austin, Texas, is unique by any standard. It’s a Twenties mansion and satellite buildings in Italianate and Spanish Revival styles, and it’s all been brought entirely up to date by the expert hospitality designer Ken Fulk. The result sacrifices none of the estate’s throwback atmosphere, which includes a private social club, but brings it all up to a 21st-century standard.
Hotel Twentyseven
Amsterdam, Netherlands
The first Dutch boutique hotels we saw were marvels of modern minimalism. More recently we’ve seen a flowering of eclectic styles — none quite so ornate as that on display in Hotel TwentySeven. This 1916 building on the central Dam Square is home to a private club for the upper crust of Amsterdam society and industry, and, on its upper floors, to a luxury boutique hotel that’s as intensely atmospheric as anything we’ve ever seen.
Pendry Newport Beach
Newport Beach, CA, USA
The Pendry Newport Beach fits in between its Los Angeles and San Diego siblings, in a tower that stands over the Fashion Island shopping center. Once you’re inside, though, it’s hard not to feel transported to somewhere rather more far-flung, thanks to the Pendry’s talent for cultivating a resort-like atmosphere. The Elwood Club, a private members’ club within the hotel, makes its restaurant and pub available to hotel guests when capacity permits.
The Twenty Two
London, UK
Grosvenor Square may seem like an unlikely location for a members’ club and boutique hotel aimed at the young and hip, but the element of surprise is essential to any great hotel, and the Twenty Two is possessed of a vibrant playfulness that’s ordinarily found much further east. This gorgeous Edwardian building remains in fine form, and its interiors are notably Parisian in their inspiration, with ultra-saturated colors and an 18th-century ornateness to the décor. Another pleasant surprise? Another Twenty Two hotel in New York City.
The Saint James Paris
Paris, France
Suffice it to say that the Saint James is anything but typical. In Paris a hôtel particulier, a freestanding house, is unusual enough — something like the Saint James, almost a country-style château, surrounded by a wall and garden, is vanishingly rare. Becoming less rare, though: the hotel’s Saint James Club, an English-style social club that draws its own crowd of creative, cultured Parisians.
Mark Fedeli is the hotel marketing and editorial director for Tablet and Michelin Guide. He’s been with Tablet since 2006, and he thinks you should subscribe to our newsletter.