Affluent Private Members Club VS. Niche Private Social Club, Let's Understand The Difference and The Controversy...

My trip to Las Vegas last weekend was that familiar, high-octane blend of work and play. After spending 28 years in Las Vegas residency, I still move the same way. We continue to consult with our luxury hospitality and residential partners, but this trip I took time to research the newest private club coming to the Las Vegas strip, "Zero-Bond" at the Wynn. If it is apart of the Wynn group, we will expect nothing less than "Fabulous". With a waiting list in place, the club will be another successful revenue stream for the hotel. Staying at the Fontainebleau, we peaked into the "Poodle Room", with less enthusiasm, the multiple stories of eclectic bars fits the scene as a Private Social Club. These are really both "private social clubs" models within a hotel, but one has built a stand alone brand and is scaling, and one is only a new revenue stream for the hotel. So are we diluting the core of what an Affluent Private Members Club represents? In the US, I would say we are. This is the controversy bubbling up in our industry. Can the private club model actually scale? And more importantly—should it? Are we diluting "exclusivity"?

The recent surge in feature articles questioning this scalability and financial viability of the "private club scene". It highlights a pivotal moment in luxury hospitality, "Will scale take away exclusivity"? I believe it can, however we are really looking at two different models; the new hospitality social private club and the traditional affluent private members club. The curated personalization for the affluent HNW is truly the core of the private membership club business model. It reflects substantial memberships fees for high-touch services and anticipating guests personal lifestyle before they arrive. The new niche hospitality social clubs, along with the 100's of virtual (AI assisted) destination membership clubs selling excursions and "exclusive event" tickets are creating a product. There is no diluting that product, it was developed to scale like a franchise and drive a semi-affluent guest into an affordable membership to socialize in a high-end multi-tier bar setting. There is a big difference and we are blurring the lines.

Having navigated this market’s evolution myself in Las Vegas — developing private destination country clubs, serving on the board of The Foundation Room at Mandalay Bay, a private social club and The Stirling Club, a traditional private members club. Intrigued by this market, I then traveling to Europe to analyze the storied historic traditional private clubs in the South of France and Mayfair's Annabel’s. The same core was there, to offer exclusivity and high-touch unique experiences.

Today, "The Aman Club", in New York does that by creating a stand alone opulent private club experience that follows the hotel's 5 star holistic brand style. They are a unique brand, and supports a $200,000 membership fee. Will they expand greatly? They do not need to.

Data presents why Hotels are Gravitating to include private clubs; Recurring Revenue vs. Volatile RevPAR: While US luxury hotel RevPAR growth slowed to a modest 0.5% in 2025, the private club sector is surging. The global private club market reached $32.7 billion in 2024 and is projected to hit $45.89 billion by the end of 2026.

For the hotel stakeholders the market suggests a shift from an empty event space into a "curated ecosystem" of revenue. For Las Vegas hotels, they have been creating additional revenue platforms like this for decades. Transforming restaurants and empty spaces into elaborate high-revenue producing night clubs and pool side day clubs, garnering expensive entry fees that represent exclusivity. This just looks different on the cover, but they too are following a US trend. The revenue is incremental to the Las Vegas hotels they are just staying relevant to the club market. For smaller boutique hotel owners, the private social club model presents a great new niche opportunity for additional revenue and deliver a unique brand experience over and above a simple loyalty program.

The US is on the verge of diluting what the core of the UHNW Private Members Club business model represented and delivered. It is rooted from the European tradition, where exclusivity is a hard-earned currency, and "brand alignment" means protecting the gate at all costs. The "Social Club," is the new American niche: an affordable, high-volume model that risks diluting the very "shiny penny" it promises to deliver.

There is a difference between expansion and scaling - the affluent private club "expansion" all makes sense in this market to a celebrity-driven private club brand, like the San Vicente in Los Angeles is exploring a stake sale to fund expansion, with founder Jeff Klein, driven by Goldman Sachs and JLL. The time is right when institutional investors are open to fee driven investments. This Hotel/ private club experience is levels above being considered a social members club. Jeff Klein has created separate brand stories between the private club and the hotel bungalows. He focuses on service and a culinary experience. As in the NY Club, the expansion will be another unique curated experience all on its own.

The Pricing Gap: US vs. Global Standards

The financial barrier to entry in the US is increasingly becoming a "two-tier" system. While the European model remains rooted in historical scarcity, the US has industrialized the "social club" as a lifestyle product.

Market Tier	Typical US Entry/Annual	Typical European Entry/Annual	Strategy
Ultra-Elite (Aman)	$100k - $200k+ Init. / $15k+ Dues	£5k - £15k+ Init. / £3k - £8k+ Dues	Scarcity, Lineage, "HNW Security"
Mid-Tier (Social Club)	$3k - $10k Init. / $2k - $5k Dues	€1k - €3k (Total Annual)	Networking, F&B, "Semi-Affluent" Access
Lifestyle- (Hotel VIP Club)	$5k - $15k (Hybrid Fees)	Variable / Often Perk-Based	Brand Alignment, Recurring Revenue