At this private members' club, discretion is everything – for a $25,000 price
Private members clubs are booming globally. MAGA devotees are paying $US1 million ($1.5 million) a year to join Donald Trump's gilded Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Market research company Mordor Intelligence estimates the global sector will be worth $US26 billion by 2027. Family pedigree and old school ties are out while elitism has become commoditised. The international Soho House chain, which originated in London, plans to open its first Australian club, a multi-level affair with rooftop bar in Sydney's Darlinghurst, 'in the coming years'. 67 Pall Mall, also in London, will open a $35 million Melbourne outpost next year.
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'We have high-profile members who don't want to be seen,' Grace tells me. Membership hinges on 'affinity'. Nine weeks after opening, almost 300 members – 40 per cent of them women – have each paid up to $25,000 to join. Membership will be capped at 500. 'Essentially, it's a no-dickheads rule,' says a joking Grace, who has revoked several memberships for unspecified protocol breaches. Inside the heart of the club – the plush 'Great Room' bar – Airtasker millionaire Jonathan Lui is showing around a couple of potential members dressed in designer trainers and hoodies.
In Melbourne, there's a lengthy wait list to join the $500-a-week Saint Haven wellness clubs, where booze is banned and members are invited instead to breathe 'enriched' air under Murano chandeliers. There are 'personal healers', hairdressers and a Bentley limo service. Founded by property developer Tim Gurner, who famously advised Millennials to give up smashed avocado in order to get into the property market, Saint Haven will open a giant, 1300-square-metre outlet at Bondi Beach later next year. The news was dampened when Melbourne millionaire Christopher Shao set off a media storm last month, claiming his mum had been unfairly castigated for breaching the no-phones rule inside a Saint Haven club; he then doubled down with additional claims of casual racism. One employee was stood down.
Controversies aren't new among Australia's traditional private clubs. Sydney's men-only Australian Club on Macquarie Street continues to resist offering membership to women, as does the Melbourne Club on Collins Street. 'You won't see any of that here,' Grace assures me. 'The Pillars is for a new generation; we're creating a community.'
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