Gone are the days of your typical country club, where the only offerings are golf and tennis. While clubs have always been in fashion, the new private club is part of an entirely new “luxury lifestyle philosophy.” As Hospitality Net appropriately describes it, it’s  “one that not only promises access to exclusive spaces populated by like-minded individuals, but comprehensively supports how affluent individuals choose to live, work, play, and connect.”

While this rise in private clubs is significant, it’s definitely complicated. As a result of all these demands for luxurious amenities and offerings, developers and operators need to create establishments that truly understand what clients want. That’s no simple task. These clubs emphasize wellness, longevity, and privacy, while also providing a meeting room environment that caters to business clients working outside the traditional office. Instead of creating a strong divide between the two, there’s a natural flow that allows the leisure and business environments to coexist in peace.

The luxury market is in tremendous demand, with Bain & Co. forecasting that, looking toward 2030, the luxury market will likely embark on a long-term positive trajectory, with a growing customer base. Overall spending on luxury goods and services can also correlate with demand for members’ clubs, and will continue rising in 2025 to 27, McKinsey predicted.  This is great news for the private club industry, which is growing with intensity. 

Fashion Goes Private with Kith Ivy

The popular fashion brand Kith recently expanded with Kith Ivy, a members’ club in New York City that’s asking eager members to drop $36,000 on an annual membership fee. 

The club’s existence shows the brilliant way brands can expand beyond a single realm, and move into dining, lifestyle services, sport, and wellness, as well as product.

The club features a padelball court, the first Erewhon location outside of Los Angeles, Cafe Mogador, a full-service Giorgio Armani spa, and a gym. Each of these venues is a coveted destination that people would be eager to enter individually. Together, they’re undeniable.

“In parallel and equally importantly, Kith Ivy is a new brand for us, focused on the aesthetic coalescing around the sport of Padel,” Ronnie Fieg explained to Hypebeast.
“I saw it as an intriguing opportunity to help define what a relatively newly adopted sport could look like.”

Fun in the Sun at Miami’s Harbour Club

While New York is certainly a hotspot for these private clubs with a variety that has recently opened, other cities are getting them as well. Miami’s Harbour Club, tucked just away from the Biscayne Bay waterfront in South Beach, has signed on about 40 people for lifetime memberships for as much as $55,000. Inspired by English private dining clubs, a signature membership is $2,500 annually, plus a $5,000 initiation fee. A lifetime founding membership is a one-time initiation fee of $40,000. 

Crain Currency points out that the uber-rich are looking for an exclusive place for dining and meeting others with a strong sense of privacy. Some members are billionaire businesspeople, but others are in the arts and politics. The Harbour Club features everything from a members-only speakeasy to weekly backgammon tournaments. 

Backed by real estate developer Joseph Sitt and co-founded by private club veteran James Julius, the club serves as another playground for the wealthy who have poured into South Florida in recent years.

“I said, ‘I want this club to feel like your second home—I want you to know everyone who is coming in here,’” the co-founder, private club veteran James Julius, told Robb Report. “I wanted to create a space that’s for the people of Miami, the neighborhood of Sunset Harbour, and neighboring islands.”

The Associate in Atlanta is the South’s Hottest Private Club

Private clubs are popping up all over the South, demonstrating that the phenomenon isn’t something specific to New York. From Dubai to Boston, they’re everywhere and catering to the needs of locals who fit their clientele. 

The Associate in Atlanta’s Brookhaven neighborhood is an invitation-only club that opened in 2024. It had just 100 Founding Memberships and five Corporate Memberships available upon opening. It also features a new tier of Secret Service-inspired membership called the MI6 (individual and spouse/partner), the MI5 (individual), and the coveted Secret Service corporate tier. The setting features The Bond Club Room, a James Bond-inspired bar and lounge, and the Skyfall cocktail lounge featuring a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 by Atlanta-based artist Andrew Lovell, Modern Luxury reported. Envisioned as a refuge for those who seek beauty, refinement, and intrigue, the club embraces an air of exclusivity.

The clubs that find success will master several complex components. They can seamlessly connect residential value with club amenities, create intellectual communities that attract younger, globally minded members, and deliver privacy and security standards that rival diplomatic facilities, Hospitality Net wisely states. In contrast to the stereotype that all clubs are for older people, these venues often embrace youth. Clubs that have successfully adapted to this generational shift report 60-70% of new members are under 45, with significant representation from technology, finance, and creative industries, Hospitality Net reported. 

 “These younger members also tend to spend more on additional services, making them particularly valuable from a revenue perspective,” the piece continued.

To create a space that serves as a respite from the rest of the world in 2025 is a rare thing. From cell phone cameras to social media around every corner, people are looking for a place to truly connect with others and get away from the daily grind. The private clubs that can create this environment are very rare, but can also be very lucrative. Now is the time to create the establishments that will serve as the coveted destinations of the future.