Rosewood Launches a Soho House Competitor — More Copycats Expected
Photo Credit: Rosewood's new Carlyle & Co. membership club is expected to eventually grow into a global brand that competes with the likes of Soho House. Rosewood Hotel Group
Skift Take
Hotel companies may tout things like exclusivity and networking opportunities as reasons to launch a members-only club, but the real upside here is all about financial security. Soho House proved this is a resilient business model, even in the face of a pandemic.
Hotel companies around the world pumped more resources into growing luxury brands over the pandemic. That emphasis on exclusivity is now moving into members-only concepts.
Hong Kong-based Rosewood Hotel Group opened Carlyle & Co., a private club overlooking Victoria Harbor, this summer in its hometown. The membership club is Rosewood’s first in what the company anticipates will eventually grow into a network of properties in some of the world’s largest cities. Its opening this summer coincided with Soho House, arguably the best-known membership club chain in the world, going public.
While company leaders demure at the idea Carlyle & Co. is anything like Soho House, the concept does follow in a growing trend of the hospitality industry putting more stock in members’ clubs. Rosewood leaders just think an actual hotel company can do a membership club better. Analysts expect more hotel companies to follow in Rosewood’s footsteps.
“We have a really good foundation
