Little children are blind to difference, we are told in heart-squeezing memes. And that may be true if your perfectly-white nursery has no ginger kids, but children are just as capable as flocking to like as dogs in the park.
As we get older we seek out our points of differentiation, then seek out those who are different like us and then, as we reach adulthood, some of us look to solidify this with membership to clubs. Having a card which spells it all out is a great time saver.
The English are particularly good at properly restrictive private members’ clubs, with their generational waiting lists and their leather, wingback chairs but again, for those of us who are the wrong sex, religion or economic profile, at least they’re all gathered in one place, with a handy signifier of mentality. You were a member of the Bullingdon Club at Oxford? You’re probably not the best fit for our recently-single Just Stop Oil niece.
Back in the 1990s Soho House arrived as a challenger, giving creatives somewhere to drink which wasn’t The Garrick Club or any old gutter. This added one more location women could be a member in and often Jude Law was there. You can, of course, take that as motivator or deterrent.
In identifying creatives as the membership group Soho House was deeply into low-hanging fruit territory. Creatives, particularly in the 1990s, would gather around a half-empty can of lager under a broken umbrella if it stayed open past 11pm.
Membership was based around what you know rather than who you know and while we have yet to see anyone try and get ChatPGT a membership, the current catchment area is broad: ‘creative thinkers’ is the line.
Which takes us to the present day. Whatever Oasis wants you to think, it’s not the 1990s any more and in the interim, Soho House has expanded too far too fast. This isn’t a comment borne out of years of analytical prowess – in the release detailing its $2.7bn take private, it describes itself as a “global membership platform”. Amazon could do the same. It’s not the moniker you use if you’re small and nimble.
As the group has itself bubbled over, expanding into locations including Mumbai, Istanbul and São Paulo, so too have the requirements needed to stay overnight. Non members can stay in some sites and, as befits a platform, some can be accessed via a ‘Soho Friends’ membership; a ‘travel and lifestyle programme’ which costs £100/year.
We’re a long way away from having your grandfather put your name down at birth. So why bother with the memberships at all? In the group’s most-recent results, for the quarter to June 29, it reported that total members had grown by 2.2% year-over-year to 270,297. Other memberships including Soho Friends and Soho Works (its co-working product) declined by 6.3% year-over-year to 56,676 members.
Total revenue from memberships? £118.63m out of a total revenue of £329.80m, so not a line you can ignore and the group has indeed made a big deal about how it has been improving members’ experiences as it looks to keep them on board. And, if being a member of a club is your bag, Soho House is certainly the only one which has managed to build a global reach to keep pace with your glamorous, jet-setting life.
But is it any more wonderful than being a member of, say Marriott Bonvoy? Even better reach and it’s free to access. The Financial Times nattily described this deal as “bringing together investors who are good at running hotels and investors who are good at running money”. And, of course, Ashton Kutcher, which raises the spectre of some kind of future involvement with Airbnb. As we saw last week, the sharing platform is promising a loyalty programme better than anything hotels can imagine, so there.
The group has loaded on more debt and will continue to expand. Tyler Morse, chairman & CEO of MCR, said: “MCR’s investment in Soho House represents a strategic opportunity to combine our operational expertise with one of the most distinctive brands in hospitality. Our shared goal is to safeguard the member experience, drive sustainable international growth for House members, and protect and expand the cultural and creative foundation that has made Soho House a global industry leader.”
Would you be a member of a club which had over a quarter of a million other members? The Garrick is reported to have around 1,500. Soho House is no longer a traditional private members’ club, so what is it and, importantly, can other hotel groups make off with what is now a subscription model? We all enjoyed CitizenM’s foray into the arena and the Hospitality Daily podcast which speculated on how Marriott might enjoy folding in not only the brand, but its innovative model.
What next for this membership platform? Surely an acquisition by Marriott or one of its chums. Before that, could it imagine welcoming other, smaller groups to its not-so-exclusive group? All creative thoughts are welcome here.
