 "Dominique Bellas, global membership director, Cities Without Houses")
Global members-only club, Soho House, is looking to expand in India with the opening of two new Houses in New Delhi and Mumbai in the next few years.
The luxury club opened its first House — an 11-storey townhouse — in India in 2018 on Juhu beach, Mumbai.
Five years later, Soho House is set to grow its footprint with two new Houses — one situated in South Mumbai and the other nestled between art galleries and design studios in Mehrauli, Delhi.
The company’s annual membership costs ~1.7 lakh for people who want access to just one House in a particular city. Meanwhile, the annual all-access membership costs ~3.1 lakh.
With just over 190,000 members globally — a 19.7 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase — the waiting list for a Soho House membership can last anywhere between three months to a year. Currently, the waitlist is at an all-time high of 99,000.
“The House in Mumbai has really evolved over the last five years as we've brought together an eclectic mix of creatives. It's a place where people come to be inspired and grow,” Kelly Wardingham, regional operations director, Asia, Soho House, told Business Standard.
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The company also introduced its Cities Without Houses (CWH) membership format in six Indian cities — New Delhi, Goa, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Kolkata.
This membership, costing ~3.1 lakh annually, connects creative-minded individuals in cities where there are no physical Soho Houses. It curates special experiences and events for members, and gives them full access to Soho Houses globally when they travel.
Starting in 2017 with 40 cities, the CWH membership format expanded to 80 cities in 2022. With its launch in India, this will grow to 86 cities in 2024.
“We started with a nice foundation of members in India and have built on that over the last five years. It’s a testament to that growth, which has led us to, for the first time ever, introduce CWH in six cities in one go,” said Dominique Bellas, global membership director, Cities Without Houses.
“We get to bring a little bit of Soho House to these six cities in the form of events — from one-night only dinners to exhibitions. This will allow members to connect with other creatives in their cities without having a physical House there and also while travelling globally,” she added.
However, Bellas did not disclose the amount that the hotel chain is investing for its India expansion.
Founded in 1995 by London-based restauranteur Nick Jones, the club started off in London's Soho and expanded to 42 locations across the world. The club is reportedly popular with the top creatives in India, including Bollywood celebrities.
Membership revenues of the NYSE-listed company — accounting for 31.8 per cent of total revenues — rose 32.5 per cent Y-o-Y to $361.5 million in FY23, while revenue per available room jumped 11 per cent Y-o-Y. The company had registered a net loss of $118.0 million in FY23.
