As the initiation fee for Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., has doubled to $200,000 following the election of Donald Trump, MarketWatch compiled a list of some of the priciest luxury club and resort memberships in the U.S., including the $300,000 initiation fee at Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Mont., and the $250,000 price tag at Fisher Island (Fla.) Club.
A recent report by MarketWatch examined the appeal of high-cost memberships to luxury clubs and resorts.
Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., which is owned by the Trump Organization, reportedly doubled its initiation fee to $200,000 after Donald Trump was elected president.
Some wealthy individuals are willing to pay at least that to take advantage of luxury golf and resort clubs, said Steve Sims, the chief executive and founder of TheBluefish.com, a luxury concierge service that costs between $5,000 and $25,000 a year. And at many clubs, the truly influential don’t actually pay the sticker price, he said.
Many clubs want to advertise that celebrities and high-powered executives are members, Sims said, and may as a result give them complimentary or discounted memberships. “If you’re a wannabe, that’s where the money is made.”
Many clubs won’t disclose their initiation fees or annual dues and require potential members to find out more about the clubs through their existing members. And when they do find out the price, the wealthy are willing to pay tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars for the memberships, MarketWatch reported.
“A lot rationalize or justify that it will help with their business,” said Dannell Stuart, a partner and the director of business development at Mission Wealth, a wealth management company based in Santa Barbara, Calif. “It’s sort of required in order to maintain a certain status level within their social circle, along with driving the right kind of car and sending your kid to the right kind of school.”
Some clubs sell an “equity membership,” which allows members to buy into the club and later sell their membership, leading some people to think of that purchase as an investment, Stuart said. But the membership might not actually increase in value, she said, so thinking of it as an investment is risky, MarketWatch reported.
Yellowstone Club, a private ski club north of Yellowstone National Park in Big Sky, Mont., requires members to own property in the area, according to The New York Times. The Yellowstone Club advertises properties for sale on its website, starting at about $5 million for a condominium. In addition to owning property, members must pay an initial fee of $300,000 and $36,000 a year for dues, The New York Times reported in 2014.
The Fisher Island (Fla.) Club also only offers its full “equity membership” to property owners and “a limited number of non-property owners,” according to its website, which includes priority reservations for golf, tennis, spa and cabanas, a private beach, a pool, lounge, aviary with exotic birds and a sushi bar. The initiation fee is $250,000 and annual dues are $20,330, MarketWatch reported.
Bayonne (N.J.) Golf Club requires a $75,000 initiation fee and an $18,500 annual fee. National Golf Links of America, in Southampton, N.Y., charges a $150,000 initiation fee and $10,000 in annual dues. East Hampton Golf Club advises prospective members on their website that they must have an individual (or joint, with a spouse) net worth of more than $1 million, excluding their home, furnishings and automobiles, or have an adjusted gross income of more than $200,000 individually, or $300,000 with a spouse. And The Bridge golf club in Bridgehampton, N.Y., reportedly had an initiation fee of $750,000 in 2007, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Although pricey clubs have been able to maintain, or even increase their membership fees, the U.S. golf industry as a whole has been experiencing slow growth in participation. People who are passionate about golf are still be willing to shell out for their favorite hobby, though. The golf magazine Links found in a survey of its readers (73% of whom belong to private golf clubs) that they spend 70 days on average playing golf each year and spend more than $4,000 annually to travel to play golf, MarketWatch reported.
“Having nice facilities, to be known when you walk in, having staff know your name, it’s comfortable, it’s safe,” Stuart said. “Some have the discretionary income to spend and truly enjoy it as a way to reward themselves for their hard work.”
The highest-end luxury clubs, which have limited numbers of members, many of whom have belonged to the clubs for generations, still have a market, said Jacob Zucker, the head of marketing for the concierge service Quintessentially. “They know who to keep happy,” he said.
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