Is this Hong Kong’s best new private members’ club? Carlyle & Co occupies three floors at Rosewood and members are selected for their ‘personalities, passions, interests and stories’ over their ‘status and profession’
- Rosewood Hotel Group CEO Sonia Cheng talks The Carlyle New York’s inspirational value, and hospitality and travel trends today
- She says today’s millennial and Gen Z consumers are looking for luxury experiences suffused with wellness and a sense of purpose
Private members’ clubs are starting to pop up around town in Hong Kong, and whether that’s a result from the hospitality movement towards exclusivity and more customised service, or as a reaction to the pandemic-induced need for more private and controlled settings, it seems this trend is here to stay.
The latest private club to launch in Hong Kong is Carlyle & Co, a 25,000 sq ft space inspired by The Carlyle hotel in New York, which opens its doors on June 7. The club, founded by Rosewood Hotel Group CEO Sonia Cheng, occupies three levels in Hong Kong’s Rosewood, and its members are hand-picked for their “personalities, passions, interests and stories – rather than status and profession”.
The chosen members have access to the clubhouse’s private barber, tailor, wine cellar, library, dining and bar concepts, as well as the venue’s private suites, each themed after a specific individual in The Carlyle’s history and tailored to that personality specifically in its design.
Here, Cheng tells STYLE about Carlyle & Co and changes in the hospitality industry at large.
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What was behind your decision to introduce Carlyle & Co to Hong Kong?
The genesis of Carlyle & Co began in [the brand’s hotel in] New York … It’s a melting pot for creativity and a gathering place for local New Yorkers. When I was there, I thought that it would be great if we could recreate this type of spirit and atmosphere and bring it to Hong Kong. We have the opportunity with this building.
We were contemplating what to do with the upper floors of this building above the Rosewood, and I thought about creating this private member’s club, really carry on the Carlyle kind of soul and spirit and bring it into Hong Kong. I grew up in Hong Kong, and very traditional members’ clubs are often very highly priced, which means the community will naturally be defined by income and profession. We really want to create a kind of new breed of members’ club, where it’s about building a community defined not by your income, but by who you are and what you can bring to the club as a person. It’s an exclusive club, but not elitist.