The norm is for hotels to add additional facilities, or outsource services. But The Arts Club in London’s prime Mayfair area has done it the other way round. The private members’ club has leased offices on the top three floors of the five-floor building to create a 12-room hotel, designed, like the Club, by David d’Almada (best known for The Norman in Tel Aviv).
“This is another service for our members, and we have no marketing costs as members sometimes stay over, or they recommend our rooms to friends. Anyone can buy a room here via a club member,” said The Arts Club COO Remy Lysé, who formerly ran the trendy Wolseley restaurant on London’s Piccadilly.
The Club anyway closes at 3 a.m., and opens for members’ breakfasts at 7.30 a.m., so Lysé now only has to employ additional labor to cover 3 a.m.-7.30 a.m., and to service the bedrooms. While staying over, hotel guests have full use of the club’s facilities, including the basement Leo’s supper club, which just opened on October 10.
The Arts Club originally opened in 1863 and today is owned by venture capitalist Gary Landesberg, and Arjun Waney, whose sprawling restaurant empire includes Zuma and the LatAsian DOA, which launched in Miami and is scheduled, also, for Boston and Washington, D.C. On The Arts Club front, the pair hopes to replicate the club+hotel concept in Los Angeles, if they can find a suitable building.