KEY POINTS:
An Auckland couple I know is thinking about joining Auckland's Northern Club. It's a good networking venue for the pair with its central city location, but the main reason they're keen are its affiliations with clubs worldwide. Such clubs can be treated as a home away from
home and most have more character than any four star hotel.
The couple has travel extensively for work and the Northern's reciprocal list includes venerable institutions such as the RAC in London's Pall Mall, the Hong Kong Club, the RACV Club in Melbourne, the Australian Club in Sydney and Boston's Harvard Club. Many of these are centrally situated and offer competitively priced accommodation.
A Northern Club membership provides access to these international clubs without an annual fee, and the accommodation is "of a very, very high standard", reports Northern Club manager Nicki de Villiers.
Simpson Grierson partner Greg Towers, a Northern Club member since 1991, has used affiliated services at the Australian Club in Sydney and the Athenaeum in Melbourne: "These institutions are well worth a try and the nightly rate is typically a third of the price of a hotel," he says. "It's very good value and [those] clubs do an excellent full breakfast, very reasonably priced.
Towers has Northern-member friends who report happy experiences at well-located affiliated London clubs they've used. Although they don't expect you to turn up from the airport in a three-piece suit, he says, " don't expect to turn up in T-shirts and shorts."
If some of the London clubs inspire feelings of insecurity, they're also modernising to retain members, and including gyms and other sports facilities.
Most overseas clubs welcome women members and the Northern Club seeks links with those that do. Turning the tables, San Francisco's Metropolitan Club has women members only, although men can stay as guests.
Another advantage of overseas clubs is the networking opportunities they offer and visitors can sign up for evening functions.
An annual Northern Club membership costs about $1000 - and executives are now looking to companies to fund this perk, given its savings on overseas accommodation.
- Detours, HoS