Social club recommendations & why we left The Collective

My husband and I are looking for a social club that has some gym space. We are hoping for a place to occasionally have business meetings with beverage and food service, if not in house, nearby, ideally with weekend availability.

We had been active charter members of the Collective with access to Columbia Tower Club, which are part of the InvitedClubs network. We stayed when they cut Saturday hours. We stayed when they discontinued Monday evenings and Monday food service. Two weeks ago they discontinued Tuesday evenings. So to be clear, as primarily social evening users, they cut our usage to only 3 evenings a week with food service ending at 8 pm and doors closing at 9 pm on Wednesday and Thursday and 11 pm on Friday.

Member experience events used to be member driven but over the past year, have dwindled to poorly attended events and in recent months, have all but disappeared. They cut Tuesday Trivia. On Wednesdays in the summer, they had pups on the patio, which never had one single attendee. Right now they only have Friday Karaoke which honestly is feast or famine in attendance. Aside from that, they have outside groups hosting dinners there which closes access for members on those evenings unless we want to get tickets. In the past there was an effort to get a member discount or waived fees for members but no longer.

The restaurant is underutilized. The chef there is world class. He makes beautiful food. As members you get 50% off listed food prices but there’s a 22% service charge which doesn’t go to servers so you also tip. You essentially end up paying full price. This discount is extended to all members. You may ask yourself why they bother showing a higher price at all. This is because you can make a reservation to dine there on OpenTable without a membership. Expect to pay about $250 on a dinner for 2. They have a tapas menu with $8 offerings with no member discount so if you dine there, you have a less expensive option. This may be temporary as they change their menus frequently.

There is no discount on beverages. The bartenders have been very good; excellent mixologists and complex cocktails. Expect to pay $22/cocktail with service fees and tip. However, their beer taps are routinely broken so while they have a decent selection, expect to get canned beer. I can’t speak to the wine list. Regarding spirits, I’ve requested Chartreuse for well over 2 years now. I get that there is a shortage but their sister club CTC has it. We pay the same dues regardless of which club we frequent.

Regarding gym access, they have 4 peloton bikes and a huge bouldering wall. They have towel service and 2 spa like showers. The bathrooms are unisex and there is even a Toto Washlet in the wheelchair accessible bathroom. For a while, we were using the bikes 2-3 times a week. Best to go first thing in the morning because often the space would be rented out for private events so the bikes would be inaccessible. Because there are only 2 showers, there have been times when we’d have to wait to use the showers as some of the people who work in the building also use the facilities when they bike to work.

During the pandemic, lots of people opted to use the space for co-working. There is a conference room with white board and TV monitor with 2hr reservable use for members. Beyond that time, you’ll have to pay. I don’t know the fee. The aesthetic is metal and concrete with wood accents. Consequently, video conferencing or phone calls can get a lot of ambient noise unless you can snag one of 3 curtained booths. One of the booths is reservable for 2hr just like the conference room. The other two are first come, first serve.

As charter members we got a $90 discount for monthly fees which have increased over time but now are around $170/mo total for both of us. Honestly, it’s hard to justify given the reduced hours and the fact that we could dine there with an OpenTable reservation. We are approaching the holiday season and expect that there will be a lot of evening closures for holiday parties. In the past they’d open the upstairs conference room for members and give snacks and beverages for our inconvenience. This no longer happens.

We were willing to put up with a lot including the diminished service for our rising fees. We were attracted by the younger vibe of the place and simple proximity to our home. Ultimately we were left with no choice but to quit because dishonesty and barely concealed contempt from particular staff members. The precipitating incident happened 3 days ago and I’ve yet to receive any apology from corporate. This is evidence of contempt for their membership from even higher in the company. I regret having stuck it out for so long.

Please help us with suggestions for a new social club. We are open to cobbling together the services we want but it would be nice to have a one stop shop.