Imagine this: you’ve just landed in Bali and, after dropping your bags at the five-star InterContinental Bali, you head out for an afternoon of activities. On return, you visit the exclusive Club InterContinental, where you’re greeted with ice-cold drinks, an included high tea and access to the resort’s most coveted pool.
Or this: after a morning spent hanging ten on the legendary Waikiki break, you return to your club room at Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort, shower, and head up to the open-air Voyager 47 Club Lounge. Looking out over one of the world’s most recognisable coastlines, you work through a complimentary Hawaiian-style breakfast and free-flowing Kona coffee. Tonight, you’ll return for sunset pupus (appetisers) and mai tais.
That’s the appeal of hotel club rooms: exclusive access to a private lounge, bundled with the room price and carrying privileges most guests in the hotel won’t even know exist. Put simply, it’s the hotel equivalent of business class – often obtained at a much lower price. The quality and benefits vary widely by region and chain.
Complimentary drinks, canapes and dining
Most club lounges offer a dedicated breakfast area, separate from general guests, with live cooking stations, hot à la carte menus and sparkling wine. Free-flow refreshments (coffee, tea and soft drinks) are typically included throughout the day, with some, like Club Sofitel at Sofitel Melbourne on Collins, also offering a complimentary light lunch and French high tea.
Come evening, complimentary canapes and sundowners are standard at most properties; Padma Resort Ubud’s Club Lounge, for instance, offers a generously extended selection of craft beers, wines and cocktails. Guests dining outside the club schedule are often extended a discount across the hotel’s restaurants – a good reason to venture out of the lounge occasionally.
Priority check-in, butler service and dedicated concierge
Nusa Dua Beach Hotel & Spa Bali promises guests they’ll be treated like Balinese royalty in the Palace Club Wing, and they mean it. Upgraded club suites include private check-in and checkout, all-day refreshments and butler service on request.
Most hotel club room programmes deliver similar services, with some, like InterContinental Bali, even offering a luxury airport transfer for suite and villa guests. Dedicated club concierges make organising day trips, booking restaurants or finding a good ATM straightforward, while complimentary shoeshine, clothes-pressing and turndown services add convenience to any stay.
Better rooms, better amenities
Most hotel club rooms come with better views and upgraded in-room amenities as standard: think higher floors, finer toiletries and the kind of bedding that makes checkout genuinely difficult. Quincy Melbourne’s Skyline rooms offer Kevin Murphy toiletries, for example.
The small details are often what justify the price difference. If you’re the kind of traveller who notices thread counts and remembers which hotel stocked the good coffee, a club room will suit you well.
Club lounges with views worth arriving early for
Because club lounges cater to a smaller, more exclusive group of guests, their design tends toward the opulent. You’ll find this most pronounced in Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong, Bali and Bangkok, particularly), though it holds true across Europe and the United States too.
Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort’s Voyager 47 Club Lounge makes the most of its position directly on Waikiki Beach, while Dubai’s Atlantis, The Palm impresses with grand chandeliers, mother-of-pearl decor and a palm-fringed rooftop terrace with Arabian Sea views at sunset.
Travelling to New Zealand? Recognised as Oceania’s leading executive club lounge for multiple consecutive years at the World Travel Awards, InterContinental Wellington’s Club InterContinental offers panoramic, floor-to-ceiling harbour views with plush seating set around freestanding fireplaces. Morning or evening, it’s a good reason to linger.
A quiet space to work or wait out a long layover
Need to check your emails or have an evening flight to catch? Quiet, comfortable and well-stocked with power outlets, newspapers and magazines, club lounges offer a low-key place to while away a few hours. For those who need extra assistance taking the edge off, The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo often features a live harpist.
So, are hotel club rooms worth it?
A hotel club room is worth it when the included benefits offset the price difference – typically when the lounge offers free breakfast, evening drinks and canapes, which together can easily represent $80–$150 per person, per day, in saved costs. They’re especially good value on longer stays, for business travellers who need a quiet workspace, or for anyone arriving at odd hours, who wants a guaranteed soft landing. For a one-night city stopover, the premium is harder to justify.
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Featured image: Raffles Dubai Club Lounge
