A woman has accused members-only club Soho House of being ageist after receiving an email from him shortly after her 30th birthday.
Influencer Serena Kerrigan recently took to TikTok to share the email she was sent. “My 30th birthday is coming up and I am very excited until I received this email from Soho House telling me that since I am turning 30 I no longer qualify for the under 27 discount,” she began her video.
Soho House is an exclusive six-story social club that “provides a home for creative people to gather and belong.”
The club has since expanded beyond its original New York City location to over 185,000 members and 40 “Houses” in the US, UK, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The houses are equipped with club spaces, gyms, spas, bedrooms, screening rooms and swimming pools and allow creatives to connect and network in a luxurious environment, if they can cover the high membership costs.
According to the company's website, membership starts at $666.75 quarterly ($2,667 annually), while members under 27 pay a discounted rate as low as $333.50 quarterly, including a 50 percent discount in food and drinks and certain days. Membership types include Local House, where members get access to the House in their area, and Every House, which allows access to all Houses worldwide.
Kerrigan explained that despite losing her “under 27 discount,” Soho House would give her one more year before charging her the full price. “But since it's a 'historic birthday', we're going to wait to charge me more until I'm 31 years old. This seems discriminatory. This is fucked up,” she said.
“If you're going to wait until next year to charge me more, why wouldn't you wait to notify me until next year to charge me more?” Kerrigan continued.
She shared that the email led her to cancel her membership at Soho House.
“The only thing this email made me feel was that I needed to cancel my Soho House membership. Thank you so much Soho House, you just lost your damn member,” he continued.
“Their service sucks, their food is bad and the vibes are pretty unpleasant. And I guess turning 30 finally made me realize that,” Kerrigan said at the end of the video.
After posting it, his video received more than 300,000 views. Many people took to the comments section to criticize Soho House as a whole.
“Respectfully, Soho House isn't the flexibility it used to be…” one commenter wrote.
Another commenter agreed, writing: “Soho house was cool in 2008. No one would see me dead there.”
“Did I notice the exact same thing when they were still charging during Covid and the answer was to convert it to food credits? And the food is very bad,” wrote a third.
Other commenters criticized Kerrigan for her surprise at the increased costs for her membership.
“I mean it's an Under 27 membership? However, you signed up knowing that and knew you would eventually have to pay more,” one person noted in the comments.
“Welcome to adulthood. Pay,” another agreed.
“We love our members under 27 and have welcomed them to our Houses around the world since 2007,” Soho House wrote in a statement to The independent.
“When you apply for an under 27 membership on our website, it is clear that you benefit from a lower membership rate until you turn 30, but we continue your benefits of 50% off food and drinks, rooms and I stable on certain days until I turn 31. .”
