A members' club does not sell to everyone. Its website should not try to. The job is different from a restaurant's or a hotel's: it has to give the right people enough to want in, while keeping enough back that membership still feels worth having.
Clubs on X increasingly drive membership through online applications, with posts that end "Apply for membership today" or invite people to "request an invite". The website is where that application starts. This guide covers what a members' club website needs, and how the same ideas apply to cocktail bars and late-night venues that want guests to feel invited rather than simply admitted.
What a prospective member wants to know
Someone considering a club usually wants to understand:
- What the club is for. Who belongs, and what brings them together.
- What the space is like. Rooms, bar, dining, terraces, hours.
- What membership includes. Access, guests, events, reciprocal clubs.
- How to join. Whether you apply, need a proposer, or are invited.
- What it costs. Or at least how fees are structured.
Clubs vary a great deal in how much they share publicly, especially about fees. Some publish them. Others share them after an application. Either approach can work, but the site should say plainly which you follow: "Fees are shared with applicants after an introductory conversation" is better than silence.
Show the house without giving it all away
The tension in a club website is between showing enough and showing too much. A few principles help:
- Show the rooms, not the members. Members join partly for privacy. Use photos of the spaces, the bar and the food, and keep guests out of shot unless they have agreed.
- Suggest the evening. Low light, detail shots, the bar being set up. The mood matters more than the floor plan.
- Describe the spaces in words. A short paragraph about each room, what it is used for and when, helps people picture themselves there.
- Keep some things for members. Event details, the full calendar, the members' directory. Not everything has to be public.
Motion can help set the mood, but keep it calm. Slow fades and candlelit tones suit a club. Fast, busy animation does not.
The invitation or application flow
The way someone applies is part of the club's identity. A plain "Contact us" form does not feel like an application. Options include:
- A request-an-invite form, with name, email, occupation and how they heard of the club
- An application with more detail, such as interests, why they want to join and a proposer if you require one
- A waiting list, if membership is closed
Tell applicants what happens next and roughly when: "We review applications monthly and will be in touch within four weeks." Silence after an application is the fastest way to lose a good candidate.
Keep the form short enough that people finish it. Collect the rest in a conversation.
If you require a proposer or seconder, explain what that means and what an applicant should do if they do not know an existing member. Some clubs offer an introductory visit or a guest evening for exactly this reason. If you do, say so on the page.
Events that keep members coming back
Events are a large part of why members stay, and a public events page also attracts new members. Show:
- Upcoming events with dates, times and a short description
- Which events are members-only and which are open to guests
- How to book or register
- Past events, briefly, to show the range
Keep the events page current. An events list that ends three months ago suggests a club that has gone quiet. A content system that lets you add an event through a form, instead of editing a page, makes this much easier.
A journal for the club's voice
A journal, with short pieces on new menus, guest speakers, the people behind the bar, the history of the building, gives the club a voice. It also gives search engines something to index beyond a few pages, and gives prospective members a reason to return.
Keep entries short and regular. A few paragraphs and a photo, once or twice a month, is enough.
Bars without membership: the same principles
Not every venue with this feel is a members' club. Cocktail bars, speakeasies, hotel bars and private dining rooms often want the same atmosphere. The same ideas carry over:
- Show the room and the drinks, not a crowd.
- Treat booking as a reservation with a welcome, not a transaction.
- Use events for tastings, guest bartenders and late nights.
- Use a journal for the menu changes and the people.
For a bar, the "invitation" might simply be the booking form, with a note on dress code, house rules or how to find the door.
Setting up The Aubrey
The Aubrey is a dark, cinematic Framer template for members' clubs, bars, restaurants and hospitality brands, described on its page as "a members' club, after dark". It is built for members' clubs, bars and restaurants, boutique hotels and private dining.
It is a complete multi-page site with candlelit motion, a working velvet-rope invitation flow, and Events and Journal collections on the CMS. It has responsive breakpoints and free updates, and costs $49.
To set it up:
1. Rewrite the club's story in your own voice.
2. Replace the demo photography with your own rooms and spaces. Demo images are for demonstration only.
3. Adapt the invitation flow to how you actually admit members, and connect it to your inbox.
4. Add your upcoming events and a few journal entries before launch.
5. Decide what you will say about fees, and say it plainly.
If you run a restaurant rather than a club, see Framer templates for restaurants. For more club options, see Framer templates for private members' clubs.
A club website does not need to tell everyone everything. It needs to show the right people what the house is like, how to ask to join, and that someone will answer.