Inside the Rise of New Beach Clubs: 8 Openings to Watch in 2026

Prices in Palm Beach are up 117% in five years, according to Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2025 — outpacing every other US market in the firm’s PIRI 100 index. The same Knight Frank Wealth Report 2025 places Miami at 84.3%, Orange County at 66.5%, St Tropez at 58.4%, and the Algarve at 57.8%. The wealth has moved to the water, and the next generation of private beach clubs is racing to meet it. This isn’t a return to the cabana-and-rum-punch model. The new wave is being engineered around hyper-personalization, wellness infrastructure, and the kind of social-membership experience that high-net-worth families now expect. The Deloitte Global Powers of Luxury 2026 report frames the shift bluntly: demand is moving “from products to experiences,” with travel, hospitality, and immersive retail leading the rebalance.

According to the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2025, Dubai leads five-year prime residential growth at 147% and Palm Beach at 117%. Thermal and mineral springs market forecast of $97.6B by 2028 and 230+ pipeline projects per the GWI Global Wellness Economy Monitor 2024.

Why Beach Clubs Are Having a Moment

Three forces are converging. First, capital. Knight Frank’s family-office survey found that 25% of family offices with active residential portfolios plan new acquisitions in the next 18 months, with sunbelt and resort markets leading the bid — resort markets posted nearly 30% five-year growth versus 19% for global cities, per the Wealth Report 2025. The five-year prime residential price growth figures below, drawn from the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2025 PIRI 100 index, illustrate exactly where that capital is flowing.

According to the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2025 PIRI 100 index, five-year prime residential price growth by market (2019–2024): Dubai 147%, Palm Beach 117%, Miami 84.3%, Orange County 66.5%, St Tropez 58.4%, Algarve 57.8%.

Second, lifestyle diversification by luxury operators. The Deloitte Global Powers of Luxury 2026 report found that 9.8% of luxury executives plan moderate-to-major investment in extending their brand universes into hospitality, wellness, and design — with momentum strongest in Japan (20%), France (14%), and the Middle East (13.3%). Hospitality leads omnichannel investment among Deloitte’s Global Powers of Luxury 2026 surveyed categories at 14.2%. The breakdown by market, sourced from the same Deloitte report, is shown below. Third, the wellness layer. The GWI Global Wellness Economy Monitor 2024 projects the thermal and mineral springs sector alone will grow at 9.2% annually through 2028, reaching $97.6 billion globally, with more than 230 new projects in the development pipeline. Beach clubs are absorbing that playbook — saunas, cold plunges, longevity programming — and folding it into the seafront experience.

The 8 Openings (and Markets) to Watch

Below are the eight destinations and project archetypes club professionals should be tracking through 2026. Each represents a different thesis on what a modern beach club should be.

• 1. West Palm Beach. The Coldwell Banker Global Luxury Trend Report 2025 calls West Palm “a refined yet relaxed atmosphere, with real estate options that are more accessible than its pricier counterparts” — sitting just two miles from Palm Beach. With Palm Beach prices up 117% in five years, per the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2025, the spillover demand is creating room for new social-membership beach clubs catering to the HENRY tier and second-home buyers priced out of the island.
• 2. Miami / Surfside corridor. Miami’s five-year growth of 84.3%, per the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2025, cooled in 2024 but the cultural pull remains. Coldwell Banker’s Global Luxury Trend Report 2025 notes Miami draws global wealthy buyers with “events like Art Basel, a diverse culinary scene, and a cosmopolitan population” — fertile ground for the next generation of branded-residential beach clubs.
• 3. St Tropez. Up 58.4% over five years, per Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2025. The Mediterranean’s most enduring beach-club brand market is also the most contested — expect tighter, more curated openings tied to villa rentals and yacht-tender access rather than open-deck day clubs.
• 4. The Algarve. Portugal’s coast posted 57.8% five-year growth, per Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2025. Coldwell Banker’s Global Luxury Trend Report 2025 highlights Lisbon and Portugal more broadly as a magnet for U.S., U.K., and Brazilian expatriates seeking “one of the mildest climates in Europe.” Beach club openings here are skewing toward longer-stay, residential-anchored membership models.
• 5. Dubai (Palm Jebel Ali). Dubai prices are up 147% in five years — the top market in Knight Frank’s PIRI 100. Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2025 identifies Palm Jebel Ali specifically as “a new prime market,” with $1.1 billion in luxury sales between January and September 2024 and cash purchases accounting for 89% of total transaction value across the emirate. New beach club concepts attached to those residential phases are the ones to watch.
• 6. Orange County. Up 66.5% over five years and 9.3% in 2024 alone — the highest single-year growth in Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2025 prime US basket. Coastal Orange County is the natural extension market for California buyers seeking the same coastline without the regulatory and tax friction of Los Angeles.
• 7. Bali and the Indonesian coast. The ISPA European Spa Leaders’ Resource 2026 highlights Indonesia’s 11% growth trajectory, “representing the impact of new hotel openings and rapidly expanding spa culture.” That growth is washing into a new wave of beach-and-wellness hybrid clubs along Bali’s southern coast and Lombok.
• 8. The hot-springs-meets-beach hybrid. Charles Davidson, co-founder of Australia’s Peninsula Hot Springs, told the ISPA European Spa Leaders’ Resource 2026 that bathing has become “a reality experience in an increasingly virtual world.” With nearly 300 new thermal and mineral springs establishments opened from 2020 to 2023, per the GWI Global Wellness Economy Monitor 2024, the most interesting 2026 openings will be the ones that fuse the seawater club with thermal bathing circuits — a category that barely existed five years ago.

What Separates the New Generation

Three things, all of them lifted from luxury hospitality rather than legacy club operations. Social wellness as the anchor product. Alice Lightfoot, director of spa and fitness at Jumeirah Carlton Tower, told the ISPA European Spa Leaders’ Resource 2026 that “demand for social membership clubs has surged in recent years,” with members “no longer simply looking for a traditional club atmosphere, but expect cutting-edge wellness facilities with highly effective technology, health-focused food, exclusive networking opportunities and curated private experiences.” Beach clubs that show up in 2026 with only a pool and a poke bowl will struggle. Hyper-personalization as table stakes. Deloitte’s Global Powers of Luxury 2026 identifies “a surge in demand for hyper-personalization and data enabled services” as the foremost luxury consumer trend for the next 12 months. Translate that to beach club operations: dynamic cabana pricing, member preference systems, and AI-supported concierge — Deloitte notes adoption is split between assessment and selective implementation, with “roughly one in ten executives already embedding the technology in core functions.” Lifestyle ecosystems, not single venues. The same Deloitte Global Powers of Luxury 2026 report flags lifestyle diversification — extending brand universes “into sectors like hospitality, wellness, design, and home” — as a major five-year growth vector. Expect 2026 openings to arrive paired with branded residences, concept restaurants, and members’ clubs in the nearest gateway city.

According to the Deloitte Global Powers of Luxury 2026, share of luxury executives planning moderate-to-major investment in extending their brand universes into hospitality, wellness, and design: Japan 20%, France 14%, Middle East 13.3%, global average 9.8%.

What It Means for Existing Beach and Country Clubs

Most existing private beach and country clubs were not built for this competitive set. Three immediate implications:

• Re-underwrite the wellness footprint. If thermal and mineral springs are growing at 9.2% annually, per the GWI Global Wellness Economy Monitor 2024, and members increasingly arrive expecting saunas, cold plunges, and longevity-oriented programming, a tired locker-room-and-massage spa is now a churn risk, not a sunk cost.
• Audit the social membership tier. The ISPA European Spa Leaders’ Resource 2026 describes the Jumeirah model member as someone who wants “intentional rest and connectivity, where work, leisure, and wellness blend seamlessly.” Many legacy beach clubs have no product for that member — and the new openings will.
• Defend the value-for-money story. Coldwell Banker’s Global Luxury Trend Report 2025 notes that even HNWIs “are not entirely immune to rising costs,” and that wealthy buyers “are less willing to pay premium prices for properties or locations that don’t deliver clear, tangible value.” Initiation fees and dues need a defensible narrative; the new clubs will arrive with one pre-built.

The next 12 months will reveal which markets convert this capital and demand into durable, dues-paying membership — and which produce a wave of overbuilt, undermanaged dayclubs. The clubs that win will look less like beach clubs of the 2010s and more like the social-wellness, residentially-anchored hospitality ecosystems that the wealthiest buyers are already migrating toward.