Mar-a-Lago, once Donald Trump’s longtime winter getaway spot, became the center of his political operation after he left office in 2021—a designation insiders say won’t change as he’s now headed back to the White House for another four years.
The estate spans 17 acres on the southeast Florida coast, nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Worth Lagoon. Its dual waterfronts are what earned it its moniker—which translates to “sea-to-lake” in Spanish—when it was built during Florida’s real estate boom in the 1920s.
Trump purchased the property six decades later, in 1985, just after U.S. lawmakers determined it was too expensive to maintain as a potential “winter White House,” as its original owner hoped it would be. Now, however, it appears the elite members-only club could become an oceanfront White House of sorts, after Trump’s election win this week.
Below is a look at Mar-a-Lago in its current state, as both Trump’s home and political epicenter.
A pricey foot in the door
New members wanting to join Mar-a-Lago’s club have to shell out an eye-popping $1 million initiation fee if they want to rub shoulders with the president-elect, the club’s manager, Bernd Lembcke, told Bloomberg this summer. That’s a $300,000 increase from its fee at the start of 2024.
Lembcke explained that the price hike came down to supply and demand, with only a handful of spots available to keep the exclusive club under its strict cap of 500 total members. Perhaps the rising membership demand shouldn’t be all that surprising. Trump will soon hold the world’s most powerful office again, and the ability to gain favor and access to Trump through Mar-a-Lago—or at least try to—is sure to be widely sought after.
“We are going up to $1 million because we have four memberships to sell,” Lembcke told Bloomberg. “We are not desperate.”
In addition to the hefty initiation fee, members have been asked to pay dues that total around $20,000 annually. It’s those sort of fees that have made Mar-a-Lago a cash cow for Trump since he converted the property into a club in 1995.
Those fees grant members access to “the formal and casual dining areas, the Mar-a-Lago Spa, the pool, the Beach Club, breathtaking guest rooms and exclusive suites, a state-of the-art-fitness center, award-winning tennis courts, beautiful croquet lawns, and an entertainment series which hosts internationally world-renowned talent.” And, of course, the off-chance of bumping into the president-elect as he walks around hallways that include portraits of himself.
Among the performers to headline events at Mar-a-Lago over the years are Andrea Bocelli, Céline Dion, Billy Joel, and Diana Ross.
World leaders who have visited the property include the former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. With such big names in the building, it’s not surprising the club is also outfitted with a trio of bomb shelters.
As of Friday, Mar-a-Lago’s website appeared still to be pitching itself to prospective members, suggesting it hasn’t yet reached its 500-person limit.
Meet the members
As much as Palm Beach is known for its wealth, the insular city that Jeffrey Epstein infamously frequented is also known for its secrecy. The same theme permeates Mar-a-Lago, which has never publicly shared a list of its members.
Still, word has gotten out about Mar-a-Lago members over the years. Those paying dues to the club, as of 2017, included the oil executive and MAGA mega donor Bill Koch, the recently indicted New Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross, the conservative radio host Howie Carr, and New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
A review by The New York Times that same year revealed Mar-a-Lago’s member list included “dozens of real estate developers, Wall Street financiers, energy executives, and others whose businesses could be affected by Mr. Trump’s policies.”
At least three members were being considered for ambassadorships in the Trump administration at the time, the Times reported. Not long after, all three got cushy government gigs overseas.
Lana Marks, a luxury handbag designer, became the U.S. ambassador to South Africa despite having no diplomatic experience. Adrian Zuckerman, a Trump golfing buddy and lawyer, served in the same role in Romania. The jewelry magnate David Cornstein, another longtime pal to Trump, was shipped out to be the U.S. ambassador to Hungary.
It’s too early to tell if a similar theme is emerging inside Mar-a-Lago this time around, but we’ll likely have a better picture after the dust settles over the coming weeks.
Other big names to have reportedly been paid members of the club include: Thomas Peterffy, the billionaire founder of Interactive Brokers Group; Richard LeFrak, a New York real estate mogul; James Dolan, owner of the New York Knicks; Beth Stern, actress and wife to Howard Stern; and Kenneth M. Duberstein, an ex-lobbyist and the former chief of staff to Ronald Reagan.
Epstein was photographed attending events at Mar-a-Lago prior to the first sexual assault accusations being levied against him in 2005. Trump has been adamant since Epstein’s arrest and suicide in 2019, however, that the former financier had been banned from Mar-a-Lago for over a decade. It’s unclear if Epstein was at any point a paying member.
Come and stay awhile
CNN reported Friday that scores of folks vying for a gig in a second Trump administration have been flying to Florida and descending upon Mar-a-Lago in hopes of getting face time with the president-elect. The network described the rush to impress Trump and land a government job has “turned into a war.”
Trump has shown over the years that he’s willing to look past old rifts if someone is willing to publicly praise him. His recent embracing of Elon Musk—whom he previously mocked as being weak—is the latest evidence of this.
Some of those flocking to visit the soon-to-be president might even be able to sleep under the same roof as him, assuming they’re a club member or have a connection with someone who is one. Mar-a-Lago’s website says it has 58 guest rooms that are “apart from any other club in the world” and are “extraordinary.” However, the website says they’re only made available “to members and their guests.”
It remains unclear just how expensive it is to stay overnight at Mar-a-Lago. Back in 2017, Trump billed U.S. taxpayers at rates as high as $650 per night for each room that Secret Service agents took up inside the club. That price had decreased by 2018, when the rate—billed dozens of times—was just $396.15 per night.
For the deep-pocketed visitors unable to snag a spot at Mar-a-Lago itself, the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach is just five miles up the road. That five-star resort has starting rates of $1,178 per night this weekend. Those hoping to stay within a stone’s throw of Mar-a-Lago could also turn to Airbnb, where a listing titled “The Elysian Retreat” is available just on the other side of Lake Worth Lagoon. That four-bedroom villa costs as much as $2,000 a night during spring break and, perhaps unsurprisingly, is already booked up this holiday weekend.
Mar-a-Lago boasts its own fine dining and beachside bistro eating—where servers say there’s an unspoken rule to never show a check or push for a tip from a Trump family member—but there’s no shortage of dining options around the club, either. The commercial district of Palm Beach, about two miles north of Mar-a-Lago, is packed with art galleries, reality offices, yacht salesman, and, of course, high-end eateries and bars.
Among the local favorites in the area for those who can afford it is weekend brunch at “The Circle” inside The Breakers resort, which charges an eye-popping $195 per person but is considered to be among OpenTable’s “Top 100 Best Restaurants in America.” For those with less cash to spare, the popular South Florida chain Flanigan’s—a bar and grill that often shows sports on its TVs—is one of the closest eateries to Mar-a-Lago, just a mile to its west.
A Florida team for the (adopted) Florida man
It quickly became clear after Trump launched his third presidential campaign—an announcement he made in Nov. 2022 from Mar-a-Lago—that he’d be calling on political operatives from his adopted state to return him to the White House.
As noted by Politico this week, Trump’s hiring of Florida-based Republicans included: Meredith O’Rourke, his finance director; James Blair, his political director; Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser; and Brian Hughes, who became a top adviser after serving as his Florida director during the primaries.
Likely the biggest example of Florida’s prominence in the modern Trumpland was his decision this week to hire Susie Wiles—whom he calls “ice baby”—to be his chief of staff. A 67-year-old New Jersey native, she previously led successful gubernatorial campaigns for Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in Florida, ran a lobbying firm in the state’s capital for a decade, and first called the Sunshine State home in 1985 when she moved to Jacksonville.
“Florida is hot right now, for obvious reasons,” the Republican consultant Max Goodman told Politico. “Florida has quite a bit of talent in terms of what this administration is looking for.”
Trump’s team will have to fill 4,000 appointments in his second administration, and reports suggest he’ll likely call on many of those in Florida for the jobs.
“In conversations with 20 different lawmakers, political operatives, lobbyists and other Florida insiders, the anticipation for a Florida wave crashing into Washington was palpable,” Politico reported this week.
Work aside, Florida is also now home to four of Trump’s five children—with the youngest, Barron, only recently moving away to go to college.
Donald Trump Jr., 46, and Eric Trump, 40, both have residences in Jupiter, a coastal city about 25 miles north of Mar-a-Lago. Ivanka Trump, 43, lives in the affluent enclave of Indian Creek Village just north of South Beach, and Tiffany Trump, 31, lives in Miami. Only 18-year-old Barron, a New York University freshman, currently lives outside the state.
