Weekend Money: $70,000 tables, 2,800 champagne bottles and celebrities galore - inside the world's 'most exclusive' party (2024)

By Ollie Cooper, Money blog reporter

Cars flying at 200mph, 9L bottles of champagne carried by four bartenders and A-list celebrities are just some of the things you can expect to go past you at one of the world's most exclusive parties.

Amber Lounge hosts an annual superyacht party in Monaco to coincide with the eponymous Formula One Grand Prix held there.

Sky News spoke with the company to get an insight into what goes on at one of the most exclusive events in the world.

The company says its parties are "where the international jet-set, royalty, film stars, A-List celebrities and the Formula One fraternity enjoy ultra luxe post-race hospitality and the ultimate trackside afterparty experience".

Amber Lounge is a "travelling lifestyle event", rather than a fixed venue and as such a team of 81 people is expected to set up shop on a tri-decked, 108ft superyacht in just 72 hours, ready for guests to arrive from Thursday ahead of race weekend.

The superyacht is moored just a few feet from the famous Tabac corner, meaning punters party just metres from the action.

Attendees pay a pretty penny to come along and naturally expect a lot for their considerable investment - with free-flowing Dom Perignon and bottomless caviar just a couple of the amenities included.

Given their clientele, the company has dealt with some fairly extravagant requests over the years - including having to organise a private flight to nearby Nice, followed by a helicopter drop-off to Monte Carlo - and finally a chauffeur service to take guests to the event.

The guest list regularly features F1 drivers themselves, as well as celebrities from Justin Bieber to Pamela Anderson.

Given there are so many high-flyers and A-listers, Amber Lounge also allows personal security personnel in free of charge, so long as they are working.

The company estimates around 56,000 bottles of champagne have been popped on its decks in Monaco across the 20 years it's been running - that's about 2,800 across the three days each year.

During the day (and included within your ticket price), you can expect luxury tender transfers, an all-day open bar, Mediterranean buffets and live DJ sets.

By night, guests are whisked away to a bespoke pop-up club built on the terrace of Le Méridien Beach Plaza - the only hotel in Monte Carlo with its own private beach and direct tender access to the F1 track.

The money

The event promises to be the "most exclusive" of its kind among everything on offer in Monaco on race weekend.

That's a pretty bold claim, given that it's hosted in a country famed for affluence, extravagance and eye-watering prices.

As a result, you won't be surprised to see the price list.

VIP tables, of which there are usually between five and 10, cost about $40,000 per night, but you can get access as a regular guest for around $5,000 for the three days.

Here are the listed prices for next year, although it's worth noting that for bespoke VIP packages, you'll need to reach out to organisers personally, with some going for as much as $70,000 for a single night.

If you choose to look at the numbers another way, these high value tickets represent value for money.

The starting price of a week's charter on Mac One, the superyacht hired by Amber Lounge, starts at around $134,000 (£105,000) per week plus expenses.

When that's stacked up against a $5,100 three-day viewing package, the ticket prices don't seem quiteso bad.

Tickets are like gold dust, with the guest list always full and tables already selling for 2025's event.

"Amber Lounge is known to be the most extravagant party and it's no secret that no expense is spared in making it bigger and better each year," Amber Lounge managing director Lauren Green told Sky News.

There's been lots of news coming from the mortgage market this week as hopes of an interest rate cut in August increased (slightly).

While analysts still say it's most likely that the Bank will hold rates at 5.25% when it meets next Thursday, one lender made a move that suggested the worst for mortgage rates could be over - and a day later two banks followed suit.

On Wednesday, Nationwide became the first major lender to introduce a mortgage deal for less than 4%, which one analyst branded a "sure sign the worst is behind us".

Then on Thursday, Barclays and TSB announced cuts to mortgage deals in a "major boost" for borrowers.

Brokers said rate reductions were "picking up the pace" - but called on lenders to do more to support borrowers with higher loan to value levels.

"Further rate cuts from big lenders are a major boost to borrowers and are showing the Bank of England how it's done," Stephen Perkins, Yellow Brick Mortgages' managing director, said.

Are you struggling because of high interest rates? Sky News is keen to hear from people who are due to refix their mortgages, are on variable rates or are trying to get on the housing ladder. Email us your stories at sky.today@sky.uk

In less positive news, the number of people who are not saving enough money to live off in retirement is rising, according to a report this week.

About a million more people than a year ago are at risk of falling short of having a minimum lifestyle standard in retirement, Scottish Widows found.

Nearly two-fifths (38%) of people are estimated not to be on track for even the minimum amount to live off - up from 35% last year.

The increase equates to an additional 1.2 million people.

Scottish Widows used the retirement living standards produced by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association to make the finding.

The minimum standards under its definition are having enough income in retirement to cover basic needs with some left over for fun.

For example, this includes being able to afford a one-week UK holiday and having £50 to spend a week on groceries or £95 as a couple. The minimum standard assumes that someone would not have a car.

The increase in those projected to fall short of the minimum standards has been driven by rising living costs, the report said.

It added: "More people will be renting or carrying mortgage repayments on through retirement in the future."

Scottish Widows has suggested a roadmap to increase minimum contributions into pensions from 8% to 12%, "with a strong steer that those who can afford 15% should do so".

Ourbusiness presenter Ian King took a closer look at this news on Tuesday. You can read his full analysis here...

This week, we've seen positive news in the mortgage market, not so good news for pensions and the price of ice creams rocket.

But the thing a lot of you wanted to get in touch about was the new series we launched called Bring it Back.

Every Tuesday, we'll work out if your favourite discontinued snack is returning to supermarket shelves - our focus this week was on the Caramac.

After reading the piece (which you can do here), loads of you got in touch to talk about it.

Here's what some of you had to say:

However nice Caramac was……I believe the bar that needs to be brought back to the shelves is The Drifter bar. Beats every other bar hands down.

Matt

Bring it back Tuesday - please them to bring back the Texan chocolate bar, smooth caramel covered in a thin layer of chocolate. It was my favourite as a kid and was heartbroken when it was taken off the shelves.

Murf65

Bring It Back! The Texan bar was the most chewy chocolatey bar of deliciousness ever, with the orange chewy centre of the bar that once in your mouth could be pulled and stretched. It disappeared in the late 80's early 90's I think. Visiting a sweet shop has never been the same.

Geobhoy

You really need to start a campaign to bring back the Spira chocolate bar from Cadbury.

The Candy Queen

(Stay tuned for this one Candy Queen - we might have something in the works for you)

The other story that got quite a few of you talking was this one about seven of the top 20 airports in the UK increasing their drop-off parking prices.

They should not be allowed to make money for dropping off unless this takes more than five minutes. Alternatively, they should create an accessible area where it is free to drop off within a short walk.

Andy Ush

Ridiculous that airports can charge for simply dropping passengers off. Money making scam for passengers who pay top whack for goods and services when in the airport, as they're a captive audience. Disgusting.

Reader94

I was 4 mins over the other week at 3.30am in the morning and the machine charged me £25. I could have left and come back and had 30mins for £10. How can they do that?

Paul

Yet again we see pure, unadulterated greed by the airports. Every airport should have 30 minutes free parking sections to drop loved ones off. Is this UK? Would not surprise me, all big companies on the take.

Springbok

It is time parking charges at airport drop of is controlled airports are ripping travellers off. Huge fees just to get in. Then horrendous food and drink charges, all this on top of the cost people have paid for their holiday.

Brian

The Money blog is your place for consumer news, economic analysis and everything you need to know about the cost of living - bookmark news.sky.com/money.

It runs with live updates every weekday - while on Saturdays we scale back and offer you a selection of weekend reads.

Check them out this morning and we'll be back on Monday with rolling news and features.

The Money team is Bhvishya Patel, Jess Sharp, Katie Williams, Brad Young, Ollie Cooper and Mark Wyatt, with sub-editing by Isobel Souster. The blog is edited by Jimmy Rice.

A Treasury audit is expected to reveal a £20bn black hole in public spending, Sky News understands.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is due to give a speech on Monday which will reveal the state of the public finances and potentially prepare the ground for tax rises in the autumn.

A Labour source told Sky News that the British public are "finally going to see the true scale of the damage the Conservatives have done to the public finances".

"They spent taxpayers' money like no tomorrow because they knew someone else would have to pick up the bill," the source said.

The founder of TalkTalk has pledged a £400m package to the company's lenders in a bid to win their support for a wide-ranging refinancing.

Sky News has learnt the broadband provider proposed this week that a number of assets would be pledged as part of a deal with the company's bondholders and bank lenders.

Sources said TalkTalk - founded and chaired by one of Britain's most successful entrepreneurs, Sir Charles Dunstone - was also proposing to bring the broadband customer base it acquired from Shell Energy within the perimeter of the bondholders' security package.

Here our business presenter Ian King takes a look at NatWest's current situation after it posted another set of results that were better than expected - and raised its profit forecasts for the year.

It also announced an eye-catching acquisition - agreeing to pay up to £2.4bn in cash for a £2.5bn portfolio of 10,000 household mortgages from Metro Bank.

News of the acquisition comes barely a month after NatWest agreed to buy most of Sainsbury's Bank, bringing it an estimated one million new accounts and a book of unsecured loans to the sum of £2.5bn.

At least 140,000 pensioners are set to receive tax demands over the next six weeks for the first time since they retired.

The demands are being issued to those whose state and private pension income has gone above the £12,570 income tax threshold, which is frozen until 2027/28.

The combination of frozen tax thresholds and increases to the state pension means more pensioners are being dragged into the tax net.

In total, 560,000 customers who have not paid enough tax will receive a letter from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the next six weeks.

Notices will be delivered to those who have taxable income but are either not in self assessment, or HMRC cannot automatically deduct the tax they owe.

Instead, their tax is paid through a "simple assessment", which means they do not have to fill out a tax return.

Where HMRC already holds all the information on someone's taxable income and collects that tax through the PAYE system, it can work out their tax liability without them needing to fill out a full tax return.

Where insufficient tax has been collected - for example, from pensioners who only receive a state pension - it writes at the end of the tax year with a tax demand.

People usually have until January 2025 to pay the bill, and have the option to pay in instalments.

Steve Webb, partner at pension consultants LCP, said the size of the bill should be relatively small, but warned it could grow year-on-yearif the current policy of freezing tax thresholds continues.

"The recipients of these letters are not well off, and some will have a living standard below the pensions industry's assessment of the minimum income needed for a basic quality of life," he said.

"The new government needs to take an urgent look at whether taxing so many people on such modest levels of income in retirement is really the right way to proceed."

By Lara Keay, news reporter

Arson attacks on multiple French train lines have thrown people's trips to the Paris Olympics into doubt.

France's rail operator SNCF confirmed that "several simultaneous malicious acts" overnight mean that trains to Paris from Bordeaux, Lille, and Strasbourg will likely be severely disrupted for the whole weekend.

Eurostar is also having to divert its services, urging people not to travel - and warning many journeys have been cancelled - or will take an extra hour-and-a-half.

It may mean those booked to attend the Olympic opening ceremony in Paris on Friday or events over the weekend are unable to travel.

Here we look at what your rights are.

Can I get a refund for my Olympics tickets?

Paris 2024 has not issued any guidance on this specific event.

Some ticket holders may have taken out cancellation insurance with Olympics partner Allianz.

Otherwise the website states: "In accordance with ticketing terms and conditions of sale, tickets for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are neither exchangeable nor refundable. All orders are therefore firm and final."

If events are cancelled, ticket holders automatically get a refund, and if they are postponed, spectators are invited to attend the alternative date.

But if this weekend's disruption constitutes a "force majeure", which the Games defines as an "event beyond the control of the affected party that could not have reasonably been foreseen… liability of Paris 2024 may not be invoked", according to the official website.

Travel editor at Which? Rory Boland says: "If you have tickets to watch the Games and end up missing an event due to the transport issues, it may be possible to claim against your insurance - either against ticket protection insurance if you took this out at the point of purchase, or your travel insurance, depending on the specifics of your policy."

Is the Eurostar running?

Yes, but one in four trains on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are cancelled - with the rest suffering delays of at least an hour-and-a-half.

Eurostar has also urged customers to "postpone their trip if possible", stressing that "customers can cancel free of charge or be refunded".

Those impacted have the following options:

• Change booking to a different date and time free of charge
• Cancel booking for an e-voucher redeemable on any train within the next 12 months
• Get a full refund for free

Hotels and AirBnBs

All accommodation providers have their own cancellation policies - so the first thing to do is check their terms and conditions.

AirBnB is an official sponsor of Paris 2024 - but has not issued a statement specifically on the disruption yet.

Individual hosts will have chosen their preferred cancellation policy:

• Flexible - you can cancel up to 24 hours before the booking and get a full refund. If you cancel less than 24 hours before you only have to pay for the first night
• Moderate - you can cancel up to five days in advance for a full refund
• Firm - you have to cancel 30 days before check-in

AirBnB's "major disruptive events policy" says it does not cover "events that impact a guest or their ability to travel, but not the reservation location" or "transportation disruptions unrelated to a covered event, such as airline insolvency, transportation strikes, and road closures to do maintenance".

If you booked your accommodation as part of a package, you are covered for cancellations by the tour operator.

You may also be protected through your travel insurance - or credit card provider if you booked with one.

Drivers are being taken for an "expensive ride" when filling up at the pump and the government needs to take action - that's the message from the AA today.

It comes after the industry watchdog found consumers were still being ripped off by fuel prices, with competition between retailers "failing" to reduce costs.

In an update on its monitoring of the fuel market, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the cost to all motorists was more than £1.6bn in 2023 alone.

While supermarket chains used to use petrol and diesel as a means of attracting shoppers, that changed after the COVID pandemic when retailers invested in the cost of household essentials instead as the cost of living crisis gathered pace.

Independent fuel retailers have long denied suggestions that prices are too high, insisting critics are taking no account of their own additional costs for things such as wages and electricity.

AA's president Edmund King said his organisation had flagged the growing lack of competition among supermarkets years ago, and called on the government to set up a mandatory "pump watch" scheme so drivers can see the outlets ripping them off.

"Drivers have been taken for a very expensive ride, which is even more worrying during a cost of living crisis," he said.

"As a nation we are dependent on road transport, so uncompetitive fuel prices fuel inflation and lead to those on lower incomes cutting back on other household expenditure."

The AA says average pump prices currently stand at 145.1p a litre for petrol and 150.3p a litre for diesel.

Summer is here and while you enjoy the sun why not also take advantage of the deals, discounts and freebies that are currently on offer.

Here, we take a look at some of the offers out there:

Morrisons

You can get a free bowl of cereal every day of the week if you visit a Morrisons cafe.

No minimum spend is required but the offer is limited to one bowl of cereal per customer, per day.

All you need to do to claim the deal is ask for a "Kellogg's breakfast" at the till.

The offer ends on 4 August.

Tesco

Children can eat for free at a Tesco cafe when an adult makes a purchase and scans their Clubcard.

The offer is available until 30 August in England and Wales and until 16 August in Scotland.

There is no fixed minimum spend required.

Across 50 of its stores, it is also offering customers free vegetables when they purchase a product from children's food brand Ella's Kitchen until 25 August.

If you buy an Ella's Kitchen product online before 3 September, you can add a selected vegetable t your basket for just a penny.

Bella Italia

If you sign up to Bella Italia's newsletter and buy a main meal, you can get a free main meal on your next visit.

There is no end date for the offer at the moment.

You can sign up to the newsletter here.

IKEA

The Swedish store is offering 50% off selected restaurant meals every Friday for those who are members of its family loyalty scheme.

The offer is available each week until 30 August.

You can sign up for the scheme here.

Leon

If you sign up to the Leon Club on the restaurant chain's app, you can redeem a 30% discount code, which you can use onyour next app order for most Leon restaurants.

The code, which is limited to one customer, is valid for 30 days and you just need to enter it at the checkout.

The offer cannot be used with any meal deals or at tills.

McDonald's

Every Monday morning, McDonald's offers discounts on its app, which can be redeemed up until 11.59pm the same day.

The deals are only available when you order through the app to pick up in-store.

Some of the recent discounts have included six chicken nuggets priced at £1.39 and a single McMuffin for £1.19.

The price of a bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk bar is up by as much as 12% since last month, according to a pricing tracker.

A 110g bar now costs 12.1% more in Sainsbury's - going from £1.65 to £1.85.

Increases were also seen in Asda (10% from £1.50 to £1.65) and Waitrose (5.7% from £1.75 to £1.85), the Grocer's tracker found.

In Morrisons and Tesco, the price remained the same at £1.65 and £1.49 respectively.

Mondelez International, which owns Cadbury, told the Money team it was "continuing to experience significantly higher input costs" across its supply chain.

It named cocoa and sugar as two ingredients that are "costing far more than they have done previously".

Costs associated with energy, packaging and transport have also remained high, it said.

"This means that our products continue to be much more expensive to make and while we have absorbed these costs where possible, we still face considerable challenges," a spokesperson said.

"We understand the economic pressures that consumers continue to face and raising prices is a last resort for our business."

The hikes come following a smaller-than-usual cocoa crop in West Africa.

Over the last year, cocoa prices have more than doubled due to disastrous harvests in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, which traditionally produce 60% of the word's supply.

Earlier this month, Mars confirmed it had shrunk tubs of Celebrations, with a 660g box cut to 550g, to deal with rising costs.

The Money team has contacted Sainsbury's, Asda and Waitrose for comment.