It's a business decision, if the rich person wants to pay and its more profitable than the alternative and/or may get massive press or social exposure than it may get a yes.
If a mega-celebrity wants to visit the Louvre, the Louvre (and French police) don't want the headache of it getting leaked on social media and thousands of fanatical Stans turning up as a mob, so safer to arrange a private viewing.
London museums as an example are routinely strategically sponsored by companies and individual with bad reputations.Example https://cultureunstained.org/2025/11/18/british-museum-drops... and Saudi Arabia has been whitewashing the killing of the journalist via bankrolling Sports.
Frito Lay or isn't gonna stop a line because some bearing is dying. Someone is gonna show up on Friday night and get to work.
Basically just about any museum (or similar) in the world is happy to accept large sums of money from rich people in exchange for exclusive experiences. This helps fund the museums and everyone wins.
The public state college I attended rented out Six Flags every fall semester for a day, with free (or nearly free/subsidized) tickets for students.
It was a great way to attend, because it was basically students-only, so no need to worry wasting insane amounts of time in lines. And overall, the vibes were great.
In fact, a lot of colleges have a pool of money for just this kind of activity.
Rutgers used some of this money to organize a paintball trip. On the way back from that trip is how the club got started which then turned into a team etc. I was one of the first officers and that's what led to me working in pro paintball several years later.
If rich people pay money for private access and part of that money ends up being used for preservation: Good.
I understand why people don't usually hire a person to walk then around when they're traveling solo or with their family, but if you're a mildly curious person it's a fantastic way to experience museums, archeology and nature.
archieve.is is accessible https://archive.is/Ei7AE
Plenty of normal folks start businesses in various industries and get rich off of it. You can make tens of millions of dollars running a restaurant chain, a trades business, manufacturing, a car repair shop, car dealership etc. But those are not elite jobs.
The Atlantic's reader base is the exact target audience for such services
The Atlantic does do branded content from time to time, but they always explicitly label it as such. I would bet a substantial sum that this article is not an advertisement.