Correct me if I'm wrong but he hasn't even seen Felicia's hideout where the most important scenes happen? 
AFAIK, Felicia will always take the MC to her rooftop garden of solitude after the interview with Elias in Week 2. What changes if the MC is on her path is that she actually explains her motivations and talks about the old art school closing.
Patrons aren't equal, there's hierarchy there.
Edwin: "...I thought that everyone was equal brothers around here."
Samson: "Ha, you thought wrong, kid! You put any two shitheads together and poof! You got a hierarchy on your hands."
Samson and that slimy teacher are at the bottom, Abel is at the very top.
There is also that ambassador who licks other's cum, how could anyone shake is hand is beyond me and yet they do it. There is no kink shaming there.
Also Kat somehow hasnt lost her respect despite this:
To be fair, only Isaak and Samson were present to see Veronica go to town on Kathleen.
That said, Kathleen is something of an interesting case. As others have noted, Harper tells the MC most patrons don't respect her: they play along with her because she's an owner of the Club. In other words, Kat skates by on their respect for Chuck and/or August. I think that's a big part of why she's so gung-ho about Abel's experiments - she sees it as a way to shake up the status quo and carve out her own empire on her terms. If other people get their feathers ruffled in the process, well... sadist.
Still, for Felicia the practical upshot of the current story is that the Club can be a useful framework for artificially boosting her respect if she manages to join it. Even if other patrons badmouth her in private, they'll likely still play ball with her and that's what she needs from them.
How can she monetize this sort of "connections" / "influence"?
"Hey fellow patron, I see you're in a pissing match with [Person X]. I know a surefire way to get his goat, and I'd be happy to tell you if you just take care of a few things for me in return."
There are a bunch of different variations on that theme, and obviously anything I say is ultimately speculation, but this is the simplest way to interpret Felicia's words. Being a member of the Club will give her access to influential people within the right circles, AND give them a reason to trust that she'll deliver on her promises. Once she's shown she can get results, she'll probably be able to expand her services to things like collecting intel or staging embarrassing events directly, so she won't be reliant on her current knowledge forever.
Is this a solid enough plan to persuade you she's a well written character? I suspect not. But I find it reasonable given what we know of her and the patrons.
