Nobody likes to do it. Raising membership rates feels uncomfortable. It keeps you up at night. Will members cancel? Will they get angry? Will you lose the very people with whom you’ve worked hard to build relationships? The fear is real, and it can be paralyzing.
Here’s the thing, though. Expenses don’t stay flat. Payroll, utilities and equipment costs go up — every single year. At some point, you must raise rates or watch your margins disappear.
When we owned and operated our club, we were one of those places. We kept rates the same year after year while costs climbed. It was dumb. We knew it was dumb, even as we were doing it, but there was real fear and hesitation until something forced our hand.
Our industry operates under a simple truth: no margin, no mission. This is a mission-driven business model. We want to provide health and fitness, and in the process change lives. We want to impact our communities. But if we’re not making enough to cover our expenses, if we’re not profitable enough to reinvest and grow, we can’t fulfill that mission. You can’t serve people from a bankrupt facility.
Raising rates isn’t selfish. It’s necessary. It’s how you keep the mission alive.
I’ve come to learn that the fear is bigger than the reality. If you’re providing good service and your facility matters to your members, you should raise rates. You must. And it’s not as hard as you think. When we advise facilities, raising rates is one of the things we often recommend. We’ve built strategies around it — a process involving communication plans, staff preparation and campaigns. When you follow it, the pushback is minimal, and the transition is clean.
Step 1: Make the decision
You have to decide internally first and build a case that makes sense to you before you try to sell it to anyone else. Why are we doing this? What has changed?
The turning point for us was equipment. Our club’s cardio machines were beat up, broken down and squeaky. Members were noticing, and that’s when it hit us. We knew if we were going to keep doing what we were doing, we would have to reinvest and replace it all. We couldn’t maintain (much less improve) the facility without this upgrade. That’s when we made the decision to increase rates — not because we were greedy, but because we had to invest in the member experience. Once we had that clarity, everything else got easier.
We weren’t defensive about it. We believed in why we were doing it. That belief is what you need before you move forward.
Ideally, you do this annually. Make rate increases part of your program to the point members expect it. It becomes a normalized part of how things work, as opposed to some big shock every five years. Even if you haven’t been doing it, start now. Use this as your moment.
Step 2: Grandfather with care
Now that you’ve decided to raise your rates annually, you have to make sure you do it right. That means protecting your existing members in a fair and thoughtful manner. Grandfathering is the practice of keeping some members at their current rate while moving others to the new rate. But how you do it matters.
Figure out your time window. Let’s say your annual rate increase happens in August every year. If someone joins in June or July, don’t subject that member to the increase until the following August. Establish a cutoff, so that anyone who joined before that date gets grandfathered at the old rate. Anyone who joins after moves to the new rate. It keeps things simple and fair.
You also must honor any commitments you made in the past. We did something early on that I don’t recommend. We offered founder’s rates guaranteed for life. Never do that. You can guarantee a rate for a certain period, but never forever. It backs you into a corner. In our case, we had to keep those founding members at their original rate throughout their membership because we promised to do so. Learn from our mistake.
Here’s the fairness piece. You might not raise everyone to the exact same new price. Say someone joined years ago at $30 a month, and someone just joined at $45 a month. You’re not going to bump that long-term member all the way up to $45. Instead, you might increase everyone by a dollar amount or a percentage. Everyone goes up $5, or everyone goes up 10%. That way, the person who had a great rate years ago still has a better rate than the new member, but they’re contributing to the increase. It’s fair to everyone.
Whatever you decide, be consistent and clear about the rules. Your staff will get asked. They need to know the answer.
Step 3: Prepare your staff
Before you roll out the rate adjustment, your staff members need to know what’s coming, and they need to understand why. Make them part of the process so they’re adequately prepared for the questions and, yes, complaints that will come. They need to be ready.
That said, it’s critical that you are confident and comfortable with this whole thing first, or your staff never will be. If you have doubts or insecurities about the increase, it will come across. Your staff will feel it. Before you conduct any briefings with your team, make sure you’re solid on the decision. Believe in it.
We sent an all-staff email explaining the why — not an emotional version, the business version. “Here’s why we’re doing this. Here’s what it means for our members. Here’s how grandfathering works.” We printed FAQ sheets with simple talking points for reference during member conversations.
But here’s what really made the difference. We pulled staff on the floor, and we roleplayed. The management team would engage staff members in real conversations that allowed them to prepare for potential pushback.
That confidence matters. If your staff sounds uncertain, members pick up on it. If staff are confident and can explain it, members will listen. That’s when the conversation stops being defensive and becomes just a conversation.
Step 4: Communicate to members
Once you’ve figured out who gets their membership rate raised and by how much, and you’ve prepped your employees for pushback, you have to communicate your plan to your members. The key is overcommunication. The more people hear about it, the less shocked they’ll be.
We sent an email, then sent another email a week later, then hit people with a push notification, then mentioned it again in person when they came in. Don’t send one email and assume everyone saw it. People miss things or they forget things. Redundancy is your friend.
Moreover, never apologize for your rate adjustment. Don’t use words like “unfortunately.” This isn’t unfortunate. You’re doing it for a reason, and you should own it. Frame it around what matters. “To maintain the high levels of service you’ve come to expect, to consistently improve our facility, and to keep providing what you joined us for, we’re adjusting our rates.” That’s the message — not apologetic, but simple and direct.
Give at least 30 days’ notice and make it clear when the new rate takes effect. Use multiple channels so it lands. Your staff will handle the in-person conversations, but your job is to make sure the information is out there. Don’t leave it to chance. Overcommunicate.
Step 5: Add value
This reaches beyond a rate increase. You should be doing this all the time anyway. Given that replacing our cardio equipment was what prompted us to do what we should have been doing all along, we highlighted it with signs everywhere, posts on social media about the improvements, conversations with members.
Some people won’t even notice. If they only take classes and never set foot on a treadmill, they might not see the upgrade at all. That’s why you must communicate it and make it visible.
Always be highlighting improvement whether that takes the form of new equipment or other facility upgrades. Show members you’re investing in their experience. Even a fresh coat of paint is an improvement people will notice and appreciate. When you’re constantly communicating what you’re adding and improving, a rate increase doesn’t feel like a grab. It feels like part of ongoing growth.
Great facilities are always upgrading and improving. Point that out, particularly when you’re raising rates. “Look what we’ve done this year. Here’s what’s coming next. This is the level of service you deserve, and here’s why it costs what it costs now.” You’re asking for more money because you’re investing in their experience.
Recently, we helped a fitness facility in Tucson, Ariz., navigate a rate increase. We worked with the team on messaging and staff communication and created tools for them to use in their rollout. Did every paying customer love the change? No. There were complaints. Some people didn’t hear about it and were upset to find out later.
But, all told, it went well because most of them understood. Why? The facility was doing good work, the team provided solid service and members got it.
Remember, the fear is bigger than the reality. Most people don’t complain. Will a few? Sure. That’s just how it is. But I’ve never experienced a situation in which a facility loses a bunch of members solely because of a price increase if the service provided is actually good.
So, fear not. The world gets more expensive. If you’re providing good service and investing in your facility, you have every right to raise your rates. Your members will understand. The ones who don’t? They were probably going to leave anyway.
