Membership Clubs: Here’s How to Streamline Operations & Delight Members

People join membership clubs for an exclusive, curated experience. Members of country, beach, golf, fitness and social clubs like London’s 5 Hertford Street and SoHo House benefit from special treatment they can’t get anywhere else and access to an elite community.

While high-touch experiences are the hallmark of private members’ clubs, it can be challenging to deliver personalized service around the clock. Fortunately, technology can help deliver high-touch service at scale and streamline operations, which is critical during a labor shortage when you need to do more with less. 

With the right tools, your team can maintain your membership club’s high standards and exceed members’ expectations, while improving operational efficiency. Tech can help you achieve those goals by making it easier to:

Club staff may be able to recognize members when they walk in and greet them by name. However, even the most tenured employees will have a difficult time remembering details like a member’s children’s names, their job, favorite drink or membership level. The bigger the membership club, the more challenging this can be.

Technology is your host’s cheat sheet. Guest profiles from your customer relationship management (CRM) platform help staff members – new and veterans – identify guests when they walk in and can surface key personal details and preferences. Plus, VIP alerts on smart devices can let key staff members know when a special guest, celebrity or the owner enters the club.

Members expect that your staff members already know their preferences, but we know that’s easier said than done. Member profiles also make it possible to anticipate members’ needs and provide personalized service.

Profiles provide a detailed look at key member information, like dietary restrictions and order history, so you can ensure, for example, that all staff members know to give a certain guest a gluten free menu or offer mocktails to a member who is abstaining.

And, with auto-tags instantly adding new information to members’ profiles – like if they’re a generous tipper or have left positive feedback – your team can focus on providing memorable service instead of spending precious time inputting data.

Members expect an elevated standard of hospitality throughout your membership club, which means you need to provide a consistent experience across the property. Tech can ensure that data isn’t siloed from one food and beverage (F&B) venue to the other.

Data sharing across your F&B venues with a CRM designed for membership clubs makes it possible for your team to provide a consistent experience from the fine dining restaurant at the club, to the poolside cafe and the driving range coffee bar.

Some members-only clubs set spending minimums to maximize revenue each year. Unfortunately, this requirement can create an administrative headache for the management team and members. 

If data is siloed from venue to venue, then the member services team needs to spend countless hours adding up spending, when they could be doing more meaningful things, like catering to members’ needs.

Private members’ club platforms that share data across venues can automatically track total member spend, which helps members by avoiding unnecessary billing issues. This technology also aids management by streamlining the admin work related to tracking spending minimums, and reducing costly errors. Integrate your F&B CRM with your point of sale (POS) system to track members spending with ease. 

This powerful pairing can also help you keep tabs on member spending in real time. This feature comes in handy for special events or holidays, such as a club golf championship or a New Year’s Eve celebration, that have a minimum table spend. Armed with this knowledge, staff can subtly encourage members to keep ordering to meet this threshold.

The traditional way to book tables or special experiences at membership clubs is pretty inconvenient. Members need to call member services or the concierge while the club is open – which may not be the best time for them. Then, they may be put on hold, or need to leave a voicemail and wait for a response. And, they can’t check availability or confirm their booking instantly.

Digital reservations make it easy for members to book tables and experiences when it’s convenient for them. They can see real-time availability, book on their own time and receive confirmation instantly.

Plus, with rules-based access to reservation inventory, digital bookings are also convenient for your management team. You can tier inventory to give priority access to guests based on their membership type or status and offer reservations to the right people at the right time. 

You might leverage this feature if, for example, your country club has a restaurant that is open to the public but also has a private, restaurant membership club upstairs.

Convenience is the ultimate mark of hospitality. Members want to be able to enjoy a drink or meal whenever they want it, from anywhere on your property: on the golf course, next to the pool, at the gym or in a meeting room or private guest room.

Mobile order and pay technology lets guests order whatever they need from anywhere at the membership club, pay for it immediately and get it delivered to wherever they are. This amenity delights members and maximizes F&B sales without the need to add more staff to take orders.

When members dine at one of your established F&B venues, they want the best seat in the house. You want to meet these expectations, while also making sure you have great tables available for other members, don’t keep other parties waiting and can maximize revenue from each table.

AI-powered table management software employs an algorithm that tests thousands of table combinations each second to maximize covers and turns, so you can drive more revenue without adding more seats or employees, and keep members happy.

At the end of the day, anticipating needs and making it easy for members to get what they want will make them refer new members, enroll younger generations and stay members for life.

SevenRooms’ membership club software can help you surpass expectations at scale, while streamlining operational demands. Request a demo today.