Are All Members Equal? What Every Club Should Know About Loyalty Strategy in 2025
Are All Members Equal? What Every Club Should Know About Loyalty Strategy in 2025
When it comes to club memberships, there’s one truth that too often gets overlooked: not all members are created equal.
At the 2025 CMAA Conference, Hospitality Mavens Founder, Matt Rafton shared a framework for transforming how clubs view and manage loyalty, backed by real data from more than 30 venues across Australia.
Here’s a snapshot of the key takeaways clubs can action right now.
Know Your Member Value
On average, a single club member is worth $612 per year – and that figure’s not static. It changes drastically by age, gender, visit frequency, and spend behaviour.
Clubs tend to overinvest in marketing to young, infrequent visitors (18-35s), when the real gold lies in segments like females aged 55–74 – the most consistently high-value demographic across all venue types.
Future-Proof Your Membership Strategy
With NSW likely to follow Queensland in removing mandatory sign-in zones, clubs must prepare for a membership environment with less regulatory friction.
That means building internal processes and incentives that promote membership organically – not rely on front desk formality.
Design Smarter Loyalty Programs
Done well, loyalty programs can drive major gains – but done poorly, they drain budgets and breed entitlement. Common pitfalls include:
Over-rewarding base tiers
Poor tier spacing (too easy or too hard to progress)
No food & beverage inclusion
Cost blowouts from birthday freebies
Make Community Support Count
Clubs give generously – but only 1 in 5 actively market their community contributions. From club grants to sponsorships, these programs should be more than charitable; they should tell your story.
Use Data to Make Members Feel Valued
As Matt closed his talk: “Data is only valuable when it’s used to make a member feel valued.” Clubs have a goldmine of behavioural insight – but if that doesn’t translate to relevant, memorable experiences, the opportunity is lost.
Ready to Optimise?
If you’re a club manager, marketer or GM looking to sharpen your loyalty strategy, Hospitality Mavens can help with tailored programs, hands-on support, and data that delivers.