Price increase letter to gym members
Copy it, replace the bracketed bits, send it. Below the letter: the text-message version, how much notice to give, and what to say when they push back.
Hi [NAME], From [DATE], your [MEMBERSHIP TYPE] membership will be [NEW PRICE] a month, up from [OLD PRICE]. Your first payment at the new rate will be on [DATE]. This is the first change since [YEAR]. Our biggest cost is keeping the building running — heating, air handling and hot water for [N] hours a day — and that has risen far faster than memberships have. Some things to help: Lock in the current rate: switch to annual membership before [DATE] and pay [ANNUAL PRICE] for the year — less than 12 months at the old price. Freeze instead of cancel: if you are travelling, injured or just need a break, you can freeze for up to [N] months at [FREEZE PRICE / no charge]. If you want to cancel, you can do it [IN THE APP / AT RECEPTION / BY REPLYING TO THIS EMAIL] before [DATE] and you will not be charged the new rate. No forms, no phone call to talk you out of it. What is new this year: [ONE OR TWO REAL THINGS — new racks, longer weekend hours, a new class]. [YOUR NAME] [GYM NAME]
How many customers can this price rise lose?
10% ÷ (40% + 10%) = 20%
Open the full calculator, with your prices and customer count →whatever the membership terms require, and at least 30 days — plus a clear, easy way to cancel
5–10% on monthly memberships
The text-message version
For the customers whose entire relationship with you lives in a phone. Send it before the visit, never on the invoice.
[GYM NAME]: from [DATE] your membership is [NEW PRICE]/month. Switch to annual before [DATE] to lock in less than today's rate. Full details were emailed. Questions? Reply here or ask at the desk.
Why it is going up, in words you can use
“Rising costs” persuades nobody because everyone says it. Name the actual driver in gym and fitness centre instead:
- energy: heating, air handling, lights and hot showers for opening hours that barely close
- equipment leases and servicing, and the cost of replacing kit that members wear out
- staff wages across every opening hour, not just the busy ones
- card processing and membership software, taken from every payment
When they push back
You will hear these within a week. Having the answer ready is the difference between holding the price and folding on the phone.
- "The budget gym is half the price."
- "It might be. We are the ones with [SPECIFIC — the platforms, the coached classes, no queue for the squat rack at 6pm]." Name the concrete thing. Members who picked you over a budget gym already know the difference; you are just reminding them.
- "I'll cancel."
- Offer the freeze first, then let them go cleanly if they insist. Making cancellation easy is also, in many places, a legal requirement — and a member who leaves on good terms rejoins; a member who had to fight their way out writes the review.
- "New members are getting a cheaper intro offer than me."
- This one stings, and it is fair. Either give existing members access to the same deal on annual prepay, or stop running intro offers below your member rate. Loyal members paying more than newcomers is the fastest way to lose the members you most want to keep.
Is a price rise even the right move for you?
Sometimes it is not. Sometimes the money is in a service plan for customers you already have, or in the job you are quoting below cost without realising. Describe your business in one sentence and you will get three specific moves back — priced per month, with the arithmetic written out so you can put your own numbers in.
Free, no signup, about thirty seconds. If one of them is a price rise, you will get the number to put in the brackets above.
Give me three movesMore letters: health, fitness and wellness
Other trades
A template, not legal advice. If you have a written contract with these members, check what it says about notice periods and price changes before you send anything — the contract wins over any template, including this one.