Membership Changes
Further to our e-mail in November 2021, we have now had time to fully consider the views of the members and industry experts including The Lawn Tennis Association ( LTA ) and thank everybody who took the time to complete the online survey, talk to Lucy or myself in person or sent in your thoughts via e-mail. It was good to get such comprehensive feedback.
Firstly, apologies for announcing the decision at the last minute, but it’s an indication of how difficult the decision has been for The Club and how much consideration we have given to all changes.
The full details and explanation of the changes are too detailed for an e-mail and have therefore been posted on The Tennis Club’s Website at https://abbeydaletennisclub.com/membership
We have listened to everybody’s opinion and have thoroughly investigated at least 6 different membership models including, Traditional Membership, All Inclusive Membership at a higher price, Bolt on Packages, a Tiered Membership option and even trying to run a hybrid of combining a couple of types of membership models to try and give members what they wanted at an affordable price, but through our research, it was obvious every member had a different view of how we should restructure, based on their own court / class usage and whichever direction we decided to go in, we would please some members but not others and so while taking everybody’s opinion on board, we couldn’t lose sight of why the changes had to be made in our final decisions.
The decision we made is that from March 1st Abbeydale Tennis Club will return to running a Traditional Tennis Club Membership Model, where members pay a lesser monthly membership fee for Membership of The Tennis Club and then pay for anything extra, like indoor courts and Club Programme Coaching Classes as and when they use them.
Our small Management Committee spent 4 months searching for the fairest solution for ALL members, doing extensive research across the City and County and we know the new pricing structure compares favourably with other similar sized Clubs and facilities, ( as we knew it would have to ) and our prices for 2022, are less than we charged for membership and indoor courts back in 2012 and 2013, before we changed the system. While it’s impossible to make changes and keep everybody completely happy, we believe that the changes from March 1st are fair, as members will only pay for what they use.
Member Feedback:
We had an overwhelming amount of feedback, with the most raised points being as follows:
- Members didn’t want to pay for things they didn’t use. This could be a member who used indoor courts but not coaching classes, or a member who preferred Coaching classes, but didn’t use indoor courts and it came across very strongly, the majority of members wanted a fairer system, based more on each member paying for exactly what they personally use.
- Members fully understood the need for The Club to increase income for its survival and future development and under the old Membership system, we wouldn’t have achieved that, unless we more than doubled everybody’s subscription, which would have forced many members to leave The Club immediately, as their usage wouldn’t warrant paying a large increase, which would be counter productive.
- A number of Members didn’t want to go back to a system, where they were paying for a court / class on every visit to The Club or indeed to have to collect money from each other if one member of a four paid for the whole court, but this could only be achieved under an All Inclusive Membership model.
- The majority of members are initially against the idea of Block Bookings, as it takes courts out of circulation for a couple of months at a time, although we will reserve final judgement on this decision, until the completion of the initial 8 week blocking at the end of February and then review after further member feedback.
- The majority of Members indicated that they preferred to pay a lower monthly membership and then to pay weekly for any indoor courts and classes, while ( fewer ) members preferred to pay a higher monthly membership fee for the convenience of not having to pay for indoor courts and classes each and every time they attended The Club.
Changes from March 2022
Our decision is that Abbeydale will return to running a Traditional Membership Model from March 1st 2022, with members paying just £27.00 per month or £270.00 annually if they prefer. ( saving £54.00 or 16.5% ) The monthly fee is for membership of The Club and free use of the outdoor courts. This price is only available to current members and any new member joining after March 1st 2022, will pay an increased monthly fee.
Membership of Abbeydale Tennis Club for adults will be just £5.20 per week ( if paid annually ) with junior memberships starting at just £1.00 per week !
Indoor Courts and Adult Programme Coaching Classes will become optional, and members can choose if and when they want to attend & pay for a Coaching Class or an Indoor Court, depending on what they want from their tennis.
We are not putting any restrictions on the number of classes or indoor courts members may use per week, as we feel there will be more availability when both are payable by the session. If this proves to be an incorrect assumption, we will increase the number of classes per week to ensure everybody is able to book on the classes they want.
Price Lists for Membership, Indoor Courts and Club Programme Classes are advertised online on our website at https://abbeydaletennisclub.com/membership but briefly a class will cost £6.00 per hour and an indoor court £12.00 per hour off peak / £16.00 per hour at peak times. ( Indoor Court costs can obviously be divided by the number of players using that court )
Individual Tennis Lessons - Abbeydale has always supported both Adult & Junior members wanting lessons and will continue to do so. Under the new membership structure, Indoor courts will be charged out for lessons at just £5.00 per indoor hour and obviously outdoor courts are free of charge.
Discounts on Membership - We will continue with offering discounts in the following cases, but all members are eligible for only one discounted rate.
- Couple Membership ( sharing a bank account )£500.00 per annum ( £50.00 p/m )
- Longevity Membership and Over 65 Membership - Available for members who have been a member of The Club for 20 years or more or are aged 65+ £250.00 per annum (£25.00 p/m)
- Eligible members will have their membership discount applied before the initial direct debit is taken in March.
- Junior Memberships are divided into 3 categories.
U8 £50.00 per annum ( £5.00 p/m )
U14 £100.00 per annum ( £10.00 p/m )
U18 £150.00 per annum ( £15.00 p/m )
- Family Memberships are available and please contact Lucy Slater at The Club on Playtennis@btconnect.com and she can prepare a Family Membership price for you, based on the number of family members you wish to join.
- Students - £270.00 per annum ( £27.00 p/m ) - Memberships for students are available upon proof of full time
student NUS Card and DOB.
What happens next ?
The changes will take place from March 1st 2022 and ClubSpark will automatically reduce everybody’s Direct Debit monthly payment down to the traditional Club model rate of £27.00 per month, unless you cancel your membership, which you can do by contacting us via e-mail on Playtennis@btconnect.com
The traditional membership doesn’t have a 12 month contract and has just a 30 day cancellation day notice period.
We have attempted to cover a lot of the questions members will naturally have on the Club’s website, but I’m sure members will still have some areas they are still unsure about or areas that require further explanation, which we are more than happy answer for you.
If you have any questions, please contact John or Lucy at Playtennis@btconnect.com and we will endeavour to get back to you within 48 hours of receiving your communication.
Thank you for your continued support and membership.
Abbeydale Tennis Club.
