DL Membership - price increases

[Floofydawg]

Hi al, can I ask whether anyone has recently renewed their David Lloyd membership please and how much it has gone up by? Just had ours through and it's a 14% increase which is the biggest increase we've ever had. Do they ever negotiate? This is a joint membership so they would lose us both if we went, not that they'd probably care.

Anyone?

Bumping again due to lack of replies. There must be some DL members out there?

In my experience, they don't negotiate. The club I was a member of was, in the end, a bit of a state and even still, they raised the prices every year. The local FB group is always up in arms about all sorts of things and still, nothing really changes.

They know that they'll retain their key demographic which is the older gym-goer and the families, because few other facilities tick all the boxes they have.
I was a single, late 30's woman and the club simply wasn't geared towards making me a happy customer. They did not care if I left.

Not been a member for 5 years or so but before if you resigned your membership then would try and get you to stay and if you held out they would offer things like a free month or two but not sure if those days are over post covid. People were paying different prices but some of it was because of workplaces, different time joined etc. It probably depends on if they have enough members anyway. One we've moved by seem not bothered and twice the price.

Yep my dealings so far would appear that they are taking a 'like it or lump it' approach. I've only been a member for 10 bloody years, glad to know they value my loyalty. Twats 😡

They want to watch out!

The first thing to go when cutting back is a gym membership!

They are shocking in many ways but they do offer something fairly unique (at least near me), so they can afford to be like they are (up to a point).

They are owned by private equity and currently up for sale (£2bio!!). What they seem to be trying to do is increase current income as much as possible by upping fees and increasIng membership at the same time.

Obviously, at some point people will notice when they can’t book a court, can’t park their car or have to queue for gym equipment but, by that point, the owners will hope to have pocketed their £2bio and sailed into the sunset.

I basically asked them if they'd upgrade me to platinum membership for the cost of the renewal. It was a flat no. It would cost them fuck all as all you really get extra is towels. Feeling very 😡 but I go 5 times a week and don't know what I'd do without it so the fuckers have me over a barrel.

Years ago we were family members but we had a renewal that went up 17% and we couldn’t really justify it. One added disadvantage was we had to cross our city to get there and the driving was a pain in the arse - with the price hike that was it. Had we been closer, or it stayed cheaper, we might have continued, but both together and it wasn’t worth it.
I still sometimes wistfully think of the outdoor pool, but that’s it. In the summer I swim outdoors at another venue now, in a river.
Can you find a substitute OP? You might save fistfuls of cash.

Problem is, it's literally a 5 min drive from my house and I can pop there in my lunch hour when I'm WFH. There's nowhere else as close, or as good.

Our family membership increased by around 10% this year. Ours has a constant waiting list for membership so they don’t negotiate on costs, might vary by club though, we’re at a particularly popular one