Member Satisfaction and Value: A 10-Year Perspective

McMahon Group has been conducting surveys of club members for over 40 years, amassing the ratings of thousands of members for their satisfaction with their club and its facilities, amenities and management, as well as their perceived value of club membership.

In addition to the power that the McMahon database offers for individual clubs to benchmark the ratings from their member surveys against those from comparable clubs, the database can also provide insights into key industry trends over time.

We recently compared results from our country club database from the five years just prior to COVID (2016-2020) with those from the first five post-pandemic years (2021-2025). While COVID certainly provided a needed boost to the industry, the results of our study did unearth some trends worth noting that reflect new challenges facing club leadership. 

Here are some highlights of what our 10-year study revealed:

Overall Member Satisfaction: 

There has been a dip in the percentage of members who have said they are very satisfied with their clubs, from 40% in the pre-COVID years to 38% in the last five. Concurrently, there has been an increase (from 2% to 3%) in those who have said they are dissatisfied (see chart below).

Overall Value Received for Membership Cost: 

The percentages for members who have said they agree or strongly agree that they receive good value for the cost of their club membership (dues and fees) have dropped in the post-COVID period. Where 23% said they strongly agreed and 49% said they agreed that they were receiving good value in surveys conducted between 2016-2020, those numbers have dropped to 22% and 47%, respectively, in the surveys of the past five years. At the same time, the percentage of those disagreeing or strongly disagreeing has gone from 8% to 9% (see chart below). 

Dining Satisfaction: 

Throughout the 10-year period, dining has remained the second-highest rated facility, service or amenity plotted on McMahon’s Value Boundary™ Matrix, with 92% importance (behind only the clubhouse, with 93%). Dining satisfaction, however, has dropped from 70% in the pre-COVID period to 68% in the last five years, with dissatisfaction rising from 14% to 15% (see table, below). 

Broken down by the age of surveyed members, the decline in dining satisfaction was evident for all groups except those over 65, where satisfaction held steady during the two periods at 73%. But declines were seen for all other age groups, including members under 46 (from 67% satisfaction and 16% dissatisfaction in the pre-COVID period to 64% and 18% in the past five years); members 46 to 55 (69%/15% to 65%/18%), and members 56 to 65 (71%/14% to 69%/15%).

Other Notable Trends: 

Comparisons of overall satisfaction in the two periods also showed declines for private events (from 54% prior to COVID to 52% in the past five years), youth activities (45% to 43%) and tennis (56% to 52%). Amenities and activities showing an increase in satisfaction included swimming (65% post-COVID vs. 63% prior), fitness (63% vs. 61%), paddle tennis (56% vs. 55%) and most notably pickleball (47% vs. 37%). In all cases, however, the areas showing an increase in satisfaction registered higher dissatisfaction as well. 

Overall, the analysis of survey results between the two periods highlights that while clubs have seen a boost in membership since the pandemic, members’ expectations have also grown, and the increase in activity has added to the challenge of maintaining optimal levels of satisfaction in all areas of the club. Further, the growing dissatisfaction with dining among younger age groups, as well as with youth activities, directly reflects how club memberships have become more diverse and how the needs and expectations of different age groups within the club can vary significantly.  

These significant shifts seen over the past 10 years of our conducting member surveys reinforces the importance of surveying a membership regularly to closely monitor changing preferences and areas where satisfaction may be slipping. If you’d like more insights into what our 10-year analysis has revealed, or to discuss member-survey options for your club, please contact us or your McMahon consultant.