Country Club Billing: Subscriptions, Facilities and Guest Charges

Annual subscriptions look simple. Then you list the categories. Full, social, junior, senior, corporate and spouse memberships each carry their own rate, joining fee, entry rules and voting rights, which the treasurer must apply without exception. A child who turns eighteen in March moves from the junior rate to the adult rate, and the family needs a mid-year change with a pro-rata credit.

Instalments add a second clock. A member who pays quarterly has four due dates, and a lapse after the second instalment needs a gentler reminder than a lapse at renewal.

Write down every category. Then list what triggers a rate change: age, marriage, a move away, a lapsed year or a switch from social to full play. Any billing method must follow that rulebook.

Tennis courts, the squash room, the banquet hall and the golf buggy each have their own price, and every one has peak hours that change the rate. Floodlights cost extra after dusk. A no-show on a booked court should trigger a late cancellation fee, yet somebody must remember to charge it at the front desk.

On paper, it is a diary. The charge travels from the front desk to the accounts office on a slip, and in a busy week the slips go missing. A posted booking removes the slip.

Decide the cancellation window first. Then fix the no-show rule, and have the club committee minute both decisions, because software only applies the rule it is given and members will quote the minutes.

Guests leak revenue. A member brings two friends to the pool, the slip is signed at the gate and never reaches accounts, so the club loses two guest fees. Or the same guest visits five times at the gate while the rules allow only three visits in a season, and nobody at the desk is keeping count.

Track guests against the host. Log date, facility and visit count. The statement then prints the guest charges beside the host’s dues, so a dispute becomes a conversation about one line instead of a hunt through a drawer of slips.

Each monthly statement is assembled by hand from three sources, namely the subscription ledger, the booking diary and the guest slips kept in a drawer at the gate. Miss one, and the phone rings.

Credits and refunds cause the worst arguments. A court closed for repairs should return the booking fee without anyone asking, and a member’s deposit for the banquet hall must be netted against the final bill.

Rerun last month’s statement for ten members both ways, by hand and from the booking records, then compare every line against the ledger. The gaps show which source leaks.

A small club with one subscription and a single court can stay on a spreadsheet with a locked rate card, provided one person owns every edit. A club with several facilities, guests and a restaurant tab needs one account per member that the front desk, the pro shop and the bar all post to.

Ask each candidate system to produce a statement for a family with a junior, a late-cancelled court and two guests, all on one balance. Fail the demo, fail in March.

List your rate card on one page. Include every exception the committee has ever granted, such as reduced fees for long-serving members or a waived joining fee for a new junior.