> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.sendmoregetbeta.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Revenue Code: How to Grow Your Revenue, Part 3 of 5 - URL: https://www.sendmoregetbeta.com/the-revenue-code-how-to-grow-your-revenue-part-3-of-5/ - Published: 2026-10-05T09:35:08.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T09:24:09.000Z - Description: Membership contributed 32.6% of revenue in BETA’s gym cohort in the UK. See how membership focus relates to revenue and how other offers can encourage repeat climbing. - Author: Miura Hawkins - Tags: blog Welcome back to our Revenue Code series! [Last week we talked about seasonality](https://www.sendmoregetbeta.com/the-revenue-code-rethinking-seasonality-part-2-of-5/) and whether we might be able to overcome it as an industry. And if you’re interested in some background and methods, [check out our introduction post](https://www.sendmoregetbeta.com/the-revenue-code/). ****This week we’re going to discuss a single factor that has a pretty big impact on overall revenue: membership.** **Written by Miura Hawkins** *CEO & Founder at BETA climbing* --- ### Membership as a Revenue Source in General Fitness According to [a 2024 study by IBISWorld](https://www.ibisworld.com/united-kingdom/industry/gym-fitness-centre-operation/4750/?ref=sendmoregetbeta.com), 71.2% of revenue in the general fitness industry in the UK comes from membership fees. Back in Rotherham, I asked our audience what they thought this percentage was for our industry. Nobody guessed it would be so low: 32.6%, or just under a third, of the total revenue within our cohort came from membership fees. While this was just barely the leading revenue source overall (almost matched by day entry fees at 31%), when looking at individual facilities the primary revenue source varied greatly. Within our cohort we saw all manner of revenue breakdowns: slightly less than half had membership as the primary revenue source; many saw day pass revenue making up the bulk of their revenue; still others had event or shop revenue as the primary component. We have to be careful when comparing the climbing industry to traditional fitness facilities. We are not the same. Climbing is in many ways more like an amusement park: newcomers need to be oriented and inducted (supplied with maps and ways to identify attractions/climbs suitable to them), taught the safety procedures (please double back your seat belt and keep your arms inside the car at all times), and oftentimes are primed to see the visit as a special occasion and will never come back. In other ways we’re more like a CrossFit box: the dedicated members absorb climbing into their definition of self. The former group is significantly more expensive to service, however they’re an integral piece of the funnel that leads the latter so we don’t have the luxury of ignoring them, at least not until they start teaching bouldering fall safety in school PE classes alongside warmup routines and the rules of football (pick your variety). So is this somewhere we should be looking to the fitness industry for inspiration and goal-setting, or should we be running the other way? ### Membership as a Revenue Source in the Climbing Industry Let’s see what the data say. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0d/b6/0db6fa8e-7b3e-4e8a-9cc5-7a9011a9def4/content/images/2026/10/BETA-The-Revenue-Code.1-3.png) Source: BETA - The Revenue Code We looked at each individual facility in our cohort and plotted the average monthly revenue over the past 12 months with the percentage of that revenue coming from membership fees. The first thing to note here is that everyone is below that fitness industry average. Even the facilities with the highest revenue percentage coming from membership still do not break even 60%. **But let’s look at this a bit differently:** We divided our cohort into two groups based on whether more or less than 28% of their revenue came from membership fees and suddenly the picture was a lot clearer. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0d/b6/0db6fa8e-7b3e-4e8a-9cc5-7a9011a9def4/content/images/2026/10/BETA-The-Revenue-Code.1-1-1.png) Source: BETA - The Revenue Code The facilities with a lower membership focus have a lower earning potential, or in other words it appears that there is a ceiling on how much total revenue a climbing gym can earn if the focus is not on membership. Whereas those with a higher percentage of revenue coming from membership fees actually seem to be in a separate earnings category: even the lowest total earners in the membership focus group were making significantly more revenue than the average earners in the group that did not focus on membership. This trend transcended details like whether the gym was full service or bouldering only, whether it was in a big city or a rural environment, and how long it had been in operation: There were examples of all types of gyms in both groups. ### Comparing the UK to Other Markets We were curious to see if this trend held globally so we took a brief look at the rest of the world. Our US customers were the standout here, with the typical US gym falling between 60% and 90% membership revenue. And, in support of our hypothesis that more membership focus correlates with higher overall revenue, total revenues were much higher in the US than anywhere else in the world. The rest of the world looked a lot more like the UK, however, with a variety of sources driving revenue at individual locations. There could be a lot of explanations for this. US facilities tended to be larger and to have more comprehensive workout areas. Perhaps it is easier for American climbers to justify the climbing gym membership as a full replacement for a fitness facility membership. Or perhaps the economic burden of the initial investment required to build an American-sized facility necessarily means that surviving gyms must have generated a more scalable revenue model than our typically smaller facilities in the rest of the world. We hope to find the time to look into this question further in a future study. ### What Can I Do? So how do you turn this insight into action? One thing you can do is to rethink your ancillary services. I’m definitely not suggesting that you immediately stop all programming and shut down your cafe. But what you absolutely should do is ask yourself what those non-climbing offerings are working towards. **► Key Takeaways** ****Membership is a bigger revenue opportunity than it may seem:** it contributed 32.6% of revenue across the gyms in the study, just ahead of day passes at 31%. ****Gyms with a stronger membership focus tended to earn more:** in this cohort, those getting more than 28% of revenue from memberships were in a higher revenue group. That’s a pattern, not proof that membership focus alone caused the difference. ****Make every offering work toward repeat visits:** cafés, events, and day passes can help attract and convert regular climbers when they remove barriers to membership. ### Taking Strategic Control of your revenue Rise Above Consulting has the answers with their partner blog, check out RA strategies they have implemented, and seen results from. "To raise the ceiling on total revenue, gyms must shift from passive sales to an active, optimized customer journey using the following three pillars..." [BETA x Rise Above: Climbing Gym Data and What Actions to Take #1 -- How Membership Shapes RevenueThe facilities with a lower membership focus have a lower earning potential, or in other words it appears that there is a ceiling on how much total revenue a climbing gym can earn if the focus is not on membership.![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)RiseAboveConsultinggheverly![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0eb3d1_481a01db42004adf9169321c5bfc3555~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_1000,h_840,al_c/0eb3d1_481a01db42004adf9169321c5bfc3555~mv2.png)](https://www.riseaboveconsultancy.com/post/beta-x-rise-above-climbing-gym-data-and-what-actions-to-take-1-how-membership-shapes-revenue?utm%5Fsource=BETA&utm%5Fmedium=blog&utm%5Fcampaign=membershipCode) --- Is your **cafe** a standalone service that aims to pad revenue during the quiet lunch hours, never attempting to turn those diners into climbers? In some cases this might still make sense (see our last post on seasonality and finding creative ways to fill in lulls), but if that’s the road you’re taking then you’re essentially running two completely separate businesses: a restaurant and a climbing gym, each necessitating completely disparate marketing, operations, and management teams. A different way to look at it might be: **how can I attract a new tranche of members who primarily climb on their lunch break?** It’s the same time window that you’re filling, but your messaging about the benefits of membership doesn’t need a re-write to resonate. You don’t need a second team of staff trained in catering and food safety. What if you instead focused your marketing on the benefits of even a 45-minute session a few times a week, and organized your food offerings around quick and healthy post-session options for these lunchtime climbers to eat before returning to the office? Or offered a work-lunch membership with set number of monthly takeaway meals included? Now the primary benefit of the cafe is that it removes a barrier to membership for a set group of people: those who would love to climb regularly but who have limited time and need to choose between feeding themselves and squeezing in a session. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0d/b6/0db6fa8e-7b3e-4e8a-9cc5-7a9011a9def4/content/images/2026/10/Written-by-Miura-Hawkins-Part-of-The-Revenue-Code-Series00002-2.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0d/b6/0db6fa8e-7b3e-4e8a-9cc5-7a9011a9def4/content/images/2026/10/Written-by-Miura-Hawkins-Part-of-The-Revenue-Code-Series00001-2.jpeg) Or another option – **how can I turn my restaurant into a sales funnel?** Does your foodservice area face the wall? Are there mirrors positioned so those diners with their backs to the wall can still see the smiles on the climbers' faces even if they're not actively participating this time? Do your cafe tables and receipts display membership options and messaging on the benefits of climbing? And similarly, **how do you frame your day pass?** Many traditional fitness facilities and even some boutique fitness outfits like CrossFit or yoga studios don’t even offer standalone day passes. They welcome day guests, often for free, on the condition that it’s for the purpose of evaluating a potential membership. **Are your events built around forging climbers who will pay the monthly fee no matter what because it has become a piece of their identity, or are they focused on showing people a singular nice day out that isn’t necessarily replicable?** One of those is a membership generator. The other is just extra work with no sustained benefit. --- Our next two posts will go into more detail on what the data say about how to attract and retain members, but for now your main take-home message is this: if it doesn't work towards growing your membership base, do you really need it? Stay tuned! ## Join the BETAverse [Book a demo](http://sendmoregetbeta.com/?gleapBotId=6a99c4ba3efb670651e0ce74&utm%5Fsource=rev%5Fcode&utm%5Fmedium=blog) #### Written by Miura Hawkins CEO & Founder at BETA climbing [Part of The Revenue Code Series](https://www.sendmoregetbeta.com/the-revenue-code/) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0d/b6/0db6fa8e-7b3e-4e8a-9cc5-7a9011a9def4/content/images/2026/09/image-6.png) ## Sign up for BETA Climbing Gym Software The most powerful climbing gym management software Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.