Predictability is important in business. How can you build predictability into your fitness business at a time when everything feels unpredictable? Read on to find out why growing recurring revenue – and being able to accurately forecast performance – can help.

Ever feel like you never know what’s coming around the corner for your business? Like you’re just not in control? You wouldn’t be alone. Many gym operators across the UK have felt exposed to factors out of their control in recent years.

That’s particularly true when it comes to costs, as the Challenges Of Running A Gym Research* shows. 90% have seen costs rise – especially the following costs influenced by factors that gym operators just can’t control:

  • Payroll & staff wages – the new 2025/26 financial year saw the rate of employers’ National Insurance contributions rise from 13.8% to 15%. And the level at which employers start paying reduced from £9,100 to £5,000 annually for each employee. The Employment Allowance increased for eligible employers from £5,000 to £10,500, allowing some to offset the National Insurance increases. But this hasn’t helped all employers. At the same time, the National Minimum Wage increased for those aged 18-20 from £8.60 an hour to £10 an hour. And for those aged 21+ the National Living Wage increased from £11.44 to £12.12 an hour
  • Business rates & taxes – the new financial year in April 2025 saw changes to business rates. The Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure (RHL) relief scheme changed. Giving eligible businesses a 40% reduction in business rates (capped at £110,000 per business). Before this, the reduction was 75%
  • Cleaning & sanitation costs – like many costs, prices for the supplies needed to keep fitness facilities clean have risen recently. This has been driven by factors including increased energy costs, expense and scarcity of raw materials, transport and import costs, and manufacturing costs
  • Utilities – energy costs have been going up for the past few years. Costs have been pushed up by COVID-19, war, the transition to renewable energy, and wholesale energy market volatility. More recently, water bills have increased. Why? Due to required infrastructure investments, higher operational costs, and growing demand on the supply

In an unpredictable world, predictability matters more than ever. When you can rely on a steady income and know what to expect in the months ahead, you gain the confidence to adapt to challenges, invest in growth, and keep your business thriving.

And for gym operators, the key to predictability lies in:

  1. Boosting recurring revenue, so you have a reliable financial foundation
  2. Forecasting accurately, so you can plan ahead with confidence

Read on for ways to grow recurring revenue and accurately forecast financial performance.

Let’s get stuck in!

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Why recurring revenue matters in the fitness industry

Subscription-based memberships, typically paid for monthly, are the lifeblood of most successful gym businesses.

This recurring revenue helps give your business stability. With income coming in regularly you have a steady flow of money to help you:

  • Cover fixed costs with less stress
  • Plan investments with more confidence – think new equipment, marketing campaigns, and upgrades. (Plus, it can make it easier to attract investors too)
  • Focus less on chasing sales, and more on enhancing the gym member experience

Recurring revenue creates breathing space. It takes you from survival mode into growth mode. And that’s where you want to be!

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6 ways to grow recurring revenue

How can you boost recurring revenue across your business? Let’s look at some practical ways to increase reliable, repeating income.

1. Review your membership pricing

A pricing review is a must if you’re looking to increase recurring revenue. Start by asking yourself these questions:

  1. Are you charging what you deserve for the value you deliver?
  2. How do your prices compare to competitors?
  3. When was the last time you increased prices?

The Challenges Of Running A Gym Research* found that 32% of UK gym operators hadn’t increased prices within the last year. And of those who had, most reported an improvement in profitability as a result.

With the right approach, you can increase membership prices with minimal attrition to positively influence cashflow and profitability.

2. Add new membership options

As part of your membership pricing review (or in addition) consider if you need to add new options.

This can help you attract new members looking for different price points or more flexible options. And it can encourage existing members to upgrade to a package they’d get more value from (or downgrade to a more economical option, sticking with you even during challenging times).

You could:

  • Introduce a membership tier system – For example, gold, silver, and bronze. Each option has different perks. If you already have a tier system in place, consider adding new levels based on member usage patterns
  • Offer peak and off-peak memberships – This can be a great way to encourage members to use your facilities at quieter times, managing footfall over the day and week. It leans into dynamic pricing to let you increase revenue from usage at peak times
  • Give contract and non-contract options – Most UK gym operators now offer rolling/flexible monthly memberships that let members cancel conveniently if needed. Offering both non-contract and contract options (e.g. 12, 6, or 3 months) can help you with both members looking for flexibility and those looking for a better price that brings more predictability for your business

3. Introduce and upsell bolt-ons paid on a regular basis

Offering bolt-ons can be an ideal way to boost recurring revenue each month. And it helps members enhance their experience too.

Some ideas for paid monthly bolt-ons include:

  • Weekly personal training sessions
  • Weekly guest passes
  • Access to premium facilities (e.g. saunas or ice baths)
  • Priority class bookings
  • Nutrition coaching and meal plans (e.g. powered by MyVitale and delivered through your gym member app)
  • Wellness bundles
  • Access to special discounts on popular brands (e.g. powered by Club Perks)

The right gym management software will make it simple to set-up, sell, and collect recurring payments for bolt-ons.

Integrations that open up new opportunities for paid monthly bolt-ons

Tip

Xplor Gym has integrations with partners (like MyVitale and Club Perks) that help you get creative to design bolt-ons that your members will want to opt into.

Learn more

4. Offer membership-linked premium format classes and courses

Reformer Pilates. Small group training HYROX sessions. Swimming lessons. There are certain classes and courses that members will want to be at every week.

Use your gym management software to offer a series of classes or a course paid for on a membership basis.

Members should automatically be booked onto all sessions covered by their membership at the time of signing up. Even give members access to a choice of timings.

Upsell this type of membership to existing members. And promote it to new members looking to access a specific type of class or learn a new skill.

5. Improve member retention

It’s no use winning new members if they leave a few months later. Almost 10% of first-time members will have ended their membership within 90 days of starting it.

High churn eats away at recurring revenue. Focus on:

Every extra month a member stays increases predictable revenue.

6. Fine-tune your payment collection processes

Most UK gym operators who offer memberships paid on a recurring basis use Direct Debits. But without the right processes in place to effectively manage Direct Debit collections, you may not have as much revenue coming in as you could.

The right gym management partner will help you find ways to optimise your approach to payment collections. And therefore, increase collection success rates to maximise revenue coming in.

Look for:

  • Flexible collection dates – helping you to collect payments at times that work for members (often close to payday). Reducing the risk of failures due to insufficient funds (a major cause of payment failures)
  • Automated resubmissions & notifications – members should be automatically alerted if a Direct Debit is cancelled or a payment fails. Your system should automatically reattempt on two occasions to collect payments that have failed due to insufficient funds
  • Support for your members – look for a gym management partner who can help you provide a better member experience. Let them handle member payment queries – freeing you from difficult conversations

Going beyond subscriptions to diversify & grow revenue

Go deeper

Growing recurring revenue from subscription-based memberships is essential to creating predictability. Yet, there’s also room to grow by catering to demand for flexibility from gymgoers.

Learn more

Forecasting: Turning revenue into predictability

Growing recurring revenue is important for predictability. And so is accurate forecasting. Forecasting is simply predicting what your future income and expenses will look like. When accurate, forecasting gives you clarity and confidence.

Accurate forecasting can help you:

  • Anticipate and prepare for quieter months
  • Identify growth opportunities early
  • Make smart decisions across your business
  • Address challenges proactively

Forecasting can feel like guesswork

Especially if you’re faced with these common challenges like many other gym operators:

  • Data spread across different systems – if you’re working with separate software and payments providers you could be spending time switching between systems
  • Unreliable payments data – inaccurate and/or out-of-date payments data can make accurate forecasting impossible
  • Limited time – many operators have limited time, skill, and resource to spend working in spreadsheets reconciling payments and forecasting for future months

Take the guesswork out of forecasting

This is where an all-in-one gym management system with embedded payments comes in – a system like Xplor Gym.

  • Real-time, complete payment information in one place
  • Understand collection rates and see forecasts for future months
  • Rely on trusted tech (and a knowledgeable team) to help you improve collection rates

In short, embedded payments take the guesswork out of forecasting. Giving you a single source of truth. So, it’s easier to see what the next month – or even year – will look like.

Building predictability in unpredictable times

If the last five or so years has taught us anything, it’s that unpredictability is a part of business. From sudden lockdowns to steep cost-of-living increases, there will always be external factors that you just can’t control.

Yet, within your business, you can create a foundation of stability and resilience:

  1. Boost and strengthen recurring revenue – well-designed memberships, attractive bolt-ons, and robust retention strategies will help revenue flow into your business
  2. Automate payments – the right processes, tech, and team will help you maximise collection success rates to reduce missed income and maintain smooth cashflow
  3. Centralise data – having all your data in one place helps you forecast based on accurate, up-to-date information
  4. Use forecasting to plan ahead – plan for growth and be ready to deal with unexpected external (and internal) factors that could otherwise set your business back

When you do this, unpredictable events feel less daunting. Why? You’ll know your financial baseline. And that makes it easier to navigate challenges and capitalise on opportunities.

A simple example:

Let’s say you run a small independent gym with 500 members paying £40 a month by Direct Debit. That’s £20,000 in monthly recurring revenue.

However, on average across UK fitness facilities in the year to end-July 2025, 6% of Direct Debit collections failed due to insufficient funds. In this case you’d lose £1,200 each month.

Now imagine Direct Debits are automated, when a payment fails due to insufficient funds the system automatically re-attempts the collection. By doing this you reduce failures to just 1.5% – protecting £900 each month. Over a year, that’s nearly £10,800 saved.

And with accurate forecasting, you can plan around that income confidently, knowing your base revenue is as secure as possible.

Power up your business & stay in the know

The wrap up…

Costs have risen steeply for gym operators over the past few years. These increases have been hard to predict and almost impossible for operators to control.

In an unpredictable operating environment, predictability in business matters more than ever. To build predictability, recurring revenue is essential and so is access to accurate forecasting.

Revenue from memberships remains the most common source of recurring revenue for most operators. Grow this by offering an attractive mix of membership options, getting pricing right, and proactively addressing attrition. Plus, diversify by offering bolt-ons and class/course-based memberships to build new sources of recurring revenue.

The right approach to collecting recurring revenue will help you avoid payment failures and lost revenue. Working with a trusted software and payments partner (like Xplor Gym) will help you maximise collection success rates and access accurate forecasting.

This forecasting will help you plan and navigate challenges effectively. Supporting sustainable growth, even when times are uncertain.

Request a demo to see what Xplor Gym can do for your business.

For cashflow boosting ideas, download the 25 Ways To Boost Cashflow & Save Money eBook.

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*The Challenges Of Running A Gym Research was conducted by Xplor Gym via an online survey. The survey took place between 28 February and 21 March 2025. It was completed by 60 respondents from privately owned gym operators in the UK.

Megan Greenaway Profile Picture

by Megan Greenaway Customer Success Manager at Xplor Gym

  • First published: 20 October 2025

    Written by: Megan Greenaway