Membership Brand Strategy Examples: Life Time Fitness, Equinox, Spaces & More

Higher-Priced Fitness Clubs & Coworking Office Spaces Abound, But Does Membership Experience Measure Up? 

As subscription services become widespread, these brand strategy examples show that the cachet of being a “member” has declined over the years. As memberships have become less unique, the experiences that brands offer have become less personalized.

Some will remember the American Express advertising that promised “Membership has its privileges,” which ran from 1987 to 1996. The benefits of “respect, recognition and personal service” are depicted in a variety of situations, from stranded travelers to consumers enjoying fine dining.  While I haven’t been an American Express cardholder for some time, I also remember that the card displaying “Member since XYZ year” was a nice reminder of the membership when using the card.   This was a time before the massive onset of subscription services, when the brand had to persuade consumers that membership was truly worth the price..

As a brand strategy example, today’s American Express card membership prices range from $95 per year for the Blue cards (after the first year, where fee is waived) to $695 for Platinum. While lower-priced credit cards are readily available, high-priced credit cards like American Express Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve ($550 yearly) are aiming to deliver more membership value.

High-price memberships are on my mind for brand strategy examples as I’ve been reevaluating the value and price equation that I’m getting from my Bay Club gym membership ($275 per month) and also my shared office space ($1,100 per month).  I recently explored private office and coworking space membership with Spaces (from $159 per month to $659 per month, depending on usage).  

These two high-price memberships fit my desired lifestyle. I’ve frequently joked that my exercise gym and my shared office space are more luxurious than my home (which is true), and I enjoy going to the gym and the office in part because they are nice environments, beyond their functionality.  As far as recognition goes, the Bay Club El Segundo front desk staff makes a policy of greeting each member as they enter and exit the club, and I make a point to greet my coworkers when arriving each day.

I’m defining higher-price memberships as more than $50 per-month per-person, the definition could also be $99 per month, or even higher, but this seems a reasonable starting point.     

Lower-Priced Membership Brand Strategy Examples

Memberships are more important to consumers than ever, although most are below $50/month. Examples abound of lower-priced (under $50 per month) memberships.  Popular retail shopping memberships today in the US include:  

• Amazon Prime $139 per year or $14.99 per month
• Costco yearly prices of either $65 for Gold Star or $130 for Executive
• AAA yearly prices of $64.99 for Classic, $99.99 for Plus and $124.99 for Premier
• Walmart+ priced at $12.95 per month (after free trial) or $98 yearly
• AARP priced at $20 per year (after first year) 
• Sam’s Club priced at $50 per year

Among these lower-priced memberships, Amazon Prime claims a massive 47% of US Internet shoppers, far ahead of Costco at 25%.  It’s also interesting to see that AAA offers tiered pricing, as does Costco, while the other retail examples have a flat one price for all. 

Contrasting to the one-size-fits-all approach are pricing tiers and good, better, best pricing strategies for brands like Netflix, Apple, Chase, and Nestle.  For instance, Netflix offers tiered good, better, best member pricing of $7.99 for Standard with ads or $17.99 for Standard (without ads) or Premium for $24.99 (without ads).   

Microsoft XBox offers Game Pass for PC at $11.99 per month or $19.99 per month. Microsoft states that the Game Pass is financially viable, generating $309 million in incremental gaming revenue in late 2023 and +30% growth in second quarter 2025.

These lower-priced memberships add up to significant spending, with one source finding that many consumers underestimate their subscription service spending, initially estimating that they spend $86 per month (across multiple services), when they actually spend $219 (across multiple services).  Another study found that consumers had an average of 4.5 subscriptions, which likely is an underestimate when other categories are added.   For instance, US adult gym memberships are estimated at 66 million in 2021, up from 13 million in 1984.

Higher-Priced Membership Brand Strategy Examples: Fitness Clubs

My own experiences with higher-priced gym memberships  is that the ones I’ve belonged to tend to the “one-size-fits-all” member pricing strategy.   

Bay Club is the first of the brand strategy examples I looked at, since I have been a long term member.  It is similar to other leading brands like Equinox and Life Time Fitness. Eight years ago when I joined Bay Club Santa Monica, I opted for an Executive Membership, which allowed me to use all the clubs in the Los Angeles area (e.g., Redondo Beach, El Segundo) for $30 to $50 more than the standard one-club membership, which was around $100 per month at the time.  When I made this decision, Executive Membership level was worth it to me, as my work and personal lifestyle meant I regularly used both the El Segundo and Santa Monica clubs.  This type of regional or selective network access beyond the home club is a fairly common choice at gyms.

Today, Bay Club Executive Membership El Segundo is $275 per month.  To be sure, other Bay Clubs have different pricing.  Since I no longer use multiple locations of the Bay Club, I expected to transition to an individual gym membership and lower the costs modestly.   As it turns out, however, the only type of membership offered is the Executive Membership.  And, the pricing is the same for anyone at $275 per month, following the “one-size-fits-all model”.  Since I have a second member on my account, the total cost is $425 per month.   

I felt an affiliation with the Bay Club brand as an eight plus year member (since 2016), but I am not using the brand daily or sufficiently to get value for the cost.  When I pushed a little to ask if there was any value to be a long-term member, I got the answer:

“It is fair to charge everyone the same.”  

While one-size-fits-all is “fair,” it’s also true that this assigns no value to long-term membership loyalty.  When I asked about the ability to pause membership, I was told:

“We have no ability to pause membership.  You can leave. If you rejoin, as an alumni, you may have to pay the $350 enrollment fee. If there happens to be a promotion on, you might get a reduced enrollment fee of $100.”

At Bay Club, the main way to get a lower-priced membership is by enrolling additional members under one account.  Specifically, Bay Club offers an: 

“open membership structure that expands beyond the definition of ‘family’ by allowing up to eight individuals—whether friends, neighbors, or colleagues—on one membership.”     

While innovative, this isn’t a fit for me as the primary member (in this case me) is still financially accountable, and this results in a large monthly bill for the total of all members on one account.

In contrast, the second higher-priced brand strategy example, Life Time Fitness, has a pricing structure with two choices: Signature pricing for members who want more advanced small group classes, with pickleball and tennis court fees included or the Standard membership.  Of course, as with all clubs, different locations offer different amenities and so pricing takes that into account.

Life Time Fitness also offers lower prices for 65 Plus and Under 26 member age categories.  

For instance, Life Time Fitness in Roseville, California offers a Signature Membership for $259 per month for the first adult with 

“unlimited signature group training (GTX, Alpha and Ultrafit), early class and kids reservations, and more (not applicable at all locations).” 

At this location, the 65+ and under 26 Signature Membership is $229, an 11% discount. 

When I lived in Illinois, I found the Life Time Fitness  Old Orchard Illinois location was well worth the 15 minute drive from my home for the facility’s amenities and experience.  The Old Orchard membership  is currently priced at $199 per month, compared with Roseville’s $259 cost. While it might not be surprising that California pricing is higher than Illinois, it’s important to note that Chicago’s premier East Bank Club is $275 per month (with a $750 initiation fee).

With the third brand strategy example, Equinox, there are different levels of pricing depending on how many gyms are included, and the amenities that the gym has. Typical pricing is in the $300 monthly range as shown in the chart. The Equinox brand’s mission speaks to: 

“luxury, personalized service and unparalleled experiences.” 

On the super luxury end, in May 2024, Equinox announced its Optimize offering, priced at $3,000 per month on top of the regular Equinox membership. Equinox also expanded into the coworking space with Industrious at Equinox at Hudson Yards.

The chart below shows a comparison of these three higher-priced fitness chain brands.

Two other fitness chains that are above $50 per month include Orangetheory Fitness and CrossFit.  Orangetheory Fitness offers usage based pricing, i.e., Basic (four monthly classes), Elite (eight classes), Premier (unlimited).  

Due to travel, I recently became a member of lower-priced fitness brand Anytime Fitness, which has over 2,300 locations in the US.  I’ve found that Anytime offers the basics I need, which are treadmills and exercise bicycles along with weight machines.  

In El Segundo, Anytime Fitness pricing comes in three tiers: 

• Basic $34.99 bi-weekly ($69.98 monthly)
• Premium $109.99 bi-weekly 
• Results $199.99 bi-weekly    

There are also options available for Worldwide Access ($44.99 bi-weekly), 12 months paid in full ($699) and lower prices for students/military/first responders ($29.99 bi-weekly).  The brand is not positioned as luxury, but it does fall above the $50 per month designation.   

To be sure, luxury fitness brands like Equinox, Bay Club and Life Time Fitness sport large lifestyle and wellness facilities with extensive amenities (e.g., spas, cafes, kid’s clubs), making them a different brand value proposition than more focused fitness competitors.

While I initially envisioned keeping both the Bay Club and Anytime Fitness memberships, I realized that Anytime Fitness sufficiently meets my needs, and I can go elsewhere for the yoga, smoothies and atmosphere that I got at the Bay Club.   

While it’s not available, a more flexible usage tier membership such as the one offered by Life Time Fitness with its Standard and Signature options would be attractive to me and could have retained me as a Bay Club member.

There is a lot of innovation in the fitness space.  A Vistage Chair colleague, who lives in Marina Del Rey, recommends Love.Life El Segundo for recovery and wellness.  This flagship facility offers functional and integrative medicine, spa and recovery and more.  She mentioned pricing above $300 a month, putting this solidly in the luxury category.  Also in El Segundo, we anticipate the opening of California Smash pickleball and social club.  Both of these new fitness and lifestyle brands are highly accessible to where I work and live, and compete with Bay Club El Segundo on the lifestyle and amenities front.

Higher-Priced Membership Brand Strategy Examples: Offices and Coworking

While looking for a new office with a large conference room, I also recently came across another model for higher-priced usage membership at Spaces.  

I first visited the El Segundo Spaces location in 2018, when starting to work with Vistage.  As a Vistage chair, I lead monthly meetings with peer advisory groups, and was interested in a facility with a large conference room (see below) to use for meetings as well as an office that I could work from on non-meeting days. 

In 2018, I spent one day working fromthe open spaces at the El Segundo location, and realized that it was not a fit for me, as I am on the phone with calls frequently during the day.  For that reason, I chose not to pursue Spaces, but I did remember the meeting room for future use.

In recent years, I’ve been  subleasing a private office and using the facility’s conference room for Vistage meetings. This has worked well, and I’ve enjoyed the environment and the other people who work in the space.  Unfortunately, the company I was leasing from is no longer a tenant, so as of early 2025, I needed to find a new option..   Spaces was first to revisit on my list, as I previously visited several local and convenient co-working locations, including Spaces,  Biz Haus and WeWork.

Spaces  is part of IWG, which also owns the Regus, HQ, and Signature brands among others.  Within the IWG portfolio, Spaces is positioned as “inspiring spaces with a creative entrepreneurial feel.”   Other large co-working brands are WeWork and Industrious (not currently open in El Segundo).

Spaces offers several options that allow the worker to work in a private office in its membership plans, tailored based on usage.  There is a five days per month plan, a 10 days per month plan and an unlimited plan.  All of these are month-to-month choices.   

In El Segundo, the 10 days per month plan with use of a private office is $389 per month for month-to-month or $330 per month for a one-year commitment.   Under this approach, the Spaces member will be assigned a private office for their daily use, and this office will change based on the day.   And, these memberships are good at any Spaces or Regus location.

Of course, with the private office membership, there is no dedicated office, weekend or 24-hour access.  The private office memberships are more affordable than a dedicated private office (unlimited, with weekend access) at Spaces, with rates for small interior offices starting at $1,284 per month.  

When I last worked at Spaces in 2018, the only model I remember being offered was either the coworking option or a dedicated office, so it’s my impression that these fractional private office memberships have been created in the past five years. This brand strategy example seems to be increasing its personalized offers, instead of minimizing them. 

In comparison, WeWork El Segundo’s 222 North Pacific Coast Highway location also offers options such as a private office, starting at $300 per desk per month or a day pass with pay-as-you-go coworking spaces or private offices booked by the day, starting at $29 per day.   I investigated this location previously, and didn’t find it to be a good fit for meeting rooms, so I chose not to re-explore WeWork.  

In addition to these more standard options, coworking membership software provider Optix describes another eight models, even including night owl and weekender membership choices. Needless to say, my expectation is that night owl and weekender choices aren’t highly popular.

Brand Strategy Examples: Work and Work-Out Space United

What about the idea of combining these two memberships: the gym and the office?  For instance, Industrious at Equinox Hudson Yards looks to be a good brand strategy example.  This idea holds appeal to me, but I haven’t found an option locally that works.  

While Bay Club El Segundo has a dedicated common space and meeting spaces for work, as well as larger meeting rooms to rent, for me, the business area is dark and ice cold, as well as lacking privacy for calls, so this option doesn’t work. Clearly, if this combination worked, it would give more value rather than having two memberships, for convenience and lower pricing.

Thinking about the different memberships and their pricing approaches makes me realize that I am fortunate to be able to afford to belong to a gym and also to have an office for work.  As my work and exercise needs evolve, I need to reevaluate the choices regularly, rather than remaining with a membership brand choice that made sense when initially chosen.  All in all, today’s higher-priced memberships feel like they offer less of a sense of community, and little recognition of long term loyalty. 

It’s also a good reminder to regularly re-examine the myriad lower-priced consumer memberships and subscription services that I use personally and for business.  A few years ago, when I looked at the cost of subscription services for Insight to Action, there were $400 in monthly costs from many providers including Zoom, Constant Contact, Microsoft 365 and others, along with another $3,000 in annual fee model services like Docusign, GoDaddy and Drop Box for a total of $7800 in these business “memberships.” I doubt that these costs are lower today.

I’d love to hear the value that you are getting from your memberships and how often you re-examine them.  Or, for more brand strategy examples, visit our resources page.  Or contact us.