4 Yacht Club Industry Trends to Watch for in 2024
Set sail into a year brimming with exciting yacht club industry trends! Whether you are a manager at a small local club or an exclusive and prestigious club catering to affluent individuals, your goals of bringing in more revenue and strengthening member loyalty remain the same. Ensuring your service and business strategies line up with trends plays a central role in your overall strategy to foster a sense of community amongst your members. With the new year, it’s the perfect time to explore the exciting developments shaping the yacht club scene. Let’s dive into some predictions for what to expect in 2024 in the yacht club market.
1. Hosting (More) Events
The first of yacht club industry trends is that more and more events are expected and a significant portion of these events are weddings and wedding-related celebrations. Experts agree that while in the past few years, there has been a lull in proposals, 2024 will see a huge boost in engagements and weddings.
So what? Weddings are back and with a vengeance (in a great way!). Now is the time for Yacht Clubs to take advantage of these stats and promote their venue to the brides-to-be! Highlight your venue on social media and your website to help paint the picture for newly engaged couples.
What about your day-to-day members? Can’t forget about them either. Member engagement has a direct and heavy impact on revenue. Consider different ways your venue can show appreciation for long-time and new members. Hold a member-appreciation cocktail hour or brunch twice yearly if the budget allows. Are there additional perks you can offer members of 5+ years? What about 10+ years? Don’t have the budget, then think of cost-friendly initiatives. If you have an email newsletter or blog, do a member spotlight to showcase your members and allow your member community to get to know one another!
2. Seas The Day With Social Media
Sure, we may get some eye-rolls for this one, but let’s have an honest discussion. Do you have a social media plan in place? Are you consistently posting? What type of content are you sharing?
We understand that not everyone can have a dedicated social media manager, and that’s okay! There are ways around this. First and foremost, make sure you have a social media presence (and promote your accounts on your website and at your venue). Second, think about your brand and think of the content that best reflects and represents your brand. This will make creating at least four categories to stick to when creating your social post easier.
By creating trust with your audience, you establish brand loyalty. Don’t be shy about sharing stories about your staff with their photos. Showcase member perks to encourage more people to become members. Need more content inspiration? Here are some additional ideas: Hospitality Industry Marketing Ideas to Drive Business in Q1
3. Catering to Your Members
Next in yacht club industry trends focuses on your members. You love all of your customers, both members and non-members. As mentioned, member engagement matters, so why not offer exclusive perks? Do you have guests that have a regular catering order? Offer them a member-only page where they can enter their member ID, place their order ahead of time, and lock in a specific dock number. This will act as a boat slip, organize your orders, and allow you to book more orders with less work. Sounds too good to be true? Nonsense! This can all be done with TripleseatDirect.
Book a free demo today to see this in action.
4. Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks
Does your yacht club cater to four-legged friends? The next yacht club industry trend is that your members care a great deal about their pets and so should you! In 2022, Americans spent $136.8 billion on their pets, up 10.68% from 2021 ($123.6 billion), and in 2023 66% of U.S. households (86.9 million homes) own a pet (Forbes Advisor). You have to be barking mad not to allow your guests’ furry friends to join in on the fun at your venue!
Sure, perhaps they can’t have full access to your venue, but here are some ideas you can try out:
- Host a Yappy Hour: Designate an outdoor space where guests and their pets can hang out and play. PS: this will make for great social media content!
- Dog-friendly Event: Dogs love to play in the water, so why not hold a Dock Jumping contest? It’ll surely be a treat for everyone, including the pups. Make sure they are wearing their life vests!
- User Generate Content (UGC): Encourage your guests to tag your account with photos of their pups spending time on a boat or at your venue. Ask for permission to use and create a fun album to share!
As you embark on your 2024 chapter, we wish you nothing but success. May your year be filled with new member milestones, more couples celebrating their love with your help, and an engaged audience on your social media accounts.
If you ever need help managing your events and catering orders, we here at Tripleseat are ready to help. Not ready yet? Take an exploratory demo to understand how Tripleseat can help increase your revenue while decreasing your workload.
