How a club handles cancellation requests, and what that handling costs it

Friction retains the member and costs the reputation

A member who had to make three attempts to leave does leave, and then writes about it. The extra month is collected once; the review stays up and is read by everybody who searches your club's name for the next two years, including the prospective members who were asking about commitment in the first place. Count the two together or you are only counting the side that looks good.

Separate "wants to leave" from "wants something to change"

A meaningful share of cancellation requests are not about leaving - they are about cost, a schedule that stopped working, an injury, or a few months away. Freeze, downgrade, transfer and off-peak options answer those, and a member who finds out about them at the point of cancelling usually did not know they existed. The requirement is that the alternatives are offered honestly and once - offering them three times is the friction described above wearing a helpful face.

Find out why, while they are still telling you

The moment of cancellation is the only time a leaving member will explain themselves, and most clubs collect nothing because the conversation is uncomfortable and happens at a desk. A written channel collects the reason as a side effect, and a month of those reasons is the most honest retention research available to you - far better than surveying the members who stayed.

Decide what software may and may not do here

An assistant can explain the notice period, state the alternatives once, record the request with the member's details and the date, and confirm what happens next. It must not be the thing that refuses or delays a cancellation, and it must not require a person to repeat the request through a second channel - that is the friction strategy again, and it is the one that produces the reviews.