Explore the biggest takeaways from the 2026 Club Solutions Leadership Retreat, where fitness operators discussed member experience, AI, leadership and operational excellence.
Against the mountain backdrop of Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico, over 60 fitness operators spent three days doing something that rarely fits into a busy club schedule: stepping away from their own operations to think, compare notes and learn from one another.
The 2026 Club Solutions Leadership Retreat, held September 28-30 at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa, gave operators space to talk openly about what’s working, what isn’t and what’s next. They left with practical ideas, new relationships and a shared sense that the biggest advantages in this industry often come from peers.
“It was an amazing event with a group of like-minded professionals that helps remind you to work on the business not always in it,” said Karen Raisch-Siegel, the director of athletics at the Atlanta Athletic Club and a 2026 attendee.
Below is snapshot of the event and the biggest takeaways that stuck with attendees.
Turning Member Feedback into Action
The opening session reframed how operators think about complaints. Member feedback, attendees were told, is an indicator of the member experience, not the experience itself. Like a carbon monoxide detector, it signals whether the air is clean. Positive feedback is a tool to reinforce culture and negative feedback calls for brief empathy followed quickly by advocacy.
At their tables, operators picked recurring complaints, such as “Nobody told me that” and “I’ve already explained this to three different people,” and traced them upstream. Repeatedly they landed on the same causes: unclear ownership, onboarding delivered once at the point of sale, and inconsistent follow-up. Their fixes included welcome calls, scripted and consistent follow-up, clear service-level agreements, and front-desk teams with real authority to act.
White Glove Service That Scales
Another roundtable tackled a harder question: how do you make service feel personal without depending on one exceptional employee or a big budget? Operators redesigned ordinary member moments, including the 100th workout, a billing issue, a favorite front-desk employee’s promotion and a member canceling to care for aging parents. Common answers were handwritten cards, remembered names, planned handovers and checklists that build recognition into the shift.
Attendees also heard how one company gave managers full authority to refund, credit and reinstate members on the spot. The pilot’s early results suggested a major lift in net promoter score when the front line could resolve issues without escalating.
Developing Future Leaders
A third roundtable asked what happens when a layer of management disappears. Jen Trees, the area director and marketing at Catalyst Fitness, led the discussion by describing how they replaced the traditional GM role with a leadership team, reinvesting those salaries across the location and putting leaders on the front desk. “It was not about removing leadership; it was about creating more leaders,” said Trees.
In their groups, operators shared ways to find and grow frontline talent, from opt-in programs like Fit to Lead and Launch to career paths, cross-training and daily check-ins. They also discussed how to empower staff without losing accountability, using responsibility matrices that spell out when to solve, inform or recommend. As one attendee put it, “most mistakes aren’t fatal.”
“The biggest takeaway for me was realizing that growth doesn’t mean cutting management or adding unnecessary layers,” said Hiba Abduljawad, the CMO of Fitness Ventures. “I think it’s all about empowering the management that you currently have, giving them the tools to grow, adding AI and technology and really empowering them to grow into their next level.”
AI Use Cases in Fitness Operations
A dedicated AI panel kept the conversation practical: start with the problem, not the technology, and tie every project to a clear business goal. Some of the biggest wins happen behind the scenes. One panelist, Andrew Widmar, the senior director at ENDO Fitness, used AI to compare leases and CAM reconciliations, catching landlord overcharges and cutting reliance on a third-party reviewer.
With members and prospects, the focus was on augmenting people, not replacing them. AI can answer early questions and gauge intent before handing a qualified prospect to a human advisor, and it can tailor follow-up based on what individuals have actually said. Panelists cautioned that more content doesn’t mean better marketing, and that trustworthy data and guardrails, including human review, come first.
The takeaway: identify the problem, trust your data, keep humans in the loop and measure the results.
Learning Inside the Club
The Retreat’s most memorable moment came when attendees boarded buses for an immersive roundtable at Genesis Health Clubs in Albuquerque, a company with 87 locations and a “results for life” mission. JoAnna Welle, a regional VP of Genesis and event moderator, challenged operators to use “club eyes,” visiting a club that isn’t theirs and noticing everything from the parking lot to the greeting at the door.
“Movement lights up the brain,” said Welle, encouraging attendees to take classes, join workout stations and hold conversations on their feet. Four stations showed how Genesis approaches the floor, the studio, trends and the community. They included Weight Room Rookies, a free strength program built to draw more women onto the weight floor, and small trend-driven “pods” that cost far less than a full renovation. Genesis also talked about the value of partnering with hospitals, chiropractors and physical therapists, and of competing clubs acting as sister clubs.
Many attendees said the biggest takeaway from the event was the chance to compare notes with peers facing the same problems and build lasting connections with both operators and vendors.
“My main goals coming into this event were to be able to spend some quality time with a few of our top clients, as well as make new connections with several owners/operators that I had previous contact with but nothing in person,” said Lance Rice, the chief business development officer at Paramount Acceptance. “I was able to accomplish both of these priorities plus learn more about top-of-mind issues and challenges that club operators are facing through the roundtable discussions. It was very valuable to listen and learn from so many highly qualified and reputable people in our industry.”
Looking Ahead to 2027
Club Solutions announced that next year’s Retreat will take place September 13-15, 2027 at The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa in Houston, Texas. Registration opens October 30. To save your spot email taylor@peakemedia.com. Want to be a sponsor? Email rico@peakemedia.com.
