Ocean Stuff: AQWA - The Benefits of Membership

“Member”/“Membership”: One that belongs to a group or an organization: a club member; a bank that is a member of the FDIC.

At the request of my beautiful wife, after a week of infant induced sleep deprived nights we minimized the commitments to kid’s sports and had a “family day” today.

Went to visit our regular old haunt – AQWA with whom we up until recently we were Members for the last 3 years. We would go there at least once a month as my son would love it – I am trying to get him interested in the marine environment from a young age (You cant have enough good dive buddies!). Today my 8 week old just held eyes open in wonder at the kaleidoscope of color and life presented in front of him.

Unfortunately, late last year AQWA in their wisdom decided last year that they no longer wanted ‘Members’. This is unfortunate from our perspective as there is a huge difference in sentiment between being a customer and a Member.

I think it was CS Lewis who stated that the word Membership began with the Church – or “belonging to a community”. Now we don’t belong – we just casually purchase entry. As Members, sure we got free entry after paying a $100 per year fee. But also we would act as advocates for the place, bring friends, and recommend it to interstate visitors, purchase coffee or something from the gift shop. Additionally, when we have traveled in the past we have checked out the Aquariums in other cities - Melbourne, Florida and London.

I can’t comprehend the long-term business benefits of this decision. The Family Membership product was introduced to attract back the locals during the Asian Economic meltdown. A better solution would be to redesign the product – perhaps a simple price increase, a compulsory annual $spend at the bar etc. so that the mutual benefits associated with ‘Membership’ are not eroded.

Who knows when they will once again be looking for Local loyalty for support?