Club Support Inc

In 2013, attackers stole 40 million payment card numbers from Target. They didn't break in through a payment terminal: they got in through a refrigeration and HVAC contractor's stolen password.

The contractor had remote network access to manage the heating and cooling systems. Once attackers had that login, they walked sideways into Target's network and found their way to the cash registers.

The full story was first reported by Brian Krebs in 2014, and it's still the textbook example of how a single connected vendor becomes the whole risk.

Most private clubs are running smaller versions of that exact architecture. A typical mid-sized club has between 100 and 300 connected devices: POS terminals, kitchen displays, cooler sensors, cameras at the gate and locker rooms, smart locks on back offices, irrigation controllers, the BMS.

Each one was installed by a different vendor at a different time. Many of those vendors still hold active remote access years after the install, often with the same password they used for the original setup.

After 20+ years working only with private clubs in Canada and the US, the gaps we find at most properties are usually the same ones, and almost all of them are fixable in a quarter without a major capital project.

We wrote a practical guide for GMs, with a 30/60/90 day playbook.

https://clubsupportinc.com/blog/iot-security-for-private-clubs-risks-in-connected-devices/

If you'd rather just have us take a look at your own club, we run a complimentary IT and security assessment. DM us for a free audit.

Many people even at the leadership level still use simple passwords and rarely change them. The thinking is usually "we're a small operation, who'd target us?"

In mid-2025, researchers uncovered 16 billion leaked credentials compiled from past breaches. One reused password is all it takes to expose your member database, financials, or executive email.

The good news: these are habits, and habits are fixable without a big project.

We put together a free 30+ page guide on password management for private clubs. It covers the common mistakes, the real risks for club operations, and how to roll out better practices without disrupting your team.

Don't let everyday habits put your members' information at risk.

Download the eBook here: https://clubsupportinc.com/blog/best-practices-and-tips-for-password-management/

A member opens her phone, books dinner for Saturday with two guests in under a minute, and never sees a "session timed out" screen.

The system already knows her partner is gluten-free and quietly flags it for the kitchen.

It's a well-integrated reservation platform talking to a clean member database that gets maintained on a schedule, not when someone remembers.

In our latest piece, we walk through 10 of these member moments that, taken together, make a club's digital experience feel modern and effortless. From the reservation all the way to the plan for when something breaks on a busy Saturday.

Read it here: https://clubsupportinc.com/blog/how-to-deliver-a-5-star-digital-experience-in-your-club/

Four things you should never paste into a public AI tool like ChatGPT:

▪️ Your member list
▪️ The club's financials (P&L, balance sheet, budget)
▪️ Employee reviews or salary information
▪️ Board meeting minutes

Once it's pasted in, you lose control over where it lives next. Public AI tools are powerful and have a real role at clubs, but they're built for general-purpose tasks, not confidential club operations.

For sensitive work, look at tools that keep your data inside your own environment. Microsoft 365 Copilot is a common option for clubs already on the Microsoft stack.

Save this one for your next staff meeting.

Remote work at a private club in 2026 looks like this.

The Controller "just checking one thing" from the cottage, the Membership Director replying to emails from a café, and the GM joining a board call from the kitchen table because the dishwasher repair guy is finally here.

Great for staff retention, and also the place where most of our industry's cybersecurity incidents now begin.

Our latest piece walks club GMs through 7 practical habits for running remote work without losing sleep.

Read it here: https://clubsupportinc.com/blog/a-gms-guide-to-remote-work-at-the-club/

When was the last time an airline surprised you with how seamlessly the whole experience worked?

Your seat preference, your boarding notification, your miles balance – all sitting in one place, ready before you even thought to ask for them.

Now imagine that same level of attentiveness at your club, where the front desk, the dining room, the pro shop, and the fitness team all see the same picture of each member as they walk through the door.

Our latest article looks at five things private clubs can borrow from the way airlines approach digital experience, from quietly anticipating member preferences to spotting disengagement before it ever turns into a resignation letter.

Read the full piece on the blog 👇
https://clubsupportinc.com/blog/what-private-clubs-can-learn-from-airlines-about-digital-experience/

When operations feel inefficient at a private club, the instinct is usually to hire more staff or ask people to do more.

But after 20+ years working with private clubs, we've noticed something: a lot of what looks like a staffing problem is actually an IT problem.

Members waiting at the entrance because access is verified manually. Kitchen tickets getting lost during a busy service. Seasonal staff onboarded one account at a time every spring. Five systems that don't share data, so someone rebuilds the same report every week by hand. IT issues that land on whoever is nearby – sometimes the GM themselves.

None of these show up on any report. Nobody calls them IT problems. They're just part of the day.

They don't have to be. We wrote about the seven most common ones — and what it actually takes to fix them – on our blog.

🔗 https://clubsupportinc.com/blog/how-the-right-it-setup-reduces-administrative-workload-at-private-clubs/

Peak season at a private club is when everything has to work perfectly. Full dining rooms, packed tee sheets, championship events – and behind all of it, IT systems under more pressure than they'll face all year.

A POS crash during a holiday banquet. Wi-Fi collapsing mid-tournament. These aren't rare worst-case scenarios. They're things we see happen to well-run clubs that simply didn't have time to prepare.

We put together a seasonal IT planning guide covering exactly this — what to check, when to check it, and what tends to break first under peak-season load. There's also a free checklist on the same page if you want something concrete to hand to your IT person or IT partner.

Worth a read before your next busy season sneaks up.

https://clubsupportinc.com/blog/seasonal-it-planning-guide-for-club-peak-times-free-checklist/

After 20+ years working with private clubs, we still see the same IT problems come up again and again – even at clubs that are well-run in every other way.

Outdated systems that "still technically work." No offsite backups. Staff emails with no two-factor authentication. Member Wi-Fi on the same network as internal systems.

These aren't exotic problems. They're common ones. And most of the time, the clubs dealing with them don't know it – because everything looks fine until it isn't. One club we worked with paid $15,000 in ransom and spent two weeks getting back online. The fix, once we got there, wasn't complicated. The situation just hadn't been on anyone's radar.

We wrote about the most common mistakes we see – and what it actually takes to fix them – on our blog. Worth a read if you manage or work at a private club.

🔗 Link in the first comment.

You collect member preferences, booking history, spending patterns. But the real question is:
👉 Are you using this data or just storing it?

Here are 5 ways how you can use data to improve the member experience:

1️⃣ Tailored communication

Instead of sending the same message to everyone, clubs send relevant updates based on member behavior. For example, if a member regularly books tennis courts but has never attended social events, the system can send a friendly invitation to a tennis mixer.

2️⃣ Customized events and programs

By analyzing participation trends, clubs can better understand what their members actually want – and plan accordingly.

If data shows growing attendance among younger families, the club can introduce more family-oriented activities, such as brunches or kids’ programs, instead of relying on assumptions.

3️⃣ Dining personalization

POS data helps staff deliver a more thoughtful experience. When a member makes a reservation, staff can see preferences in advance – for example, a favorite dish, a preferred wine, or dietary restrictions – and adjust the service accordingly.

4️⃣ Predictive service

With the right insights, clubs can anticipate needs rather than react to them.
This can include sending reminders to renew memberships, suggesting golf lessons to frequent players, or offering special perks to celebrate anniversaries.

5️⃣ Operational efficiency

Data also helps optimize internal operations. Better staffing decisions, more accurate scheduling, and improved inventory planning all contribute to a smoother experience.

This is only part of the picture.
In the full article, we also cover what data is actually worth collecting, how to do it ethically and in compliance, which tools make it possible, and how to measure whether your efforts are delivering results.

Read here: https://clubsupportinc.com/blog/how-clubs-are-using-data-to-personalize-member-experiences/