When Customer Service Creates Friction Instead of Trust

Some experiences stay with you because they show you where a company has placed its priorities. A recent attempt to cancel a subscription with a large enterprise software vendor was one of those moments. It was supposed to take seconds. Instead, it became a lesson in how internal processes can quietly override customer needs. Clubs face the same risk every day. If the organization begins to value its own workflow more than the member experience, trust erodes. The lesson is simple. Hospitality must guide every touchpoint.

A Simple Task That Was Anything But

Canceling a subscription should be easy. Click a link. Confirm the choice. Done. But the company in this story had other plans. The account system did not allow me to cancel on my own. Instead, it pushed me into a controlled process. I had to contact support. Then I was directed to someone else. Then another step was required. Then a formal request with specific wording was needed. The more hoops I jumped through, the more obvious it became. Their priority was to protect their workflow and to prevent me from cancelling, not to respect my decision.

As a business owner, I don't understand this approach - why would you want to force a customer to remain with you when they've said they no longer need your service? What is the long-term strategy of this? I understand trying to save a customer, but you do that by showing your value, not by preventing them from leaving.

None of these steps were hard on their own. The issue was the message behind them. I was not treated like a customer with the right to make a simple choice. I was treated like someone who needed to be managed through the company's internal rules.

Every club has moments like this. A member tries to cancel a reservation. A family tries to update a lesson time. Someone wants to join a group or get help with an event. When the process becomes more important than the person, the experience fails.

When Internal Priorities Become Barriers

The cancellation experience felt like a case study in misplaced priorities. The company had built layers of control to reduce churn and maintain predictable numbers. But those layers came at a real cost. Trust. Confidence. Goodwill.

Clubs are not identical to software companies, but the pattern applies. When a club builds processes around what works for staff instead of what works for members, friction appears. It can be subtle. A form that asks for information members have already provided. A change policy that directs them to someone else instead of solving the issue on the spot. A sign up flow that asks for steps that do not feel necessary.

These actions tell members the same thing that the cancellation process told me. The organization is centered around itself, not around the person it serves.

Hospitality Cannot Be Reduced to Process

Hospitality is not a checklist. It is not a sequence of steps. It is a mindset that says the member experience matters more than the organization's convenience.

Technology can support that mindset, or it can undermine it. If the tech requires a member to navigate too many forms, approvals, or redirects, the experience no longer feels personal. If the system forces everything into a rigid flow, staff are unable to solve problems the way they know is right.

The software vendor in this story had well defined processes and policies. None of them were designed with hospitality in mind. They existed to control the customer. That is not how trust is built.

At a club, everything is hospitality. From the welcome desk to the booking flow. From event signups to follow up messages. If the member feels guided, supported, and respected, they stay engaged. If they feel directed through a maze of process, they will eventually disengage.

Small Barriers Become Big Problems

The cancellation process created frustration because it took something simple and made it slow. Nothing about it was catastrophic. But every added step felt like a small barrier. In the moment, the frustration was mild. But over time, these small moments shape the story a customer tells about a brand.

Members behave the same way. One confusing booking flow does not create attrition. One failed confirmation email does not break loyalty. One friction-filled event signup does not push someone away. But these small moments accumulate. Participation drops a little. Sentiment drops a little. Engagement fades. Eventually the member forms an impression. They feel the club is harder to use than it should be.

When that impression takes hold, hospitality loses its strength. People do not tell stories about systems that were easy. They tell stories about systems that were not.

Technology Should Feel Like Hospitality, Not Like Control

A club does not need technology that forces members through narrow paths. It needs technology that supports how people naturally engage. That is one of the core design principles of GroupValet. Every feature exists to remove friction. Join a group with one tap. Update settings without navigating a maze. Receive targeted information without being overwhelmed. Manage bookings without confusion. Cancel without needing to speak to three departments.

A hospitality mindset says the member experience comes first. Technology should reinforce that truth. If the tech ever begins to feel like the software vendor in my cancellation story, something has gone wrong.

GroupValet avoids that pattern by focusing on user-centric flows. Members are not pushed through steps designed to reduce churn or protect workflow math. They are guided through simple, respectful interactions that make participation natural, easy and as fast as possible.

The Difference Between Protecting Process and Building Trust

The software vendor wanted predictability. They created a system that made cancellation difficult so the company could manage retention numbers. But the long term effect is the opposite. Customers who feel controlled do not stay loyal. They leave. And they tell others about the experience.

Clubs face the same strategic question. Optimize for internal workflow or optimize for member sentiment. It is tempting to build steps that make things easier for staff or protect procedures. But if those steps create friction, they quietly damage the clubs relationship with its members.

Trust is built when the club makes the right choice. It says the member experience matters. It removes friction because hospitality requires it. It empowers the member rather than restricts them.

A Challenge for Clubs

Look at your own processes. Do any of them mirror what happened in the cancellation story? Are there places where the club has built a workflow that asks the member to fit into a system that is convenient for staff? Are members ever redirected, asked to repeat information, or told to complete steps that do not add value?

These may seem small, but they become defining moments. A hospitality mindset removes these barriers. It honors the member. It respects their time. It aligns the club around their experience.

Final Thought

The cancellation was a reminder. Companies reveal their values through their processes. When an organization forces customers into unnecessary friction, it sends a message. The internal workflow is more important than the relationship.

Clubs cannot afford that message. Every interaction is a chance to reinforce belonging. Hospitality requires removing barriers, not creating them. When technology and staff operate with that mindset, trust grows, engagement grows, and members stay connected.