Beware! Straigh Talk About 24Hr Fitness Ahead
Often in life we find that things which look good from afar are often far from good and with super-gyms such as 24Hr Fitness, this is sometimes the case. I’m going to go on the record and say that regardless of how nice the exterior of one of these big-box gyms may be, no matter how slick the marketing campaigns, or how manicured the landscaping, the proof is in the pudding where members’ overall experience of a particular fitness center is concerned.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that all 24Hr Fitness locations suck. Far from it. I’m not one of those “pissed consumer” types who feels a need to rant about a company because of a bad experience. In fact, I can’t even say that I’ve had a bad experience myself. And that’s just the point I’m trying to make. While I’ve never been wronged by 24Hr Fitness it would seem that this isn’t a shared experience with all members. The company has established more than 400 locations and if you think that the people working behind the desk and in the manager’s office at each of those gyms shares a common level of job satisfaction, positive attitude, and image with the decision-makers at 24Hr Fitness world headquarters…you’d be wrong.
Are You Freakin' KIDDING Me?!?!?!
Another thing that can cause members to hate their gym membership is when either the facility or the equipment is run down. Luckily, this isn’t really the case with 24Hr Fitness because the company is wildly popular and experiencing exponential growth. There are new locations popping up all over the country every year. These aren’t a little gym stuffed into a vacant location in a struggling strip-mall either. These are big-box super-gyms. Of course all 24Hr Fitness locations have the standard compliment of free weights, cardio equipment, and selectable circuit training, but most of these gyms also have basketball courts, steam room, sauna, pro shop, and a dedicated personal training area. With the exception of LA Fitness and a few others, there’s not a chain of fitness clubs out there which offers as much to their members as 24Hr Fitness does. It also means that there’s a lot that can go wrong.
It doesn’t matter how well the design architect did his job in laying out the plan for a particular club and then overseeing its construction if the locker rooms stink. A full-length basketball court might seem nice but not a lot of people actually utilize that space. They DO however, spend a lot of time on treadmills and if more than one of these are found to be broken down on a consistent basis, people can become really upset really quick.
So again, while I am impressed by the visual appeal of the various 24Hr Fitness super-gyms, I also am practical in thinking that if the people running the joint are not bringing their A-game with them when they walk through the doors, they will not be very effective at keeping members happy and customer loyalty will suffer.
I propose that we conduct and experiment. It is my belief that 24Hr Fitness does a good job at keeping its members happy. But my thoughts on this could be biased by my own experience. So let’s test it out. In the comments section below, take a minute or two to type up a quick summary of your experience with 24Hr Fitness. We’ll focus on three main areas only: facility maintenance, equipment maintenance, and staff professionalism. After you’re done typing up your thoughts, be sure to put in your ratings with the star-tool and hit the submit button. I predict that we’ll have more positive reviews about 24Hr Fitness than negative…but only time will tell. The combined results can be found at the top of this page.
I was really, really excited at just the thought of joining this new, shinny gym. First impressions really communicate a lot about a place and I thought that the 24 Hr Fitness in the Northgate area of Seattle, WA was going to be the best thing since sliced bread. Unfortunately, things that are too good to be true usually are. But I’m sure that you’d agree that this is often the case. That’s why it’s a good thing I decided to stop in on a free pass to get an insider look. Here’s what I found …Read This Horror Story
After a full year of membership at the 24 Hr Fitness in Houston, TX, I can confidently say that I made the right decision to join. It’s close to my home which makes it very convenient for me to get in there and do my thing before I head off to work. This was a big factor in choosing a gym as I have a very busy schedule and it’s not easy to be consistent about working out. I’ve always had good intentions but the follow-through has been sporadic at best. Now that I’ve signed up here I really feel…Read This Rave Review
I workout at the gym in NYC which is kinda small but it works well for me. Sometimes the gym is overly warm, which can sometimes be a major turn-off, but other than that, I like this gym. At least I like it better than other places where I’ve signed up. During my time here, I never encountered a machine that was out of service.
I like the towel service at this 24 Hr Fitness as I tend to use more than one each time I stop in. There’s a few freebies in the locker room like deodorant spray, razors, hair dryer, etc. People tend to be pretty friendly too. Maybe a little bit too friendly as they’ll talk to you while you’re in the middle of a workout, even if you have to get in and get out quickly. I guess it’s better than having to be there surrounded by jerks though.
This is a review of my first stop in at the NYC 24 Hr Fitness on 53rd St. I hesitated on trying this place out but how my day played out it just made sense to workout here vs. another location. Talk about a confusing place! The main workout area was actually located in the freakin’ basement. The locker rooms were shoved to the back, stuck behind the weight machines. In fact, the entire layout was…Read The Entire Horror Story
Having been members of this gym since 2009, my husband and I have seen first hand how quickly this gym has changed in just a few short years, none of it for the good.
It just seems that if it’s not one thing, it’s another. The air conditioning recently went out (you can operated a gym in Sacramento, CA without A/C), and brining it to the attention of management was met with rolled eyes as if they had heard the same thing 100 times and were getting sick of it. They refused to offer some type of discount to compensate, and were rude in general.
In fact, the people that work here don’t seem to like what they do. They must not even like each other because there’s a lot of turnover. It seems like there’s always a different face at the front desk, none of them happy.
Things break around here too. Some of the suspended televisions were removed and it took forever to get replacements. Ellipticals and treadmills are often tagged with “out of service” signs scrawled on a piece of printer paper with a sharpie marker.
Do we keep going here? Yes, but to be honest, some days I don’t know why. I’m really surprised that a gym like 24 Hr Fitness, which generally has a good reputation, would let things go south so fast.
Sometimes you don’t realize how good you have it until something is taken away from you. For me, that is the Folsom 24Hr Fitness. I was a faithful member there for more than 4 years and then things in life changed, we decided to move out to the country, and the gym is…Read This Rave Review
Strolled into my local Sam’s Club last week and found that they were promoting the 24 hr Fitness in Gold River, CA. I’d been there before on a 1-day free pass so I just picked up a 2-yr membership as a killer discount of only $300. No extra feed either for child watch as I don’t have any kids. At less than $15.00 p/month, I’m really pleased with the price. I WASN’T so pleased with the sales people there when I went for the 1-day tour, so it was nice to get going this way and avoid…Read the entire Rave Review
I stopped into the 24hr Fitness in Houston on a free 1-day pass to check it out. The facility itself was pretty nice. You can’t deny that. I found that all the machines seemed to be up and running (including the various weight machines) and the place didn’t seem dirty to me or anything. This included the locker room, which was a nice surprise. I’ve had to move a lot over the years and each time I’ve had to find a new gym and pretty much every place you stop in at has ill-smelling locker rooms that could do with a good bit of extra cleaning.
I don’t do basketball or swim, so those types of things don’t impress me. I care more about the fact that the main stuff like treadmills, ellipticals, free weights, and circuit training machines work and are not coated in a layer of grime. The Houston,TX 24 Hr Fitness scored well on all of these areas in my eyes.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that this can quality as a “rave review” because I didn’t end up joining. The atmosphere seemed off to me. There were a lot more people talking than working out. It almost seemed like some type of hook-up spot or something. I’m not really into that type of thing as I have to train hard and fast because of my hectic schedule. So, in the end, I’ll have to find a different gym. I won’t rule out the possibility of signing up at a different 24 Hr Fitness, but that would be a different review.
I consider myself to be a gym enthusiast. My health is important to me and I invest both time and money to keep my physical machine running in top order. There are a lot of places to work out at, and they are not all created equal. I had been a member of LA Fitness for years and didn’t really want to switch. Money has been a lot tighter in the last year or two though, and every expense had to be reconsidered, including where I put in my workouts. At the time, the 24 Hr Fitness membership seemed to be… Read the Entire Rave Review