4 ms·

The people that don't show up to the gym are what make the business profitable.

• biztos 9y ago
  I've heard this before and intuitively it seems right, but only for certain gym cultures. In the US almost everything is membership-based, so a paying member who doesn't show up is free money until they cancel. But there are other places where it's more flexible, for example my gym has monthly passes, dailies, and 10x or 20x passes. The 20x is the best deal if you miss a few days a month due to travel. None of this has any recurring billing. I'm sure even that gym has a bump in monthlies in January and May/June but with their setup it seems much more in their interest to have everyone actually coming to work out, else they might just not bother to buy that next monthly.
  • kbenson 9y ago
    There are different types of gyms. 24 hour fitness, for example, will happily keep charging you if you don't come in, and if you try to cancel over the phone often tries to force you to come in and do that in person (I'm not sure how much of this part is corporate strategy or poorly incentivized branch behavior).
    • biztos 9y ago
      I'm guessing corporate strategy, and not just for the cheaper gyms. Good luck trying to get a one-week pass to Equinox without pretending to be a local who's interested in joining. OTOH I know an awesome gym in LA that is perfectly happy to sell you a week pass if you're visiting. (Maybe that's a film-industry thing.)