I am giving this review after one year of membership. I recently cancelled and here are my pros and cons. Most of my cons are with the concept/the corporate franchise versus the local owners, who are very nice people.
Pros: the heated saunas feel very nice in the winter time. It is exhilarating to do a hot workout and come out into the cold. The sauna is relaxing. I did feel more flexible when doing exercises in the sauna.
Staff did not try to upsell me when I cancelled.
Nice mix of different classes with 24/7 access.
The local franchise owners and staff are very nice. Facility is relatively clean, although it can get gross during non-staffed times. Franchise owners didn't charge when closed for COVID.
Cons:
Difficulty scheduling: while there are a lot of "slots," there are prime times. I really enjoyed about half of the ISO classes and it was difficult to secure times that worked in classes that worked. Often I would show up, having been unable to secure a favorite, only to see that someone booked and did not show up.
Saunas: The saunas are enjoyable in the wintertime. In the summer, it did not feel good to be there. Likewise, doing cardio in a 125 degree room did not feel good or healthy. It is up to the customers to keep the saunas hot. That means if the person before you turns it up or down, or no one was in there before you, it will not be a the correct temperature when you start.
App: The app is glitchy and does not synch correctly with watch/fitbit for calories. It pretty much never worked correctly and I question how accurate it really is.
Cancellation Policy: The contract requires 60 days notice. But if you cancel mid month, they will still bill you for two whole billing cycles. You also have to walk in (where staff is not wearing masks) to cancel.
Repetition: This is a big one. There are 8 body weight classes and 2 equipment classes that run on a loop. These classes are the same every time and rarely change. For example, in my year of membership, the yoga and pilates classes changed twice over the course of a year. Others changed only once. If you have your favorites, they get extremely repetitive. The cardio equipment class is the same. every. time. When we did get new videos, the new classes were barely different than the previous version. During COVID, I started using online content with new classes every day. Once I returned, it made classes that were already starting to get stale even more boring.
COVID Precautions: while it is wonderful that people can work out on their own in the sauna, I still have questions about the ventilation and whether these rooms are really separate. I was happy to return after COVID, but I stopped visiting with any frequently and then all together because the facility did not mandate masks in the (very small) common areas and staff never wear masks -even though there is a county mask mandate. Customers are encouraged to wipe the saunas, but many do not. Most customers don't wear masks in common areas. It is just not worth the risk. read more
