property profi le
Waggett is also keen to boost Fitness
First’s network to encourage reciprocal members. He explains: “One of the important parts of our proposition is reciprocal membership. If you buy a Black Label membership, you can access any club in the portfolio; if you buy a Platinum membership, you can access all Platinum clubs and all Blue clubs. So getting a mix of clubs, especially Black Label clubs with pools in, adds value to the overall network. Well over half of our members in London choose a membership option that allows them to access more than one club.”
Around 75 per cent of Fitness First’s business comes from 21 major cities around the world, including London
There are no plans for imminent sales,
despite a history of selling: Fitness First sold six clubs to FitSpace four years ago, retaining a shareholding, and sold eight clubs to énergie nearly three years ago. “This is business as usual in terms of
running a 150-strong portfolio,” says Waggett. “We’ve closed some, we’re converting some, we invest in some and we add some.” Indeed, the entire Fitness First portfolio is currently undergoing the biggest refurbishment programme to date. Another major focus of investment is on improving the company’s staffi ng.
“Global focus over the course of the last 12 months and the coming 12 months is on raising the calibre of staff through recruitment and training,” says Waggett.
“We’ve introduced internal certifi cation programmes to ensure that everyone who passes through the business has the right level of customer service training; we survey all our staff every year to fi nd out what they think of us; and we’re putting big improvements into our employee engagement as well. “I’m absolutely convinced that the
competitive landscape will be heavily defi ned by who has the right people.” In addition, Fitness First is ploughing
money into what it sees as high-demand activities – specifi cally functional training and group exercise. “We’ve put freestyle zones in 20 clubs, and by this time next year we should have them in 120 clubs. We’re putting them everywhere we have space. We’re also investing in group-ex programmes: Strictly Fit, Get Fit with Mel B, and Zumba.” In response to critics who have
suggested that Fitness First will be swallowed up by the low-cost sector, Waggett says: “It’s an absurd suggestion to say the budget sector is going to kill all other parts of the industry. Because Travelodge now exists, does this mean that all three-, four-, and fi ve-star hotels have closed down? It will grow the market quite dramatically because it makes it more affordable to more people.”
INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY Fitness First’s biggest international market is Australia, where it has 95 clubs, followed by Germany with 67 clubs.
40 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital october 2011 © cybertrek 2011
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