Are You Texting Your Members?

Text message marketing is quickly changing the landscape of the fitness industry. With the use of text messages, fitness clubs are able to communicate and market to their members and prospects more effectively than ever before. Did you know that over 90 percent of all text messages are read within one hour of receipt? That is 10 times higher than e-mails.

There are countless ways to use mobile marketing in your fitness business. For example: class schedule changes, buddy referral contests, personal training appointment reminders, tour reminders and billing reminders, just to name a few. If you have not looked into integrating text message marketing into your business, you are falling behind. Imagine the power of instantly being able to communicate a message to over 90 percent of your membership base. Now tell me that won’t lead to more sales, and better retention.

Fitness Life Marketing, Health Club news,Amerishape

Are You Texting Your Members?

Text message marketing is quickly changing the landscape of the fitness industry. With the use of text messages, fitness clubs are able to communicate and market to their members and prospects more effectively than ever before. Did you know that over 90 percent of all text messages are read within one hour of receipt? That is 10 times higher than e-mails.

There are countless ways to use mobile marketing in your fitness business. For example: class schedule changes, buddy referral contests, personal training appointment reminders, tour reminders and billing reminders, just to name a few. If you have not looked into integrating text message marketing into your business, you are falling behind. Imagine the power of instantly being able to communicate a message to over 90 percent of your membership base. Now tell me that won’t lead to more sales, and better retention.

Fitness Life Marketing, Health Club news,Amerishape

DR ART CURTIS….I

You almost need an entire
feature just to cover the full
diversity of Art Curtis’ CV. Or
should I say – and this rather
illustrates my point – Dr Art Curtis.
“My undergraduate degree was in
business administration, while my
graduate degrees were in applied
physiology, which has always been my
passion,” he explains. “Fortunately
I’m one of those lucky people whose
interests and skills merge together, and
I’ve worked in a fi eld that I’ve really
enjoyed for over 35 years.
“My career breaks down into a couple
of distinct phases. I spent most of the
1970s in an academic environment, fi rst
as a graduate student and research
assistant, then as a professor. I was
involved in the sports medicine centre
at the University of Maryland, for
example, where we did a lot of work for
organisations such as the Washington
Redskins – the local professional
football team. This was back in the
early 70s, when the amount of science
applied to training was minimal, but
we essentially served them in the role –
before it really existed – of strength and
conditioning coach, taking physiological
measurements and developing training
programmes for the players.”
beyond the ivory tower
He continues: “My first foray outside of
academia was into corporate fitness, a
field that was just starting to open up. I
joined a company called The American
Health Management and Consulting
Corporation, which built, managed and
operated large, in-house fitness facilities.
“I was then recruited by US Health Inc,
which owned brands such as Holiday
Spa and Holiday Health Clubs and which
was eventually bought by Bally Total
Fitness. I served as director of education
and research programme development,
helping to conceptualise new club
models and prototypes – generally a bit
bigger and more sophisticated in terms
of the programmes and training we were
offering. We grew the estate by 25 sites
in the space of four or fi ve years.
“After that I wanted to get into an
operating role, so in the early 80s I
joined The Columbia Association.”
A large planned community located
between Baltimore and Washington,
Columbia was created in 1967 by James
Rouse and was based on the idea that
a city could enhance its residents’
quality of life. “Rouse was an interesting
individual – not only a rather brilliant
real estate person, but also very socially
conscious. He was trying to create a
diverse utopian community,” explains
Curtis. “As part of this, there was a huge
infrastructure of recreational facilities:
over 20 swimming pools, three athletic
clubs when I was there – I think today
they have four – plus tennis clubs, golf
courses, a marvellous indoor aquatics
facility and so on. I ran the division that
operated all of those facilities.

“Fitness Life Marketing”

“Then, in the late 80s, I went to work
for a company called Club Sports
International, which later became known
as Wellbridge, joining them to launch a
new club in Atlanta. In fact, we opened
three large clubs down there in the
space of 30 days, and I stayed with the
company for almost 15 years, eventually
becoming COO and overseeing 48 clubs
in 16 states across the US.
“My fi rst opportunity to become CEO
was with a company called Stonewater,
a spa venture underwritten by a private
equity fi rm called Falconhead Capital,
which was acquiring day spas around
the US to form a much larger company.
I came in to replace the founding CEO
and helped get the business organised,
put systems in place and improve the
overall fi nancial performance in order to
ultimately merge it with a much larger
company. That took me up to 2005,
which is when I came on board with
Millennium Partners.”
a new millennium
“Millennium Partners is first and foremost
a real estate development company, in
business since around 1991. The three
founding partners had all worked
together previously and had an idea of
something they wanted to do in New
York City. They were able to acquire a
slightly run-down area just to the west
of Central Park and turned it into an
urban kind of amenitised environment:
high-rise condominium towers along
with street-level theatres, restaurants,
entertainment, high-end retail. It takes
up most of three city blocks.
“One critical component of the
project was a very signifi cant athletic
club – the Reebok Sports Club New
York, a 13,940sq m (150,000sq ft) club
spread over seven fl oors. The Sports
Club Company developed and operated
the club and was the tenant, Reebok
was originally an equity investor and
Millennium the landlord.”
Off the back of the success of
the New York project, Millennium
Partners replicated the model in other
cities: Boston, San Francisco, Miami
and Washington DC. With high-rise
condominium developments at the heart
of each project, along with a fi ve-star
hotel and street-level retail, some also
encompass entertainment complexes,
theatres and restaurants. All include
a large-format athletic club, generally
between 9,290sq m and 10,680sq m
(100,000sq ft–115,000sq ft), to which
both hotel guests and condominium
inhabitants have direct elevator access.
The latter also get slightly preferential
membership rates.
Curtis continues: “In the early to
mid-2000s, The Sports Club Company
wanted to sell off a number of assets,
but there wasn’t really anyone willing
or able to step in and acquire all of the
clubs. Millennium became concerned by
the prospect of a number of different
operators coming in to what were
very important pieces of real estate for
them – they feared the quality of the
operations might not be consistently
maintained. So it decided to look at
acquiring the businesses from The
Sports Club Company itself.
“I came on board to work on due
diligence, along with another gentleman
by the name of Nick Winter, and
ultimately we came to the conclusion
that acquisition was indeed the best
option. Millennium then asked me to
stay on to be CEO of the operating
company running those assets, which
became known as Millennium Partners
Sports Club Management (MPSCM).
“In January 2006, we completed the
deal and acquired six of The Sports
Club Company’s 10 locations – The
Reebok Sports Club and fi ve of the
Sports Club LA facilities.
“The clubs all operate at the highest
end of the market – we’re typicall
US$30–40 more expensive per month
than our nearest competitor – and in
fact our business model, and the way we
train our people, looks much more like
what you would see in a fi ve-star hotel
than in a typical athletic or health club.
“We also have spas in all our clubs and
run them ourselves in all but one. We
hire GMs who are able to oversee both
club and spa, and we have one person at
a corporate level overseeing all of our
spas, developing menus, buying products,
standardising marketing. It makes
for a better overhead structure than
someone independently running
a similar-sized spa.
“The sports club business is really the
only operating business that Millennium
Partners has – hotels, for example, are
all done under management agreements
– and there are more people by a
factor of probably 10 or 15 working
for MPSCM than for the whole of
Millennium. It represents a little over
$100m in annual revenue, which is small
in the overall scheme of things, but it
adds a lot of value to the other projects
and is an important piece of the overall
development puzzle.
“Saying that, the important thing that
differentiates us from a lot of other real
estate companies is the expectation
that a business has to stand on its own.
If there were no Millennium Partners,
MPSCM would still be a good business
generating quite reasonable returns. It’s
not there as a loss leader.”
expansion plans
Having led the MPSCM business for the
last few years, Curtis has now made a
sideways move into the parent company.
“In January, we made a significant
organisational change. Smaiyra Million
has moved up from COO to take over
my role as CEO of MPSCM, and I’ve
moved over to Millennium Partners to
focus 100 per cent of my time on
mergers and acquisitions to develop
our club business.
“What we’re looking to do now is
expand our footprint in the markets
we’re already in – major international
gateway cities such as Boston, New
York, Washington DC, Miami, San
Francisco. We want to move out
from the city centres to the next
ring of residential areas and do some
smaller format clubs there. Six to eight
locations per city could create a very
powerful network, in conjunction with
the existing property that’s been in
operation for a number of years.
“We would also consider going
into new markets, but most likely
that would involve either a largescale
project similar to those done
previously, including a sports club – in
fact, there’s a project like that on the
drawing board now, although I’d rather
not give details yet – or via acquisition.
Buying a local or regional chain of clubs
would give us suffi cient critical mass,
but to go and just do one club in a new
marketplace is a very ineffi cient way to
operate. If we were to go into a new
market, we would want to have an
immediate large presence there.”
best foot forward
As if all this weren’t enough to keep him
busy, Curtis is also currently chair of
global trade association IHRSA, which
this year celebrates its 30th anniversary;
he’s been involved with the organisation
since its inception.
“The single biggest thing we’re working
on right now is our revenue model. The
association, and the industry, are very
different from how they were 30 years
ago, and particularly in tough economic
times you fi nd out how sensitive a
revenue model is. There’s a saying ‘when
suppliers get a cold, an association gets
pneumonia’, because our largest single
source of revenue currently comes from
our convention and trade show. “Amerishape”
“We’ve got through a really diffi cult
period, with some very hard decisions
made on staffi ng and so on, and now
we have to look at how to make it less
painful for ourselves were we to be
faced with similar market conditions
again. Do we have the right value
propositions for our members? The
membership base is so much more
heterogeneous today than it ever was
before, with so many different types of
club concepts compared to even just 10
years ago. The growth of the industry
internationally has also been enormous
recently, but do we have the right
value proposition for the international
member versus what we can do for the
North American member?
“Now is the time to ask a lot of the
hard questions and decide how to
move forward into the next decade of
the association – what services are no
longer relevant, what new services need
to be developed, how and what will we
fi ne-tune? All of this needs to be done
while still staying true to our mission: to
grow, protect and promote the industry.”
The FIA was clear in its message to
the EHFA national associations forum
in November: that any association
truly wanting to get more people more
active, should embrace all sectors –
private and public (see HCM Jan 11,
p76). Might IHRSA move away from its
traditional standpoint of representing
for-profi t clubs only?
“That’s a good question. It’s always
been not only a cornerstone for IHRSA
but an emotional issue in the US in
particular, but also in Canada. But it’s
interesting – when I’ve gone to the UK
for example, the involvement of the
public sector there is a given. It’s part of
the fabric of the industry.
“Already, over recent years, one of
the things IHRSA has done is become
part of large coalitions that include
organisations such as the YMCA,
working together to infl uence public
policy and promote healthier lifestyles.
It’s baby steps, but if we can get
comfortable with that, maybe it will
lead to other things.
“At the end of the day, if as an
industry we’re really going to have an
impact on healthcare reform, we have
to set aside a lot of these competitive
differences, as well as some philosophical
differences, and focus on the things we
hold in common. We have to evolve and
become a more inclusive, co-operative
industry to grow the market. And I
believe that ultimately everyone will then
benefi t and get their share of the pie.
“If we don’t do that, I think we’ll be
condemned to moving around the
same core group of members – people
who’ll shift from one club to the next –
without really creating any substantial
new marketplace.
“We have a long way to go in terms
of standards and professionalism
to be accepted by the medical
profession, and clubs wanting to get
involved in the issue will need to be
fully committed. But I think it’s an
interesting opportunity for clubs that
may be currently be struggling, caught
in the middle ground, to differentiate
themselves and broaden their market.”
a need to plan
Curtis continues: “The problem is, I
think as an industry we still tend to be
more reactive than we are forwardthinking.
The sector’s pretty creative
– it’s good at evolving and developing
new products and services to fit
diverse customer needs. But, although
operators are very good at taking
something from ground zero up to a
certain point, they then tend to get
content and stop moving forward until
a new threat arrives.
“There can also be a bit of a herd
mentality. The momentum starts going
one way – budget clubs, for example,
which no question is a very active
sector – and everyone jumps on-board
without really thinking through the
consequences. We need to look ahead
more, because things won’t be the same
in fi ve or six years’ time and you have to
chart your course now, before problems
arise. That’s something the industry as a
whole could do a lot better.”

DR ART CURTIS….I

You almost need an entire
feature just to cover the full
diversity of Art Curtis’ CV. Or
should I say – and this rather
illustrates my point – Dr Art Curtis.
“My undergraduate degree was in
business administration, while my
graduate degrees were in applied
physiology, which has always been my
passion,” he explains. “Fortunately
I’m one of those lucky people whose
interests and skills merge together, and
I’ve worked in a fi eld that I’ve really
enjoyed for over 35 years.
“My career breaks down into a couple
of distinct phases. I spent most of the
1970s in an academic environment, fi rst
as a graduate student and research
assistant, then as a professor. I was
involved in the sports medicine centre
at the University of Maryland, for
example, where we did a lot of work for
organisations such as the Washington
Redskins – the local professional
football team. This was back in the
early 70s, when the amount of science
applied to training was minimal, but
we essentially served them in the role –
before it really existed – of strength and
conditioning coach, taking physiological
measurements and developing training
programmes for the players.”
beyond the ivory tower
He continues: “My first foray outside of
academia was into corporate fitness, a
field that was just starting to open up. I
joined a company called The American
Health Management and Consulting
Corporation, which built, managed and
operated large, in-house fitness facilities.
“I was then recruited by US Health Inc,
which owned brands such as Holiday
Spa and Holiday Health Clubs and which
was eventually bought by Bally Total
Fitness. I served as director of education
and research programme development,
helping to conceptualise new club
models and prototypes – generally a bit
bigger and more sophisticated in terms
of the programmes and training we were
offering. We grew the estate by 25 sites
in the space of four or fi ve years.
“After that I wanted to get into an
operating role, so in the early 80s I
joined The Columbia Association.”
A large planned community located
between Baltimore and Washington,
Columbia was created in 1967 by James
Rouse and was based on the idea that
a city could enhance its residents’
quality of life. “Rouse was an interesting
individual – not only a rather brilliant
real estate person, but also very socially
conscious. He was trying to create a
diverse utopian community,” explains
Curtis. “As part of this, there was a huge
infrastructure of recreational facilities:
over 20 swimming pools, three athletic
clubs when I was there – I think today
they have four – plus tennis clubs, golf
courses, a marvellous indoor aquatics
facility and so on. I ran the division that
operated all of those facilities.

“Fitness Life Marketing”

“Then, in the late 80s, I went to work
for a company called Club Sports
International, which later became known
as Wellbridge, joining them to launch a
new club in Atlanta. In fact, we opened
three large clubs down there in the
space of 30 days, and I stayed with the
company for almost 15 years, eventually
becoming COO and overseeing 48 clubs
in 16 states across the US.
“My fi rst opportunity to become CEO
was with a company called Stonewater,
a spa venture underwritten by a private
equity fi rm called Falconhead Capital,
which was acquiring day spas around
the US to form a much larger company.
I came in to replace the founding CEO
and helped get the business organised,
put systems in place and improve the
overall fi nancial performance in order to
ultimately merge it with a much larger
company. That took me up to 2005,
which is when I came on board with
Millennium Partners.”
a new millennium
“Millennium Partners is first and foremost
a real estate development company, in
business since around 1991. The three
founding partners had all worked
together previously and had an idea of
something they wanted to do in New
York City. They were able to acquire a
slightly run-down area just to the west
of Central Park and turned it into an
urban kind of amenitised environment:
high-rise condominium towers along
with street-level theatres, restaurants,
entertainment, high-end retail. It takes
up most of three city blocks.
“One critical component of the
project was a very signifi cant athletic
club – the Reebok Sports Club New
York, a 13,940sq m (150,000sq ft) club
spread over seven fl oors. The Sports
Club Company developed and operated
the club and was the tenant, Reebok
was originally an equity investor and
Millennium the landlord.”
Off the back of the success of
the New York project, Millennium
Partners replicated the model in other
cities: Boston, San Francisco, Miami
and Washington DC. With high-rise
condominium developments at the heart
of each project, along with a fi ve-star
hotel and street-level retail, some also
encompass entertainment complexes,
theatres and restaurants. All include
a large-format athletic club, generally
between 9,290sq m and 10,680sq m
(100,000sq ft–115,000sq ft), to which
both hotel guests and condominium
inhabitants have direct elevator access.
The latter also get slightly preferential
membership rates.
Curtis continues: “In the early to
mid-2000s, The Sports Club Company
wanted to sell off a number of assets,
but there wasn’t really anyone willing
or able to step in and acquire all of the
clubs. Millennium became concerned by
the prospect of a number of different
operators coming in to what were
very important pieces of real estate for
them – they feared the quality of the
operations might not be consistently
maintained. So it decided to look at
acquiring the businesses from The
Sports Club Company itself.
“I came on board to work on due
diligence, along with another gentleman
by the name of Nick Winter, and
ultimately we came to the conclusion
that acquisition was indeed the best
option. Millennium then asked me to
stay on to be CEO of the operating
company running those assets, which
became known as Millennium Partners
Sports Club Management (MPSCM).
“In January 2006, we completed the
deal and acquired six of The Sports
Club Company’s 10 locations – The
Reebok Sports Club and fi ve of the
Sports Club LA facilities.
“The clubs all operate at the highest
end of the market – we’re typicall
US$30–40 more expensive per month
than our nearest competitor – and in
fact our business model, and the way we
train our people, looks much more like
what you would see in a fi ve-star hotel
than in a typical athletic or health club.
“We also have spas in all our clubs and
run them ourselves in all but one. We
hire GMs who are able to oversee both
club and spa, and we have one person at
a corporate level overseeing all of our
spas, developing menus, buying products,
standardising marketing. It makes
for a better overhead structure than
someone independently running
a similar-sized spa.
“The sports club business is really the
only operating business that Millennium
Partners has – hotels, for example, are
all done under management agreements
– and there are more people by a
factor of probably 10 or 15 working
for MPSCM than for the whole of
Millennium. It represents a little over
$100m in annual revenue, which is small
in the overall scheme of things, but it
adds a lot of value to the other projects
and is an important piece of the overall
development puzzle.
“Saying that, the important thing that
differentiates us from a lot of other real
estate companies is the expectation
that a business has to stand on its own.
If there were no Millennium Partners,
MPSCM would still be a good business
generating quite reasonable returns. It’s
not there as a loss leader.”
expansion plans
Having led the MPSCM business for the
last few years, Curtis has now made a
sideways move into the parent company.
“In January, we made a significant
organisational change. Smaiyra Million
has moved up from COO to take over
my role as CEO of MPSCM, and I’ve
moved over to Millennium Partners to
focus 100 per cent of my time on
mergers and acquisitions to develop
our club business.
“What we’re looking to do now is
expand our footprint in the markets
we’re already in – major international
gateway cities such as Boston, New
York, Washington DC, Miami, San
Francisco. We want to move out
from the city centres to the next
ring of residential areas and do some
smaller format clubs there. Six to eight
locations per city could create a very
powerful network, in conjunction with
the existing property that’s been in
operation for a number of years.
“We would also consider going
into new markets, but most likely
that would involve either a largescale
project similar to those done
previously, including a sports club – in
fact, there’s a project like that on the
drawing board now, although I’d rather
not give details yet – or via acquisition.
Buying a local or regional chain of clubs
would give us suffi cient critical mass,
but to go and just do one club in a new
marketplace is a very ineffi cient way to
operate. If we were to go into a new
market, we would want to have an
immediate large presence there.”
best foot forward
As if all this weren’t enough to keep him
busy, Curtis is also currently chair of
global trade association IHRSA, which
this year celebrates its 30th anniversary;
he’s been involved with the organisation
since its inception.
“The single biggest thing we’re working
on right now is our revenue model. The
association, and the industry, are very
different from how they were 30 years
ago, and particularly in tough economic
times you fi nd out how sensitive a
revenue model is. There’s a saying ‘when
suppliers get a cold, an association gets
pneumonia’, because our largest single
source of revenue currently comes from
our convention and trade show. “Amerishape”
“We’ve got through a really diffi cult
period, with some very hard decisions
made on staffi ng and so on, and now
we have to look at how to make it less
painful for ourselves were we to be
faced with similar market conditions
again. Do we have the right value
propositions for our members? The
membership base is so much more
heterogeneous today than it ever was
before, with so many different types of
club concepts compared to even just 10
years ago. The growth of the industry
internationally has also been enormous
recently, but do we have the right
value proposition for the international
member versus what we can do for the
North American member?
“Now is the time to ask a lot of the
hard questions and decide how to
move forward into the next decade of
the association – what services are no
longer relevant, what new services need
to be developed, how and what will we
fi ne-tune? All of this needs to be done
while still staying true to our mission: to
grow, protect and promote the industry.”
The FIA was clear in its message to
the EHFA national associations forum
in November: that any association
truly wanting to get more people more
active, should embrace all sectors –
private and public (see HCM Jan 11,
p76). Might IHRSA move away from its
traditional standpoint of representing
for-profi t clubs only?
“That’s a good question. It’s always
been not only a cornerstone for IHRSA
but an emotional issue in the US in
particular, but also in Canada. But it’s
interesting – when I’ve gone to the UK
for example, the involvement of the
public sector there is a given. It’s part of
the fabric of the industry.
“Already, over recent years, one of
the things IHRSA has done is become
part of large coalitions that include
organisations such as the YMCA,
working together to infl uence public
policy and promote healthier lifestyles.
It’s baby steps, but if we can get
comfortable with that, maybe it will
lead to other things.
“At the end of the day, if as an
industry we’re really going to have an
impact on healthcare reform, we have
to set aside a lot of these competitive
differences, as well as some philosophical
differences, and focus on the things we
hold in common. We have to evolve and
become a more inclusive, co-operative
industry to grow the market. And I
believe that ultimately everyone will then
benefi t and get their share of the pie.
“If we don’t do that, I think we’ll be
condemned to moving around the
same core group of members – people
who’ll shift from one club to the next –
without really creating any substantial
new marketplace.
“We have a long way to go in terms
of standards and professionalism
to be accepted by the medical
profession, and clubs wanting to get
involved in the issue will need to be
fully committed. But I think it’s an
interesting opportunity for clubs that
may be currently be struggling, caught
in the middle ground, to differentiate
themselves and broaden their market.”
a need to plan
Curtis continues: “The problem is, I
think as an industry we still tend to be
more reactive than we are forwardthinking.
The sector’s pretty creative
– it’s good at evolving and developing
new products and services to fit
diverse customer needs. But, although
operators are very good at taking
something from ground zero up to a
certain point, they then tend to get
content and stop moving forward until
a new threat arrives.
“There can also be a bit of a herd
mentality. The momentum starts going
one way – budget clubs, for example,
which no question is a very active
sector – and everyone jumps on-board
without really thinking through the
consequences. We need to look ahead
more, because things won’t be the same
in fi ve or six years’ time and you have to
chart your course now, before problems
arise. That’s something the industry as a
whole could do a lot better.”

DR ART CURTIS….I

You almost need an entire
feature just to cover the full
diversity of Art Curtis’ CV. Or
should I say – and this rather
illustrates my point – Dr Art Curtis.
“My undergraduate degree was in
business administration, while my
graduate degrees were in applied
physiology, which has always been my
passion,” he explains. “Fortunately
I’m one of those lucky people whose
interests and skills merge together, and
I’ve worked in a fi eld that I’ve really
enjoyed for over 35 years.
“My career breaks down into a couple
of distinct phases. I spent most of the
1970s in an academic environment, fi rst
as a graduate student and research
assistant, then as a professor. I was
involved in the sports medicine centre
at the University of Maryland, for
example, where we did a lot of work for
organisations such as the Washington
Redskins – the local professional
football team. This was back in the
early 70s, when the amount of science
applied to training was minimal, but
we essentially served them in the role –
before it really existed – of strength and
conditioning coach, taking physiological
measurements and developing training
programmes for the players.”
beyond the ivory tower
He continues: “My first foray outside of
academia was into corporate fitness, a
field that was just starting to open up. I
joined a company called The American
Health Management and Consulting
Corporation, which built, managed and
operated large, in-house fitness facilities.
“I was then recruited by US Health Inc,
which owned brands such as Holiday
Spa and Holiday Health Clubs and which
was eventually bought by Bally Total
Fitness. I served as director of education
and research programme development,
helping to conceptualise new club
models and prototypes – generally a bit
bigger and more sophisticated in terms
of the programmes and training we were
offering. We grew the estate by 25 sites
in the space of four or fi ve years.
“After that I wanted to get into an
operating role, so in the early 80s I
joined The Columbia Association.”
A large planned community located
between Baltimore and Washington,
Columbia was created in 1967 by James
Rouse and was based on the idea that
a city could enhance its residents’
quality of life. “Rouse was an interesting
individual – not only a rather brilliant
real estate person, but also very socially
conscious. He was trying to create a
diverse utopian community,” explains
Curtis. “As part of this, there was a huge
infrastructure of recreational facilities:
over 20 swimming pools, three athletic
clubs when I was there – I think today
they have four – plus tennis clubs, golf
courses, a marvellous indoor aquatics
facility and so on. I ran the division that
operated all of those facilities.
“Then, in the late 80s, I went to work
for a company called Club Sports
International, which later became known
as Wellbridge, joining them to launch a
new club in Atlanta. In fact, we opened
three large clubs down there in the
space of 30 days, and I stayed with the
company for almost 15 years, eventually
becoming COO and overseeing 48 clubs
in 16 states across the US.
“My fi rst opportunity to become CEO
was with a company called Stonewater,
a spa venture underwritten by a private
equity fi rm called Falconhead Capital,
which was acquiring day spas around
the US to form a much larger company.
I came in to replace the founding CEO
and helped get the business organised,
put systems in place and improve the
overall fi nancial performance in order to
ultimately merge it with a much larger
company. That took me up to 2005,
which is when I came on board with
Millennium Partners.”
a new millennium
“Millennium Partners is first and foremost
a real estate development company, in
business since around 1991. The three
founding partners had all worked
together previously and had an idea of
something they wanted to do in New
York City. They were able to acquire a
slightly run-down area just to the west
of Central Park and turned it into an
urban kind of amenitised environment:
high-rise condominium towers along
with street-level theatres, restaurants,
entertainment, high-end retail. It takes
up most of three city blocks.
“One critical component of the
project was a very signifi cant athletic
club – the Reebok Sports Club New
York, a 13,940sq m (150,000sq ft) club
spread over seven fl oors. The Sports
Club Company developed and operated
the club and was the tenant, Reebok
was originally an equity investor and
Millennium the landlord.”
Off the back of the success of
the New York project, Millennium
Partners replicated the model in other
cities: Boston, San Francisco, Miami
and Washington DC. With high-rise
condominium developments at the heart
of each project, along with a fi ve-star
hotel and street-level retail, some also
encompass entertainment complexes,
theatres and restaurants. All include
a large-format athletic club, generally
between 9,290sq m and 10,680sq m
(100,000sq ft–115,000sq ft), to which
both hotel guests and condominium
inhabitants have direct elevator access.
The latter also get slightly preferential
membership rates.
Curtis continues: “In the early to
mid-2000s, The Sports Club Company
wanted to sell off a number of assets,
but there wasn’t really anyone willing
or able to step in and acquire all of the
clubs. Millennium became concerned by
the prospect of a number of different
operators coming in to what were
very important pieces of real estate for
them – they feared the quality of the
operations might not be consistently
maintained. So it decided to look at
acquiring the businesses from The
Sports Club Company itself.
“I came on board to work on due
diligence, along with another gentleman
by the name of Nick Winter, and
ultimately we came to the conclusion
that acquisition was indeed the best
option. Millennium then asked me to
stay on to be CEO of the operating
company running those assets, which
became known as Millennium Partners
Sports Club Management (MPSCM).
“In January 2006, we completed the
deal and acquired six of The Sports
Club Company’s 10 locations – The
Reebok Sports Club and fi ve of the
Sports Club LA facilities.
“The clubs all operate at the highest
end of the market – we’re typicall
US$30–40 more expensive per month
than our nearest competitor – and in
fact our business model, and the way we
train our people, looks much more like
what you would see in a fi ve-star hotel
than in a typical athletic or health club.
“We also have spas in all our clubs and
run them ourselves in all but one. We
hire GMs who are able to oversee both
club and spa, and we have one person at
a corporate level overseeing all of our
spas, developing menus, buying products,
standardising marketing. It makes
for a better overhead structure than
someone independently running
a similar-sized spa.
“The sports club business is really the
only operating business that Millennium
Partners has – hotels, for example, are
all done under management agreements
– and there are more people by a
factor of probably 10 or 15 working
for MPSCM than for the whole of
Millennium. It represents a little over
$100m in annual revenue, which is small
in the overall scheme of things, but it
adds a lot of value to the other projects
and is an important piece of the overall
development puzzle.
“Saying that, the important thing that
differentiates us from a lot of other real
estate companies is the expectation
that a business has to stand on its own.
If there were no Millennium Partners,
MPSCM would still be a good business
generating quite reasonable returns. It’s
not there as a loss leader.”
expansion plans
Having led the MPSCM business for the
last few years, Curtis has now made a
sideways move into the parent company.
“In January, we made a significant
organisational change. Smaiyra Million
has moved up from COO to take over
my role as CEO of MPSCM, and I’ve
moved over to Millennium Partners to
focus 100 per cent of my time on
mergers and acquisitions to develop
our club business.
“What we’re looking to do now is
expand our footprint in the markets
we’re already in – major international
gateway cities such as Boston, New
York, Washington DC, Miami, San
Francisco. We want to move out
from the city centres to the next
ring of residential areas and do some
smaller format clubs there. Six to eight
locations per city could create a very
powerful network, in conjunction with
the existing property that’s been in
operation for a number of years.
“We would also consider going
into new markets, but most likely
that would involve either a largescale
project similar to those done
previously, including a sports club – in
fact, there’s a project like that on the
drawing board now, although I’d rather
not give details yet – or via acquisition.
Buying a local or regional chain of clubs
would give us suffi cient critical mass,
but to go and just do one club in a new
marketplace is a very ineffi cient way to
operate. If we were to go into a new
market, we would want to have an
immediate large presence there.”
best foot forward
As if all this weren’t enough to keep him
busy, Curtis is also currently chair of
global trade association IHRSA, which
this year celebrates its 30th anniversary;
he’s been involved with the organisation
since its inception.
“The single biggest thing we’re working
on right now is our revenue model. The
association, and the industry, are very
different from how they were 30 years
ago, and particularly in tough economic
times you fi nd out how sensitive a
revenue model is. There’s a saying ‘when
suppliers get a cold, an association gets
pneumonia’, because our largest single
source of revenue currently comes from
our convention and trade show.
“We’ve got through a really diffi cult
period, with some very hard decisions
made on staffi ng and so on, and now
we have to look at how to make it less
painful for ourselves were we to be
faced with similar market conditions
again. Do we have the right value
propositions for our members? The
membership base is so much more
heterogeneous today than it ever was
before, with so many different types of
club concepts compared to even just 10
years ago. The growth of the industry
internationally has also been enormous
recently, but do we have the right
value proposition for the international
member versus what we can do for the
North American member?
“Now is the time to ask a lot of the
hard questions and decide how to
move forward into the next decade of
the association – what services are no
longer relevant, what new services need
to be developed, how and what will we
fi ne-tune? All of this needs to be done
while still staying true to our mission: to
grow, protect and promote the industry.”
The FIA was clear in its message to
the EHFA national associations forum
in November: that any association
truly wanting to get more people more
active, should embrace all sectors –
private and public (see HCM Jan 11,
p76). Might IHRSA move away from its
traditional standpoint of representing
for-profi t clubs only?
“That’s a good question. It’s always
been not only a cornerstone for IHRSA
but an emotional issue in the US in
particular, but also in Canada. But it’s
interesting – when I’ve gone to the UK
for example, the involvement of the
public sector there is a given. It’s part of
the fabric of the industry.
“Already, over recent years, one of
the things IHRSA has done is become
part of large coalitions that include
organisations such as the YMCA,
working together to infl uence public
policy and promote healthier lifestyles.
It’s baby steps, but if we can get
comfortable with that, maybe it will
lead to other things.
“At the end of the day, if as an
industry we’re really going to have an
impact on healthcare reform, we have
to set aside a lot of these competitive
differences, as well as some philosophical
differences, and focus on the things we
hold in common. We have to evolve and
become a more inclusive, co-operative
industry to grow the market. And I
believe that ultimately everyone will then
benefi t and get their share of the pie.
“If we don’t do that, I think we’ll be
condemned to moving around the
same core group of members – people
who’ll shift from one club to the next –
without really creating any substantial
new marketplace.
“We have a long way to go in terms
of standards and professionalism
to be accepted by the medical
profession, and clubs wanting to get
involved in the issue will need to be
fully committed. But I think it’s an
interesting opportunity for clubs that
may be currently be struggling, caught
in the middle ground, to differentiate
themselves and broaden their market.”
a need to plan
Curtis continues: “The problem is, I
think as an industry we still tend to be
more reactive than we are forwardthinking.
The sector’s pretty creative
– it’s good at evolving and developing
new products and services to fit
diverse customer needs. But, although
operators are very good at taking
something from ground zero up to a
certain point, they then tend to get
content and stop moving forward until
a new threat arrives.
“There can also be a bit of a herd
mentality. The momentum starts going
one way – budget clubs, for example,
which no question is a very active
sector – and everyone jumps on-board
without really thinking through the
consequences. We need to look ahead
more, because things won’t be the same
in fi ve or six years’ time and you have to
chart your course now, before problems
arise. That’s something the industry as a
whole could do a lot better.”

DR ART CURTIS….I

You almost need an entire
feature just to cover the full
diversity of Art Curtis’ CV. Or
should I say – and this rather
illustrates my point – Dr Art Curtis.
“My undergraduate degree was in
business administration, while my
graduate degrees were in applied
physiology, which has always been my
passion,” he explains. “Fortunately
I’m one of those lucky people whose
interests and skills merge together, and
I’ve worked in a fi eld that I’ve really
enjoyed for over 35 years.
“My career breaks down into a couple
of distinct phases. I spent most of the
1970s in an academic environment, fi rst
as a graduate student and research
assistant, then as a professor. I was
involved in the sports medicine centre
at the University of Maryland, for
example, where we did a lot of work for
organisations such as the Washington
Redskins – the local professional
football team. This was back in the
early 70s, when the amount of science
applied to training was minimal, but
we essentially served them in the role –
before it really existed – of strength and
conditioning coach, taking physiological
measurements and developing training
programmes for the players.”
beyond the ivory tower
He continues: “My first foray outside of
academia was into corporate fitness, a
field that was just starting to open up. I
joined a company called The American
Health Management and Consulting
Corporation, which built, managed and
operated large, in-house fitness facilities.
“I was then recruited by US Health Inc,
which owned brands such as Holiday
Spa and Holiday Health Clubs and which
was eventually bought by Bally Total
Fitness. I served as director of education
and research programme development,
helping to conceptualise new club
models and prototypes – generally a bit
bigger and more sophisticated in terms
of the programmes and training we were
offering. We grew the estate by 25 sites
in the space of four or fi ve years.
“After that I wanted to get into an
operating role, so in the early 80s I
joined The Columbia Association.”
A large planned community located
between Baltimore and Washington,
Columbia was created in 1967 by James
Rouse and was based on the idea that
a city could enhance its residents’
quality of life. “Rouse was an interesting
individual – not only a rather brilliant
real estate person, but also very socially
conscious. He was trying to create a
diverse utopian community,” explains
Curtis. “As part of this, there was a huge
infrastructure of recreational facilities:
over 20 swimming pools, three athletic
clubs when I was there – I think today
they have four – plus tennis clubs, golf
courses, a marvellous indoor aquatics
facility and so on. I ran the division that
operated all of those facilities.
“Then, in the late 80s, I went to work
for a company called Club Sports
International, which later became known
as Wellbridge, joining them to launch a
new club in Atlanta. In fact, we opened
three large clubs down there in the
space of 30 days, and I stayed with the
company for almost 15 years, eventually
becoming COO and overseeing 48 clubs
in 16 states across the US.
“My fi rst opportunity to become CEO
was with a company called Stonewater,
a spa venture underwritten by a private
equity fi rm called Falconhead Capital,
which was acquiring day spas around
the US to form a much larger company.
I came in to replace the founding CEO
and helped get the business organised,
put systems in place and improve the
overall fi nancial performance in order to
ultimately merge it with a much larger
company. That took me up to 2005,
which is when I came on board with
Millennium Partners.”
a new millennium
“Millennium Partners is first and foremost
a real estate development company, in
business since around 1991. The three
founding partners had all worked
together previously and had an idea of
something they wanted to do in New
York City. They were able to acquire a
slightly run-down area just to the west
of Central Park and turned it into an
urban kind of amenitised environment:
high-rise condominium towers along
with street-level theatres, restaurants,
entertainment, high-end retail. It takes
up most of three city blocks.
“One critical component of the
project was a very signifi cant athletic
club – the Reebok Sports Club New
York, a 13,940sq m (150,000sq ft) club
spread over seven fl oors. The Sports
Club Company developed and operated
the club and was the tenant, Reebok
was originally an equity investor and
Millennium the landlord.”
Off the back of the success of
the New York project, Millennium
Partners replicated the model in other
cities: Boston, San Francisco, Miami
and Washington DC. With high-rise
condominium developments at the heart
of each project, along with a fi ve-star
hotel and street-level retail, some also
encompass entertainment complexes,
theatres and restaurants. All include
a large-format athletic club, generally
between 9,290sq m and 10,680sq m
(100,000sq ft–115,000sq ft), to which
both hotel guests and condominium
inhabitants have direct elevator access.
The latter also get slightly preferential
membership rates.
Curtis continues: “In the early to
mid-2000s, The Sports Club Company
wanted to sell off a number of assets,
but there wasn’t really anyone willing
or able to step in and acquire all of the
clubs. Millennium became concerned by
the prospect of a number of different
operators coming in to what were
very important pieces of real estate for
them – they feared the quality of the
operations might not be consistently
maintained. So it decided to look at
acquiring the businesses from The
Sports Club Company itself.
“I came on board to work on due
diligence, along with another gentleman
by the name of Nick Winter, and
ultimately we came to the conclusion
that acquisition was indeed the best
option. Millennium then asked me to
stay on to be CEO of the operating
company running those assets, which
became known as Millennium Partners
Sports Club Management (MPSCM).
“In January 2006, we completed the
deal and acquired six of The Sports
Club Company’s 10 locations – The
Reebok Sports Club and fi ve of the
Sports Club LA facilities.
“The clubs all operate at the highest
end of the market – we’re typicall
US$30–40 more expensive per month
than our nearest competitor – and in
fact our business model, and the way we
train our people, looks much more like
what you would see in a fi ve-star hotel
than in a typical athletic or health club.
“We also have spas in all our clubs and
run them ourselves in all but one. We
hire GMs who are able to oversee both
club and spa, and we have one person at
a corporate level overseeing all of our
spas, developing menus, buying products,
standardising marketing. It makes
for a better overhead structure than
someone independently running
a similar-sized spa.
“The sports club business is really the
only operating business that Millennium
Partners has – hotels, for example, are
all done under management agreements
– and there are more people by a
factor of probably 10 or 15 working
for MPSCM than for the whole of
Millennium. It represents a little over
$100m in annual revenue, which is small
in the overall scheme of things, but it
adds a lot of value to the other projects
and is an important piece of the overall
development puzzle.
“Saying that, the important thing that
differentiates us from a lot of other real
estate companies is the expectation
that a business has to stand on its own.
If there were no Millennium Partners,
MPSCM would still be a good business
generating quite reasonable returns. It’s
not there as a loss leader.”
expansion plans
Having led the MPSCM business for the
last few years, Curtis has now made a
sideways move into the parent company.
“In January, we made a significant
organisational change. Smaiyra Million
has moved up from COO to take over
my role as CEO of MPSCM, and I’ve
moved over to Millennium Partners to
focus 100 per cent of my time on
mergers and acquisitions to develop
our club business.
“What we’re looking to do now is
expand our footprint in the markets
we’re already in – major international
gateway cities such as Boston, New
York, Washington DC, Miami, San
Francisco. We want to move out
from the city centres to the next
ring of residential areas and do some
smaller format clubs there. Six to eight
locations per city could create a very
powerful network, in conjunction with
the existing property that’s been in
operation for a number of years.
“We would also consider going
into new markets, but most likely
that would involve either a largescale
project similar to those done
previously, including a sports club – in
fact, there’s a project like that on the
drawing board now, although I’d rather
not give details yet – or via acquisition.
Buying a local or regional chain of clubs
would give us suffi cient critical mass,
but to go and just do one club in a new
marketplace is a very ineffi cient way to
operate. If we were to go into a new
market, we would want to have an
immediate large presence there.”
best foot forward
As if all this weren’t enough to keep him
busy, Curtis is also currently chair of
global trade association IHRSA, which
this year celebrates its 30th anniversary;
he’s been involved with the organisation
since its inception.
“The single biggest thing we’re working
on right now is our revenue model. The
association, and the industry, are very
different from how they were 30 years
ago, and particularly in tough economic
times you fi nd out how sensitive a
revenue model is. There’s a saying ‘when
suppliers get a cold, an association gets
pneumonia’, because our largest single
source of revenue currently comes from
our convention and trade show.
“We’ve got through a really diffi cult
period, with some very hard decisions
made on staffi ng and so on, and now
we have to look at how to make it less
painful for ourselves were we to be
faced with similar market conditions
again. Do we have the right value
propositions for our members? The
membership base is so much more
heterogeneous today than it ever was
before, with so many different types of
club concepts compared to even just 10
years ago. The growth of the industry
internationally has also been enormous
recently, but do we have the right
value proposition for the international
member versus what we can do for the
North American member?
“Now is the time to ask a lot of the
hard questions and decide how to
move forward into the next decade of
the association – what services are no
longer relevant, what new services need
to be developed, how and what will we
fi ne-tune? All of this needs to be done
while still staying true to our mission: to
grow, protect and promote the industry.”
The FIA was clear in its message to
the EHFA national associations forum
in November: that any association
truly wanting to get more people more
active, should embrace all sectors –
private and public (see HCM Jan 11,
p76). Might IHRSA move away from its
traditional standpoint of representing
for-profi t clubs only?
“That’s a good question. It’s always
been not only a cornerstone for IHRSA
but an emotional issue in the US in
particular, but also in Canada. But it’s
interesting – when I’ve gone to the UK
for example, the involvement of the
public sector there is a given. It’s part of
the fabric of the industry.
“Already, over recent years, one of
the things IHRSA has done is become
part of large coalitions that include
organisations such as the YMCA,
working together to infl uence public
policy and promote healthier lifestyles.
It’s baby steps, but if we can get
comfortable with that, maybe it will
lead to other things.
“At the end of the day, if as an
industry we’re really going to have an
impact on healthcare reform, we have
to set aside a lot of these competitive
differences, as well as some philosophical
differences, and focus on the things we
hold in common. We have to evolve and
become a more inclusive, co-operative
industry to grow the market. And I
believe that ultimately everyone will then
benefi t and get their share of the pie.
“If we don’t do that, I think we’ll be
condemned to moving around the
same core group of members – people
who’ll shift from one club to the next –
without really creating any substantial
new marketplace.
“We have a long way to go in terms
of standards and professionalism
to be accepted by the medical
profession, and clubs wanting to get
involved in the issue will need to be
fully committed. But I think it’s an
interesting opportunity for clubs that
may be currently be struggling, caught
in the middle ground, to differentiate
themselves and broaden their market.”
a need to plan
Curtis continues: “The problem is, I
think as an industry we still tend to be
more reactive than we are forwardthinking.
The sector’s pretty creative
– it’s good at evolving and developing
new products and services to fit
diverse customer needs. But, although
operators are very good at taking
something from ground zero up to a
certain point, they then tend to get
content and stop moving forward until
a new threat arrives.
“There can also be a bit of a herd
mentality. The momentum starts going
one way – budget clubs, for example,
which no question is a very active
sector – and everyone jumps on-board
without really thinking through the
consequences. We need to look ahead
more, because things won’t be the same
in fi ve or six years’ time and you have to
chart your course now, before problems
arise. That’s something the industry as a
whole could do a lot better.”

Successfully Manage Your Health Club & Fitness Center by its Income Statement

If you look at your income statement casually each month, hone in on the bottom line to make sure it’s positive and then move on to other more pressing matters, you’re not alone. But, if you aren’t disciplined about managing your business by its income statement, your bottom line might not be as positive as it could be. Using the income statement as the driving force to run your business creates a powerful, sensible connection between dollars coming in/going out and the decisions you make on a daily basis. If you listen, the income statement will tell you how and where to spend your money, and what needs to be improved or fixed.

“I have been doing this for 18 years, and I know what’s important,” you might say. True, to a degree. But who is really setting your priorities? Often, without a conscious plan driven by the income statement, you can find yourself buffeted along, reacting to customers’ requests, allowing your employees to create action items or just going with the flow, doing what you are comfortable with. If any of this rings true, you may be leaving a substantial amount of money on the table every month. Be proactive with your income statement and change that.

Getting Started

Your club’s income statement — from your accountant or spreadsheet software — should never be more than a month old. Does it have built-in columns for monthly comparisons and a yearly forecast to show at a glance how you’re measuring up so far?

Most importantly, are the line items detailed enough to give you a clear picture of exactly where your revenue is coming from and going to in terms of expenses? Even more-detailed reports should be readily available from your club management software to turn to when questions arise.

What to Look For

Start with revenue. Show individual revenue sources as a percentage of the total. For example: Premium dues 30 percent; Regular dues 50 percent; Pool memberships 20 percent. Take note if those ratios change over time. If total dues revenues are down, why? Are there fewer people for tours, has your closing rate fallen or is retention the problem? Look for potential solutions. Try them out and estimate how long a potential fix will take to have an effect. Use subsequent income statements to help determine if your fixes are working. Remember, this is not a one-time project. It is a circular process of observing data changes, analyzing them and brainstorming ideas with your management team or maybe even a member focus group. Aim to improve each line by 10-25 percent over the course of a year. Depending on problem areas you identify, run interim reports from your software, such as point of sale analyses, membership profiles or inventory breakdowns to provide more visibility towards a solution.

The Expense Side

Resist the urge to look at expenses as fixed costs you can do nothing about. Leases can be renegotiated; property can be purchased to eliminate leases entirely. Management software costs and merchant fees can be reduced dramatically. In fact, if you are not renegotiating all purchased expenses on a yearly basis, you are paying too much. It may be counter-intuitive, but see if you might be paying too little in one line item, causing you to pay disproportionately far too much in another. Sometimes you must spend to save. Maintenance expenses are one example — don’t skimp unnecessarily. The higher cost of eco-friendly devices, such as low-flow showerheads and LED lighting, could save hundreds later on utilities.

Marketing is an excellent example of an expense leading directly to increased revenue. When marketing expenses go up one month — did revenues increase in subsequent months for the item you promoted? Have you spent sufficient money to make your website phenomenal? Do you have revenue generators on your website and in your club management software, such as online joining, personal training sign-ups, online payments and e-mail blasts?

You know your business and can come up with your own revenue enhancers and smart cost savings. The key is to make it a systematic exercise: look at the numbers, calculate ratios, look for changes/outliers, and brainstorm to fix.

The pressure will be tremendous to skip this task — after all, you’re the owner and no one is making you. Also, it’s not fun. But walking around putting out brushfires is not going to bring you the long-term, sustainable results you desire. Get disciplined and you’ll start to see results

Successfully Manage Your Health Club & Fitness Center by its Income Statement

If you look at your income statement casually each month, hone in on the bottom line to make sure it’s positive and then move on to other more pressing matters, you’re not alone. But, if you aren’t disciplined about managing your business by its income statement, your bottom line might not be as positive as it could be. Using the income statement as the driving force to run your business creates a powerful, sensible connection between dollars coming in/going out and the decisions you make on a daily basis. If you listen, the income statement will tell you how and where to spend your money, and what needs to be improved or fixed.

“I have been doing this for 18 years, and I know what’s important,” you might say. True, to a degree. But who is really setting your priorities? Often, without a conscious plan driven by the income statement, you can find yourself buffeted along, reacting to customers’ requests, allowing your employees to create action items or just going with the flow, doing what you are comfortable with. If any of this rings true, you may be leaving a substantial amount of money on the table every month. Be proactive with your income statement and change that.

Getting Started

Your club’s income statement — from your accountant or spreadsheet software — should never be more than a month old. Does it have built-in columns for monthly comparisons and a yearly forecast to show at a glance how you’re measuring up so far?

Most importantly, are the line items detailed enough to give you a clear picture of exactly where your revenue is coming from and going to in terms of expenses? Even more-detailed reports should be readily available from your club management software to turn to when questions arise.

What to Look For

Start with revenue. Show individual revenue sources as a percentage of the total. For example: Premium dues 30 percent; Regular dues 50 percent; Pool memberships 20 percent. Take note if those ratios change over time. If total dues revenues are down, why? Are there fewer people for tours, has your closing rate fallen or is retention the problem? Look for potential solutions. Try them out and estimate how long a potential fix will take to have an effect. Use subsequent income statements to help determine if your fixes are working. Remember, this is not a one-time project. It is a circular process of observing data changes, analyzing them and brainstorming ideas with your management team or maybe even a member focus group. Aim to improve each line by 10-25 percent over the course of a year. Depending on problem areas you identify, run interim reports from your software, such as point of sale analyses, membership profiles or inventory breakdowns to provide more visibility towards a solution.

The Expense Side

Resist the urge to look at expenses as fixed costs you can do nothing about. Leases can be renegotiated; property can be purchased to eliminate leases entirely. Management software costs and merchant fees can be reduced dramatically. In fact, if you are not renegotiating all purchased expenses on a yearly basis, you are paying too much. It may be counter-intuitive, but see if you might be paying too little in one line item, causing you to pay disproportionately far too much in another. Sometimes you must spend to save. Maintenance expenses are one example — don’t skimp unnecessarily. The higher cost of eco-friendly devices, such as low-flow showerheads and LED lighting, could save hundreds later on utilities.

Marketing is an excellent example of an expense leading directly to increased revenue. When marketing expenses go up one month — did revenues increase in subsequent months for the item you promoted? Have you spent sufficient money to make your website phenomenal? Do you have revenue generators on your website and in your club management software, such as online joining, personal training sign-ups, online payments and e-mail blasts?

You know your business and can come up with your own revenue enhancers and smart cost savings. The key is to make it a systematic exercise: look at the numbers, calculate ratios, look for changes/outliers, and brainstorm to fix.

The pressure will be tremendous to skip this task — after all, you’re the owner and no one is making you. Also, it’s not fun. But walking around putting out brushfires is not going to bring you the long-term, sustainable results you desire. Get disciplined and you’ll start to see results

Health Club Marketing News……Keep Your Members Coming All Summer Long!

There is never enough time for Terry Dezzutti, the COO of Merritt Athletic Clubs. Since coming on in 1996, Dezzutti, 55, has spent all his energy taking the already successful club in the Baltimore area even higher.

How has he done so?

It’s been a long ride that is just now reaching the end of its destination — to be a five-star health and fitness club. To reach such a prestigious goal, Dezzutti has had to think outside the box and do things with his clubs that both reflect the Baltimore market, and separate them from other clubs.

Welcome to the Nightlife

Like many clubs in the summer, Merritt Athletic Clubs were struggling to entice members to its clubs. Members wanted to be outside in the nice weather, walking around a warm vibrant city.

According to Dezzutti, Baltimore is the type of community that thrives on an active social scene. Not only is it assisted by Johns Hopkins University, but they also play home to the Baltimore Ravens, Baltimore Orioles, and a multitude of waterways for boating and water sports.

Pools were thriving in the daytime and bars into the night. Dezzutti took notice and decided to implement a combination.
It might be odd to think about a health and fitness club being associated with a bar, but more commonly the two are going hand-in-hand. To help summer attendance, Dezzutti decided to implement outdoor swim facilities.

The facilities gave members a place to socialize during the day and cool off during the hot summer months. “The summers used to be dead for us, and six or seven years ago we decided we wanted to be the place to be,” Dezzutti said. “Last year we built our first wave pool and it’s been a big wow. Our retention levels have stopped falling and sales are up.”

They’ve continually added more pools and social amenities. “At our Ford Avenue club, last year we built a pool bar and this year we are building a sun deck around the pool,” he said. “As that becomes more social, we have DJs and people hanging out all day playing beer pong and water polo, and meeting new friends.”

At their club in Canton, on Saturday night, they give the pool area a complete makeover. They turn the club into a Miami South Beach nightclub referred to as Aqua. For members the entrance is free, but it’s $10 for everyone else.

The club has a liquor license and brings in local DJs to spin until 2 a.m. “We use a lot of lighting and music, and it becomes a night club. That becomes a great source of lead generation,” Dezzutti said. “That gets us out of the realm of a regular health club chain in the summer.”

Dezzutti said the nightclub has been in operation for about six years. “It took off from the very beginning,” he said. In the beginning, the nightclub was driving in traffic of over 1,000 people a night. Over the past couple of years the numbers have barely dwindled to about 800 people due to direct competition from other local night clubs.

Above: Merritt Athletic Clubs COO Terry Dezzutti interviewed by Club Solutions Magazine Editor Tyler Montgomery

Everyone Gets Results

It’s safe to say that the vast majority of clubs are in business to get members results. Merritt Athletic Clubs take that responsibility extremely serious.

Once a person becomes a member of Merritt Athletic Clubs, they are inundated with the Results Program. “It’s unique in our market,” Dezzutti said. “When you join you have the ability to opt into this program. You have to show up twice a week and you have to initially meet with a health advisor.

“In that six weeks, if they don’t see results, we give them their money back. Initially, we test their BMI, thigh measurement and cholesterol. At the end of the six weeks, if we haven’t lowered one of those three things, they will get a full refund.”

Dezzutti feels that this program helps new members get involved and keeps them motivated. “Once they get involved in the program, they will get into a routine and start to like exercising,” he explained.

Getting new members results is just the first step. Merritt then transitions its focus to the kids. It has teamed up with the famous Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.

Phelps had one aquatic academy in Baltimore, already. Developing the partnership gave members at Merritt more locations to train. With the inclusion of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore — a top two, Division III swim club — swimming is a major competitive sport. Therefore, the partnership with Phelps has enhanced Merritt’s reach within the aquatic market.

“When we met with him, we had several swimming facilities already, and we discussed with him to become a spokesperson for our facilities,” Dezzutti said. “We reached an agreement and now we are using his protocols and practices as part of our system.

“It helps with community awareness. People know the work ethic that he has and we are using that to inspire kids to come in and start exercising.”

Still Attracting Members

Group X does a lot for clubs all across the country, and Merritt Athletic Clubs are no exception. “We’ve made a major investment over the past five years with Les Mills,” Dezzutti said. “I would say they do such a great job of choreographing the music and changing the programs that it inspires everybody. Now we are in the process of expanding all of our rooms and adding music and light fixtures to become more of an entertainment value while they are in there.”

There are ups and downs to installing extra lights and audio to boost the Group X experience. Dezzutti said one woman complained that she became dizzy due to the lights spinning. However, out of the vast majority of club members that participate in Merritt’s Group X, she has been the only complaint.

“People seem to like it because of the entertainment value,” he said. “We’ve also seen Group X change in other areas. Personal training for example, has turned into groups of three to five people because it saves time and money. For people who are looking to workout quickly, we’ve put in these fast track circuits. There are trainers that put members through machines and they get a good workout in half an hour as part of their membership. We are looking at obstacle courses and how we can incorporate those in the future.”

Group X is continually changing at Merritt. “People need a friend, they need a buddy, and Group X gives them that opportunity,” Dezzutti said. “When you have someone that pushes you every day, you show up and you get results.

“In the future people will be doing classes for specific body types and specific ages. You’ll see more seniors working on balance classes with balance boards to get through their daily life.”

However, to simultaneously connect with the youth and seniors of Baltimore, where could one man find enough time? Somehow Dezzutti has done the impossible. He has found time to create a harmonious balance between the two and still continue to grow and improve — teaming with Phelps, a nightclub atmosphere, family-oriented pools and special senior-focused Group X classes are all examples of this effort.

In a continually evolving market, Dezzutti must stay aware of trends for all populations. In fact, for the most part, Merritt’s demographics are pretty equal across the board — that means, with the nightclub atmosphere, summer pools, gym equipment and ever-changing Group X classes, all demographics must be reached. And, even when it has seemed impossible to wrap all that into a nine-club, Elite Sports Club Network, Dezzutti and his team found a way to do so.

***
It’s not a surprise the ideas Dezzutti has implemented at Merritt Athletic Clubs. He’s spent 30 years in the fitness industry, starting when he was 19 years old at Broome Racquet Club in Binghampton, NY.

After he graduated from State University of New York in Portland, NY., he felt a desire to pursue a life in fitness. “I always liked the atmosphere,” Dezzutti said. “People are always trying to stay healthy and you’re in a positive environment.”

After college Dezzutti worked at several health clubs, starting at the Denver Sporting Club. From there he found himself traveling across the U.S. looking for great opportunities and clubs trying inventive ideas.

In 1996, when Dezzutti took his role at Merritt Athletic Clubs, he became an active member of Rex Rountables. “I enjoy hearing from other CEOs in other industries,” Dezzutti said. “I listen to their ideas and think about how they can be implemented in our industry.”

It’s that constant attempt to think outside the box that has made Merritt Athletic Clubs a poolside-gathering place during the summer, a nightclub on Saturday nights and a place for people in Baltimore to get fit all year

Health Club Marketing News……Keep Your Members Coming All Summer Long!

There is never enough time for Terry Dezzutti, the COO of Merritt Athletic Clubs. Since coming on in 1996, Dezzutti, 55, has spent all his energy taking the already successful club in the Baltimore area even higher.

How has he done so?

It’s been a long ride that is just now reaching the end of its destination — to be a five-star health and fitness club. To reach such a prestigious goal, Dezzutti has had to think outside the box and do things with his clubs that both reflect the Baltimore market, and separate them from other clubs.

Welcome to the Nightlife

Like many clubs in the summer, Merritt Athletic Clubs were struggling to entice members to its clubs. Members wanted to be outside in the nice weather, walking around a warm vibrant city.

According to Dezzutti, Baltimore is the type of community that thrives on an active social scene. Not only is it assisted by Johns Hopkins University, but they also play home to the Baltimore Ravens, Baltimore Orioles, and a multitude of waterways for boating and water sports.

Pools were thriving in the daytime and bars into the night. Dezzutti took notice and decided to implement a combination.
It might be odd to think about a health and fitness club being associated with a bar, but more commonly the two are going hand-in-hand. To help summer attendance, Dezzutti decided to implement outdoor swim facilities.

The facilities gave members a place to socialize during the day and cool off during the hot summer months. “The summers used to be dead for us, and six or seven years ago we decided we wanted to be the place to be,” Dezzutti said. “Last year we built our first wave pool and it’s been a big wow. Our retention levels have stopped falling and sales are up.”

They’ve continually added more pools and social amenities. “At our Ford Avenue club, last year we built a pool bar and this year we are building a sun deck around the pool,” he said. “As that becomes more social, we have DJs and people hanging out all day playing beer pong and water polo, and meeting new friends.”

At their club in Canton, on Saturday night, they give the pool area a complete makeover. They turn the club into a Miami South Beach nightclub referred to as Aqua. For members the entrance is free, but it’s $10 for everyone else.

The club has a liquor license and brings in local DJs to spin until 2 a.m. “We use a lot of lighting and music, and it becomes a night club. That becomes a great source of lead generation,” Dezzutti said. “That gets us out of the realm of a regular health club chain in the summer.”

Dezzutti said the nightclub has been in operation for about six years. “It took off from the very beginning,” he said. In the beginning, the nightclub was driving in traffic of over 1,000 people a night. Over the past couple of years the numbers have barely dwindled to about 800 people due to direct competition from other local night clubs.

Above: Merritt Athletic Clubs COO Terry Dezzutti interviewed by Club Solutions Magazine Editor Tyler Montgomery

Everyone Gets Results

It’s safe to say that the vast majority of clubs are in business to get members results. Merritt Athletic Clubs take that responsibility extremely serious.

Once a person becomes a member of Merritt Athletic Clubs, they are inundated with the Results Program. “It’s unique in our market,” Dezzutti said. “When you join you have the ability to opt into this program. You have to show up twice a week and you have to initially meet with a health advisor.

“In that six weeks, if they don’t see results, we give them their money back. Initially, we test their BMI, thigh measurement and cholesterol. At the end of the six weeks, if we haven’t lowered one of those three things, they will get a full refund.”

Dezzutti feels that this program helps new members get involved and keeps them motivated. “Once they get involved in the program, they will get into a routine and start to like exercising,” he explained.

Getting new members results is just the first step. Merritt then transitions its focus to the kids. It has teamed up with the famous Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.

Phelps had one aquatic academy in Baltimore, already. Developing the partnership gave members at Merritt more locations to train. With the inclusion of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore — a top two, Division III swim club — swimming is a major competitive sport. Therefore, the partnership with Phelps has enhanced Merritt’s reach within the aquatic market.

“When we met with him, we had several swimming facilities already, and we discussed with him to become a spokesperson for our facilities,” Dezzutti said. “We reached an agreement and now we are using his protocols and practices as part of our system.

“It helps with community awareness. People know the work ethic that he has and we are using that to inspire kids to come in and start exercising.”

Still Attracting Members

Group X does a lot for clubs all across the country, and Merritt Athletic Clubs are no exception. “We’ve made a major investment over the past five years with Les Mills,” Dezzutti said. “I would say they do such a great job of choreographing the music and changing the programs that it inspires everybody. Now we are in the process of expanding all of our rooms and adding music and light fixtures to become more of an entertainment value while they are in there.”

There are ups and downs to installing extra lights and audio to boost the Group X experience. Dezzutti said one woman complained that she became dizzy due to the lights spinning. However, out of the vast majority of club members that participate in Merritt’s Group X, she has been the only complaint.

“People seem to like it because of the entertainment value,” he said. “We’ve also seen Group X change in other areas. Personal training for example, has turned into groups of three to five people because it saves time and money. For people who are looking to workout quickly, we’ve put in these fast track circuits. There are trainers that put members through machines and they get a good workout in half an hour as part of their membership. We are looking at obstacle courses and how we can incorporate those in the future.”

Group X is continually changing at Merritt. “People need a friend, they need a buddy, and Group X gives them that opportunity,” Dezzutti said. “When you have someone that pushes you every day, you show up and you get results.

“In the future people will be doing classes for specific body types and specific ages. You’ll see more seniors working on balance classes with balance boards to get through their daily life.”

However, to simultaneously connect with the youth and seniors of Baltimore, where could one man find enough time? Somehow Dezzutti has done the impossible. He has found time to create a harmonious balance between the two and still continue to grow and improve — teaming with Phelps, a nightclub atmosphere, family-oriented pools and special senior-focused Group X classes are all examples of this effort.

In a continually evolving market, Dezzutti must stay aware of trends for all populations. In fact, for the most part, Merritt’s demographics are pretty equal across the board — that means, with the nightclub atmosphere, summer pools, gym equipment and ever-changing Group X classes, all demographics must be reached. And, even when it has seemed impossible to wrap all that into a nine-club, Elite Sports Club Network, Dezzutti and his team found a way to do so.

***
It’s not a surprise the ideas Dezzutti has implemented at Merritt Athletic Clubs. He’s spent 30 years in the fitness industry, starting when he was 19 years old at Broome Racquet Club in Binghampton, NY.

After he graduated from State University of New York in Portland, NY., he felt a desire to pursue a life in fitness. “I always liked the atmosphere,” Dezzutti said. “People are always trying to stay healthy and you’re in a positive environment.”

After college Dezzutti worked at several health clubs, starting at the Denver Sporting Club. From there he found himself traveling across the U.S. looking for great opportunities and clubs trying inventive ideas.

In 1996, when Dezzutti took his role at Merritt Athletic Clubs, he became an active member of Rex Rountables. “I enjoy hearing from other CEOs in other industries,” Dezzutti said. “I listen to their ideas and think about how they can be implemented in our industry.”

It’s that constant attempt to think outside the box that has made Merritt Athletic Clubs a poolside-gathering place during the summer, a nightclub on Saturday nights and a place for people in Baltimore to get fit all year

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