Health club operators explain how they’re turning recovery amenities into tools members actually use.
A recovery offering can look impressive on a club floor and still fail to make much of a difference if members don’t know what to do with it.
That tension was at the center of the latest Thought Leaders panel where operators from Fit, The Houstonian Club and Chuze Fitness discussed how their clubs are approaching recovery — from deciding which modalities deserve the investment to getting members to actually use them and determining whether they are delivering a return.
The conversation made clear that building a recovery space is relatively easy, but building a recovery experience the members understand and value requires a little bit more thought.
For Ani Oksayan, the VP of fitness at Chuze, that starts with recognizing how the member mindset has changed.
“Recovery has obviously gone from being something that athletes did after training to something everyday members understand as part of what it means for themselves to feel healthy,” said Oksayan. “The biggest change that we’ve seen is that recovery is no longer viewed as the flip side of working out. It’s part of working out.”
Kelley Bettis, the assistant general manager at The Houstonian, has seen that change firsthand throughout her career. She recalled an era when soreness was almost considered proof that a workout had been successful. Today, she sees the consequences of that mentality in members.
“Now we’re seeing folks that were these diehard, relentless group exercisers or just constantly working out, they’re injured,” said Bettis. “And then they aren’t able to continue.”
That is reflected in the range of recovery options clubs now provide.
At Fit, general manager Jordan Goll, said the club started with cryotherapy and has since added red light therapy, Normatec compression, massage chairs and cold plunges — all of which are included in the club’s membership. At the East Village location, the recovery area even occupies space that was previously used as a tanning salon.
According to Goll, one of the keys to making the model work is keeping the experience simple for members. “For us, it’s definitely low friction,” he said. “The less you have to teach a person how to use the thing, the better.”
Goll pointed to cryotherapy, red light and massage chairs as examples of equipment members can learn to use quickly without requiring dedicated staff.
The Houstonian has taken a more tiered approach. Recovery offerings have evolved from PowerPlates in a fee-based studio to amenities such as HydroMassage chairs, cold plunges, infrared salt saunas and more. Bettis said the club’s HydroMassage chairs, which are complimentary for resident-level members, have even become a retention tool with members telling the club they remain members because of it.
At Chuze, Oksayan said the company has been incorporating recovery spaces into new club footprints. Its Body Workshop spaces can include massage chairs, traditional and infrared saunas, red light booths, compression equipment and other offerings. Rather than charging separately for each service, the club bundles amenities into membership tiers.
“That approach has helped us dispel the idea that recovery should be regarded as a luxury,” said Oksayan.
Still, the panelists emphasized that operators should resist the temptation to add every new recovery trend that hits the market.
“An offering really has to withstand that significant daily usage, and at the same time, we have to require sort of minimal labor and operational oversight,” said Oksayan.
That means an amenity can be scientifically interesting or popular on social media and still not make sense for a particular club.
“We all know there’s amazing things happening in recovery literally every day, but not all of it is automatically going to equal good business for us,” said Oksayan.
Goll also stressed the importance of doing the homework on equipment manufacturers. Even the best equipment eventually needs maintenance, making the quality of the vendor relationship an important operational consideration. He encouraged operators to investigate where the manufacturer’s service department is located, how quickly parts can arrive and what equipment failures they should be prepared to address themselves.
Getting the equipment, however, is only part of it. The panel repeatedly returned to education as the key to turning recovery amenities into regularly used member benefits.
Goll said Fit uses tours, signage, social media and staff to introduce members to recovery.
At Chuze, Oksayan found that just giving members access isn’t enough.
“We’ve discovered that over time that just granting them access doesn’t mean that they’re actually going to adopt those modalities,” said Oksayan.
Instead, clubs need to help members understand when, why and how to use each offering. That can mean tours, videos, QR codes or app content.
“You just simply can’t put amenities in a room and expect that a member is going to understand how it fits into their life and fitness routine,” said Oksayan.
Bettis offered a similar strategy at The Houstonian, where staff members and trainers appear in marketing materials and videos demonstrating recovery services. The club also brings recovery equipment into high-traffic areas during member appreciation events so members can see and try things they might otherwise never encounter in a tucked away recovery space.
The business case for recovery also looks different depending on the club. Oksayan said Chuze tracks adoption, engagement, membership behavior and economics rather than looking only at direct revenue.
At The Houstonian, Bettis said recovery became cash positive in two years. Meanwhile, Fit has looked closely at retention and usage. Goll said the East Village location has seen attrition decline by about 7% since its recovery offering has been in place.
“It’s hard to see dollar for dollar, but you see it in other areas,” said Goll.
Ultimately, the panelists agreed that operators don’t need to build an elaborate recovery destination overnight. In fact, starting small might be the better strategy.
“Start slow,” said Goll. “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.” He recommended asking members what they want and using that feedback to determine what comes next. “If they’re going to tell you, chances are they’re going to use it.”
For Oksayan, that incremental approach comes back to how operators define a successful club visit. A member doesn’t necessarily have to complete a hard workout to have a productive interaction with the brand.
That may be the biggest opportunity recovery presents to operators — not simply adding more equipment to a club but creating more ways for members to find value in coming through the doors.
Watch the full conversation here.
