'The Trip' is a fully immersive Les Mills cycling experience
There’s been a buzz surrounding West Wood Club recently, following a successful party thrown by the Dublin health club group to celebrate the launch of its newly-designed Les Mills studios and also Les Mills’ ‘The Trip’ – a fully immersive cycling experience that takes riders on a journey through digitally-created worlds.
“We had champagne, beer, promotional videos, chocolate fountains, photographers – you name it,” says Karen Polley, group operational manager at West Wood Club. “The launch was key to creating awareness and excitement for these new products.”
The new Les Mills offerings at West Wood are part of a €17.2m development package that is being made in the high-end, luxury chain from August 2016 to August 2017. The business, which has been in existence for around 30 years, also recently bought three Crunch Fitness clubs (no relation to US chain) and now comprises six clubs, all within Dublin. With a €79 monthly membership and €499 joining fee, membership across the three original clubs was at 22,000 but has now been brought up to 36,000 across the six clubs.
Alan Leach, group general manager and director of sales and marketing at West Wood, confirms that a huge part of the investment will go into the group fitness offering across all of the clubs.
“We’re always investing and aiming to be the future of fitness,” he explains. “We were already known for group fitness, so we decided to exploit that.
“Research we carried out some years back showed that our reputation was very strong in this area, so a policy decision was taken to make group fitness the main focus on our investment as the business grew, and that decision has driven significant profitability and business success for us.”
The Les Mills effect This involved refurbishing old studios and turning them into Les Mills’ immersive studios, with the cinema-scale screens and sound systems that are required to offer The Trip. The dedicated studios have now been rolled out into three of the clubs, with the other three soon to follow.
“Les Mills is a huge part of what we do,” says Leach. “We decided about eight years ago that we wanted to be the number one destination in Ireland for group fitness. If you go back to 10 years ago, our fitness classes would take place in average, wooden-floored, white-walled studios. Karen was behind the decision to renew those studios and make them part of the experience. We’ve put a lot of time, money and effort into that.”
“Our first Les Mills-branded studio was a big risk,” he continues. “But it went amazingly well – our numbers went through the roof, it had a huge impact on our social media and Google Analytics showed that over a 12 month period, the number of people looking at our class timetables increased by about 110 per cent. That studio got us through the recession, and as a result, we decided to replicate that in all our other clubs.”
This impressive impact on the clubs has not dropped off over time. In 2009, West Wood’s three original clubs had just 21,000 visits to group fitness. In 2016, those same three clubs received 39,000 visits. The group’s Net Promoter Score – a measure of customer loyalty – jumped from 14 per cent in 2014 to 39 per cent in 2016.
Creating a community Leach notes that 40 per cent of West Wood’s members currently attend at least one of the 120 group fitness classes on offer each week. He believes that this is down to the community atmosphere that Les Mills classes create.
“The foyer outside the studios is a hive of activity before the classes,” he says. “Everyone gets to know each other and once they become part of the community, those people don’t leave.”
And it’s not just the members who love Les Mills. “Les Mills gives us a consistent product,” explains Polley. “They have all the research and science behind what they do. They do the choreography and the music. We just bring in passionate staff, continually upskill them and make sure we’re delivering it to the highest standard.”
Since January, Les Mills’ The Trip has been the talk of the membership. “It really has brought more excitement into the club,” Polley says. “We’ve been managing it carefully – we want to create excitement and make people want to attend, but we don’t want to run so many classes that it becomes standard. We’re keeping it slightly exclusive for now.”
But the team at West Wood Clubs will not be resting on their laurels. “We truly believe when we come to work that we want to break records,” says Leach.
“More sales, more revenue, better retention, lower attrition and higher participation in classes. We want to be seen as more than just a gym.”
An opportunity to reimagine one of the UK’s most recognisable towers has been formally
opened by Rivington Hark, as St Johns Beacon invites operators and partners to shape its
next phase. [more...]
'The Trip' is a fully immersive Les Mills cycling experience
There’s been a buzz surrounding West Wood Club recently, following a successful party thrown by the Dublin health club group to celebrate the launch of its newly-designed Les Mills studios and also Les Mills’ ‘The Trip’ – a fully immersive cycling experience that takes riders on a journey through digitally-created worlds.
“We had champagne, beer, promotional videos, chocolate fountains, photographers – you name it,” says Karen Polley, group operational manager at West Wood Club. “The launch was key to creating awareness and excitement for these new products.”
The new Les Mills offerings at West Wood are part of a €17.2m development package that is being made in the high-end, luxury chain from August 2016 to August 2017. The business, which has been in existence for around 30 years, also recently bought three Crunch Fitness clubs (no relation to US chain) and now comprises six clubs, all within Dublin. With a €79 monthly membership and €499 joining fee, membership across the three original clubs was at 22,000 but has now been brought up to 36,000 across the six clubs.
Alan Leach, group general manager and director of sales and marketing at West Wood, confirms that a huge part of the investment will go into the group fitness offering across all of the clubs.
“We’re always investing and aiming to be the future of fitness,” he explains. “We were already known for group fitness, so we decided to exploit that.
“Research we carried out some years back showed that our reputation was very strong in this area, so a policy decision was taken to make group fitness the main focus on our investment as the business grew, and that decision has driven significant profitability and business success for us.”
The Les Mills effect This involved refurbishing old studios and turning them into Les Mills’ immersive studios, with the cinema-scale screens and sound systems that are required to offer The Trip. The dedicated studios have now been rolled out into three of the clubs, with the other three soon to follow.
“Les Mills is a huge part of what we do,” says Leach. “We decided about eight years ago that we wanted to be the number one destination in Ireland for group fitness. If you go back to 10 years ago, our fitness classes would take place in average, wooden-floored, white-walled studios. Karen was behind the decision to renew those studios and make them part of the experience. We’ve put a lot of time, money and effort into that.”
“Our first Les Mills-branded studio was a big risk,” he continues. “But it went amazingly well – our numbers went through the roof, it had a huge impact on our social media and Google Analytics showed that over a 12 month period, the number of people looking at our class timetables increased by about 110 per cent. That studio got us through the recession, and as a result, we decided to replicate that in all our other clubs.”
This impressive impact on the clubs has not dropped off over time. In 2009, West Wood’s three original clubs had just 21,000 visits to group fitness. In 2016, those same three clubs received 39,000 visits. The group’s Net Promoter Score – a measure of customer loyalty – jumped from 14 per cent in 2014 to 39 per cent in 2016.
Creating a community Leach notes that 40 per cent of West Wood’s members currently attend at least one of the 120 group fitness classes on offer each week. He believes that this is down to the community atmosphere that Les Mills classes create.
“The foyer outside the studios is a hive of activity before the classes,” he says. “Everyone gets to know each other and once they become part of the community, those people don’t leave.”
And it’s not just the members who love Les Mills. “Les Mills gives us a consistent product,” explains Polley. “They have all the research and science behind what they do. They do the choreography and the music. We just bring in passionate staff, continually upskill them and make sure we’re delivering it to the highest standard.”
Since January, Les Mills’ The Trip has been the talk of the membership. “It really has brought more excitement into the club,” Polley says. “We’ve been managing it carefully – we want to create excitement and make people want to attend, but we don’t want to run so many classes that it becomes standard. We’re keeping it slightly exclusive for now.”
But the team at West Wood Clubs will not be resting on their laurels. “We truly believe when we come to work that we want to break records,” says Leach.
“More sales, more revenue, better retention, lower attrition and higher participation in classes. We want to be seen as more than just a gym.”
Hotel de France, located on the British Isle of Jersey, has created a wellness retreat package
that includes a hot yoga session that will take place in Jersey Zoo’s butterfly sanctuary.
A new immersive attraction designed to transport visitors into the final hours of ancient Pompeii
is preparing to open near the world-famous archaeological site in southern Italy.
Experience design company, BRC Imagination Arts, has completed a transition that sees founder
Bob Rogers pass ownership of the business to four long-serving senior executives, while
remaining actively involved with the company.
Movie Park Germany has opened a new Paramount Pictures-themed attraction as part of its 30th
anniversary celebrations, using immersive storytelling and adaptive reuse to reinforce the park’s
longstanding “Hollywood in Germany” positioning.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Efteling has opened Hooghmoed, a new family drop tower designed to broaden the appeal of its
recently launched Sirene Island themed area and introduce younger visitors to thrill attractions.
A proposed Puy du Fou development near Bicester and Universal Destinations and Experiences’
planned resort in Bedford are emerging as part of a wider transformation of the Oxford–
Cambridge Growth Corridor into a major centre for UK leisure and tourism inv
Shedd Aquarium has opened the Immersion Theater developed in partnership with SimEx-
Iwerks, as part of a wider strategy to enhance the guest experience and create additional
revenue opportunities.
The UK government has announced a temporary reduction in VAT on visitor attractions and
children’s meals as part of a summer cost-of-living support package designed to stimulate the
visitor economy and encourage family days out.
As designer Yinka Ilori prepares for his first solo gallery show in London, he speaks exclusively
to CLADmag about his mission to spread joy, the power of play, and his bold approach to using
colour (including the colours you won’t see in his work).
The government of Thailand is exploring plans for a THB300bn (£6.3bn, US$8.3bn)
entertainment complex in the country’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), with officials
proposing a large-scale theme park and sports destination as part of a broader tourism and
economic development strategy.
+ More news
COMPANY PROFILES
Holovis Holovis is a privately owned company
established in 2004 by CEO Stuart
Hetherington. [more...]
IAAPA EMEA IAAPA Expo Europe was established in 2006 and has grown to the largest international conference and [more...]
Sally Corporation Our services include: Dark ride design & build; Redevelopment of existing attractions; High-quality [more...]
RMA Ltd RMA Ltd is a one-stop global company
that can design, build and produce from a
greenfield site upw [more...]
An opportunity to reimagine one of the UK’s most recognisable towers has been formally
opened by Rivington Hark, as St Johns Beacon invites operators and partners to shape its
next phase. [more...]
