Equinox Anthem Row — Local services in Washington

The Equinox gyms in the Washington metropolitan area are not at the same level as the Equinox Gyms of New York City, like the one in TriBeCa and mid town. No comparison to the facilities and the staff, which are infinitely superior in the New York City locations. The Washington DC gyms shouldn’t even be branded as being in the same company, when you compare them to New York City. I recently visited the Equinox Anthem Row, in NW Washington, DC, and I was disappointed on several key points.

The individual at the front desk needs to be properly trained, and should take all of the classes that EQUINOX offers at least once to experience them and have the ability to speak to them. They don’t have to be experts they just need a general knowledge, with first-hand experience. I see this is a failure of management not properly training and educating the front desk staff, it is the responsibility of the manager to pay that staff member for several weeks to just learn about the gym and it’s classes.

I was perplexed as to why much of the staff at the front, the sales staff, and including some of the health and fitness trainers, seemed to be in an unfit and unhealthy condition. This is supposed to be the premier gym of Washington DC, the most expensive. The adds push the lifestyle, yet all of the staff that work there appear to be unhealthy and some are even overweight. These individuals should be shining examples of what a client should strive to be. Yes please sele me some idealism, this is Equinox. I should look at the trainers and staff and say to myself, I want to look like them someday. This is a Gym, a health and fitness facility that exists for nothing other than to be for premier health and fitness, yet the staff appears to be unhealthy and unfit. That’s generally not the case in New York City Equinox locations.

Disappointing selection and type of equipment. The equipment seems to be only a few rungs above the equipment at a Planet Fitness, which in the health and fitness industry is often referred to as Planet Weakness, because it is simply essentially an amateur gym, a starter gym and for those that really don’t workout out a lot. That’s not to say that all clients of planet fitness fit that category, but that is essentially the business model. The equipment inside of this location of Equinox, appears to be high-end planet fitness equipment, giving the impression that it is only intended for essentially a white-collar crowd, willing to pay $240 a month, plus costs for parking, that isn’t really serious about their exercise regimen. When you go to Gold’s Gym, VIDA Fitness, LA fitness, or any of the other chains in the area, that are infinitely less costly, the equipment there is superior. VIDA DC hands down blows away Equinox Gym in DC. The DC Equinox Anthem Row location, is supposed to be their premier location and it isn’t half as nice as VIDA at the Yards at 50% of the cost of Equinox. Yes the equipment inside the gym looks fancy, its pretty, and it appears beautifully clean and new, but the reality of it is, is that it is an amateur level gym, for a white-collar crowd, with equipment that is only a rung or so above planet fitness equipment at $25 a month.

Equinox NYC locations live up to the reputation. They are the best of the best of the chains. But the DC locations, staffed with unhealthy and overweight looking employees, marginal equipment and at $240/ month, hardly seems worth it. I’m not trying to fat shame and I’m a believer in healthy at any weight, but come on, this is EQUINOX, I’m expecting to see some people that work there that look like Greek gods and goddesses, just like in NYC.

I was so excited to see the DC Equinox, because I was getting ready to join, and what a disappointment when I visited that location. And when I found out that they were the nicest one out of all the DC metro area locations, I was dumbfounded. I thought I would see what we see in New York, I...

Completely turned off by my experience with the membership associate, Jacqueline, and manager, Brandon. They were discriminatory and disrespectful, and rude when I expressed concern at how I was treated.

At the end of my tour, I asked about month-to-month options because I travel a lot for work and flexibility is important to me. Jacqueline informed me that they only offer annual contracts. She said, "Equinox is not for everyone, and it's not for people who believe their workout goals can be achieved in a month. You can consider gyms like Planet Fitness", asked if I had any questions and showed me the door.

I've never been spoken to by a sales representative like that before. I was told, not asked, that Equinox wasn't the right fit for me simply for asking a question. I was shocked and thought it was disrespectful, condescending, and confusing. Why would asking about month-to-month options trigger such a response?

It was clearly a dig and an assumption that I couldn't afford to pay and don't fit their brand of people that they want at the gym. I was told the $213 monthly rate via phone the day before and I still chose to come in. Clearly the price wasn't a dealbreaker for me.

I spoke to Brandon afterwards about how off-putting that experience was and he said that he apologized if I felt disrespected but it's true that "equinox is not for everyone" and if my experience made me feel like it's not the right fit for me, he understands that choice. In other words, he stands by what was said and they do not care about losing me as a potential member.

To be clear, my choice to find another gym will be 100% based on the treatment by the staff. It's a nice gym, I have friends there and I wanted to make it work, even with my schedule. In fact, I was referred to the gym by two friends, but if this is how they treat referrals, I can't even imagine how they treat other inquiries.

I'll note that I am a Black woman and neither Jacqueline nor Brandon are Black. Would they have spoken to a White woman wearing Lululemon...

HORRIBLE MANAGERS. I joined in Hollywood CA moved to DC and the staff disgusted me so much to the point where I cancelled my membership. Don’t waste your time or money on a gym that not only has horrible staff and treats their members poorly, but it doesn’t even have a jacuzzi or a pool, and the steam room is on medium so it doesn’t give you the health benefits. A complete waste of time. Honestly, from someone who knows how equinox is supposed to function, you’re better off going to OneLife or Lifetime fitness. Their cheaper, more amenities, professional staff and their not just there for a check their there because they care about people’s health and happiness. This equinox location doesn’t care about keeping their members. The manager Megan doesn’t even respond to members when they need to talk to her she throws her hands up and tells her employees to deal with it. She takes no responsibility for her carless job and just hangs out and ignores everything that isn’t beneficial to her. Her personality is “don’t bother me with that.” A narcissist.

By the way I contacted concierge and no response. I emailed her to cancel my membership, she emailed back and asked why, I gave her my list of complaints and no response. Didn’t even tell me my cancellation was pending leaving me to angrily call the front desk to tell them to take my card off file because nobody is confirming my cancellation. There’s no reason for Megan to have this type of responsibility in a job. She is clearly too comfortable and doesn’t care. They must be low in management staff. The training manager sucks too she’s the same way. Unresponsive. It’s clear this is the work environment...