Have gym membership prices come down for 2011?

buzz55 · 10-01-2011 05:50PM #1

I was in to check out the gym in Leisureland at the weekend, considering joining a gym somewhere.
They're doing 12 month membership for €450 - and even with the drop in rates, the girl in there admitted that they were after getting very quiet with the last year or so.

Just wondering if other gyms - Ocean Fitness, Connemara Coast, Ardilaun etc. - have been forced to bring down their rates now that the economy is gone to pot?

Prices in Dublin came down substantially at least 4 years ago, but some of them in Galway still seem to want 700 or 800. Surely they'd be better to get 100 people signed up for 500e a pop rather than o people at 700e?

gandroid · 11-01-2011 11:55AM

Am not sure about actual gym memberships but the prices of classes have increased considerably in the Kingfisher gym in NUI which is bad form as it's not a good time of year to be trying to wrench more Euros from people....

barryd09 · 11-01-2011 01:16PM

€395 off peak (before 4pm mon-fri,anytime all weekend) with NRG in knocknacara,the use of their bohermore gym is allowed too but imo Bohermore is pretty lame and closes ridicilously early at the weekends.

squonk · 11-01-2011 02:11PM

Not gym per se but I got swimming pool membership to NRG in bohermore recently. They were doing a deal where it was normally 395 but I got it for 355. that deal ran out before Christmas but they might have something else in Feb perhaps.

MattKid · 12-01-2011 10:51AM

Olympic Physique are offering a Buy one get 2nd Half Price

So €390 and 195, makes it €292.50 each.

markesmith · 17-01-2011 12:14PM

Anyone know how much membership at Ocean Fitness costs?

barryd09 · 17-01-2011 12:32PM

markesmith wrote: »

Anyone know how much membership at Ocean Fitness costs?

i know this time last year (when it opened originally) it was WELL expensive,at the time it was defo €700+.

fantastic facilities though,the pools & saunas are lovely.
the gym itself is split into two areas,one for the regular gym user,mainly weight machines & cardio machines.
the other gym area is all benches & free weights etc probably geared towards more to people looking to lift a lot of weights.

i got a free trial in there when it opened first,nobody in there on a sunday afternoon,dont know whats its like now though.

HardyEustace · 21-01-2011 03:14PM

Went to the Kingfisher Renmore last night.

Typical sales bull**** and were very aggressive about not dropping price. Highly unimpressed with the service.

Oh for a decently priced pool on the east side of the city.

Out of interest, what are people here paying in Kingfisher Renmore if they are members?

Xiney · 21-01-2011 05:25PM

I'd strongly advise against paying for a year upfront in any case.

Yes, it's cheaper... but only if they remain open.

barryd09 · 21-01-2011 06:38PM

OMG IS KINGFISHER CLOSING???

Xiney · 21-01-2011 08:15PM

I doubt it.

But whenever you pay upfront for something, you are kissing that money goodbye in the case of a business going bust. Same with gift vouchers - you become a creditor, and good luck to you.

Mrs OBumble · 21-01-2011 08:23PM

Xiney wrote: »

I'd strongly advise against paying for a year upfront in any case.

Yes, it's cheaper... but only if they remain open.

.. and if you go

That said, we haven't see any gyms go bust, even though I half expected mine to do so in 2008 due to the drop in membership numbers.

Personally it's a risk I'm willing to take because of the amount by which it's cheaper.

YMMV.

cats.life · 21-01-2011 08:42PM

hipkids in briarhill has a ladies gym , there is a choice as 385 for a year or pay as you go. hard going put i see the results:D

epgc3fyqirnbsx · 21-01-2011 08:59PM

There's no way I could afford a gym at the moment, cash is way too tight. Especially p*ssed off when my brother told me this evening that he joined Ben Dunnes gym in Dublin for €150/year which has everything

Carolyyn · 21-01-2011 09:20PM

HardyEustace wrote: »

Went to the Kingfisher Renmore last night.

Typical sales bull**** and were very aggressive about not dropping price. Highly unimpressed with the service.

Oh for a decently priced pool on the east side of the city.

Out of interest, what are people here paying in Kingfisher Renmore if they are members?

Glad I didn't go down for that kind of hassle so, I phoned them about the open day and before I knew it they had me booked in for a chat with one of their "advisers" about membership. I hadn't a notion of joining, just wanted to use the pool for free.

A friend joined there recently and he paid around €500 for the year, God hope it doesn't...

Madame Razz · 22-01-2011 08:45AM

There's a fairly simple way to get a cheaper rate in KF; pm me for details:)

biko · 22-01-2011 12:24PM

Xiney wrote: »

Yes, it's cheaper... but only if they remain open.

barryd09 wrote: »

OMG IS KINGFISHER CLOSING???

And this, people, is how rumours get started

Pool4Life · 23-01-2011 05:45PM

Slightly off topic but does anyone know if olympic physique opens on sundays anymore.

TheCosmicFrog · 23-01-2011 07:19PM

Someone told me today they've dropped the student membership fee for €250 to €200.

PauricTheLodger · 23-01-2011 07:29PM

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

Someone told me today they've dropped the student membership fee for €250 to €200.

For the NUIG gym?

MattKid · 24-01-2011 09:09AM

Pool4Life wrote: »

Slightly off topic but does anyone know if olympic physique opens on sundays anymore.

No

the hours are now
Monday 7:30 - 10
Tuesday-Thursday 6:30 - 10
Friday 7:30 - 8
Saturday 10 - 3
Sunday closed

I think it's a 10pm close during the week, this is all from memory

Pool4Life · 24-01-2011 10:42AM

MattKid wrote: »

No

the hours are now
Monday 7:30 - 10
Tuesday-Thursday 6:30 - 10
Friday 7:30 - 8
Saturday 10 - 3
Sunday closed

I think it's a 10pm close during the week, this is all from memory

Thanks Mate

BornToBe? · 24-01-2011 01:09PM

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

Someone told me today they've dropped the student membership fee for €250 to €200.

Say what?

I renewed my student membership for the usual €250, a week ago,
I asked the membership lady before I renewed was the price gonna drop cuz I saw ad's for a new cheaper rate and she said it was for the full non student membership only,
Are you sure its come down before I make a fool outta myself?

HardyEustace · 24-01-2011 01:29PM

BornToBe? wrote: »

Say what?

I renewed my student membership for the usual €250, a week ago,
I asked the membership lady before I renewed was the price gonna drop cuz I saw ad's for a new cheaper rate and she said it was for the full non student membership only,
Are you sure its come down before I make a fool outta myself?

And you believed her?

These people will tell you barefaced lies with absolutely no qualms or shame in order to secure a sale at the highest price possible.

I would love to see Ben Dunne open a gym down here and get prices to a somewhat reasonable level.

Xiney · 24-01-2011 04:16PM

For what it's worth - I advised against paying for a year upfront in ANY gym

Any business could go belly-up in this climate. You don't want them to be holding a chunk of your cash when they do - that's just prudence. Think of the extra premium you'd pay every month as insurance.

(Also if you get lazy and stop going - you can't really cancel most direct debits, but you can close your bank account and open a new one, which is what I did)

topcat77 · 24-01-2011 04:33PM

I've been paying €45 a month for kingfisher renmore(No contract). Joined last Sept and made sure i didn't pay any membership joining fee. It's handy for me but it has to be the dirtiest gym i've ever been in. I only use the swimming pool and i go about 3 times a week. When the summer arrives i'm gone and never to go back!

24-01-2011 04:35PM

Xiney wrote: »

For what it's worth - I advised against paying for a year upfront in ANY gym

Any business could go belly-up in this climate. You don't want them to be holding a chunk of your cash when they do - that's just prudence. Think of the extra premium you'd pay every month as insurance.

(Also if you get lazy and stop going - you can't really cancel most direct debits, but you can close your bank account and open a new one, which is what I did)

You can't do that with student memberships.

And considering they're always around the E200 mark it's the equivalent of around 4 solid months(full membership) so it doesn't take much to get your moneys worth.

Was just on one or two of their sites after reading this thread.

Why don't they put up their prices?.... what other purpose does having a website serve then having prices(i can't see much reason to use them otherwise)..... making you ring/call in couldn't be a better policy then having the prices up for someone to check.

BornToBe? · 24-01-2011 04:37PM

HardyEustace wrote: »

And you believed her?

These people will tell you barefaced lies with absolutely no qualms or shame in order to secure a sale at the highest price possible.

I would love to see Ben Dunne open a gym down here and get prices to a somewhat reasonable level.

she was really tall and blonde and leaned over the desk to hand me a pen and the form, next thing I'm walking out with membership.
and ya........it was worth it.:D (think of "Friends" when ross and chandler wanna quit the gym)

anyway, dont think NUIG Kingfisher will close, the college own it, if kingfisher go outta business, someone else will take over and membership will continue, the SU have would kick and scream otherwise

philboy · 24-01-2011 04:40PM

HardyEustace wrote: »

Went to the Kingfisher Renmore last night.

Typical sales bull**** and were very aggressive about not dropping price. Highly unimpressed with the service.

Oh for a decently priced pool on the east side of the city.

Out of interest, what are people here paying in Kingfisher Renmore if they are members?

So much for the sign they have up across from GMIT on the Dublin Rd saying that they have lowered their prices for 2011. I was a member there for 3 years. The last time I rang up about re-joining, they tried their usual hard sales tactics. I tried getting the price they were looking for and all I kept getting back was "Come down to the gym and well talk about it." Hung up the phone in the end. They have the most annoying and off-putting sales tactics. It was manky alright the last time I was in there too.

solid oak · 25-01-2011 06:35PM

Xiney wrote: »

For what it's worth - I advised against paying for a year upfront in ANY gym

Any business could go belly-up in this climate. You don't want them to be holding a chunk of your cash when they do - that's just prudence. Think of the extra premium you'd pay every month as insurance.

(Also if you get lazy and stop going - you can't really cancel most direct debits, but you can close your bank account and open a new one, which is what I did)

Hi if you pay by credit card and there is a problem with a club closing, you are entitled to a refund from the credit card company !

solid oak · 25-01-2011 07:05PM

I've been a member of Nrg for 4 years, price came down a couple of years ago to under 500 from 645. Find it good value with classes included (great spin and Zumba) and you can use the two clubs bohermore and knocknacarra. Prices all round now competitive in most clubs.

Have gym membership prices come down for 2011?

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