Three of the highest-revenue-generating health club companies in North America—Planet Fitness, Hampton, New Hampshire; LA Fitness, Irvine, California; and 24 Hour Fitness, San Ramon, California—were recently named to Newsweek's "America’s Best Customer Service 2019" list.
Newsweek partnered with research firm Statista to compile data across 141 retail categories in order to determine which companies offered the best customer-service experience in each respective category.
In the list's Beauty and Wellness category, three health club companies were recognized based on composite scores. Planet Fitness ranked first with a score of 8.24, LA Fitness ranked second with 7.99 and 24 Hour Fitness ranked third with 7.87.
For the list, Statista researchers compiled 132,954 evaluations from 20,000 consumers between 2016 and 2019. Each evaluation was partially based on Net Promoter Scores (NPS) and partially based on five additional criteria: quality of communication, technical competence, range of services, customer focus and accessibility. Each company included in the list was granted a composite score based on its evaluations. (Click here for more on how Newsweek compiled its list.)
"I am incredibly proud to be recognized for both our excellence in customer service and for our remarkable growth," Planet Fitness CEO Chris Rondeau said in a media release. "These rankings are a testament to our entire system's commitment to our mission of providing affordable, judgement-free fitness to as many people as possible. Our sophisticated and dedicated franchisees continue to reinvest in the brand and expand our footprint, all while fostering a welcoming and non-intimidating environment for our more than 14 million members."
Each of the three recognized health club companies also ranked high on Club Industry’s Top 100 Health Clubs of 2019 list, based on 2018 revenue. LA Fitness ranked No. 1 with $2.093 billion, 24 Hour Fitness ranked No. 3 with $1.510 billion and Planet Fitness ranked No. 6 with $572.90 million from corporate-owned clubs and franchisee fees but not revenue from individual franchisees.
"What these three brands have in common is the commitment to their messaging and their systems," Allison Flatley, CEO of Allison Flatley Consulting, told Club Industry. "They are always consistent when communicating with their members, customers and the public. This helps to define service expectations. They have also created systems that make the customer journey easy. These systems allow for repeatable and consistent service points. I hope the report excites the health club industry. To me, it demonstrates that regardless of the price point of a health club, you can achieve exceptional customer service ratings if you understand your customer journey, make it easy and consistent."
Frank Ancharski, COO of American Family Fitness in Glen Allen, Virginia, offered a presentation at this year's Club Industry Show on how to provide world-class customer service. He said: “It is incredible to see such commitment by major players such as Planet Fitness, 24 Hour Fitness and LA Fitness to NPS and member loyalty. Understanding such a key metric should be inspiration to us all to deliver a best-in-class member and guest experience.”
Click here to stream or download Club Industry’s April 2019 podcast episode with Tony Ueber, CEO of 24 Hour Fitness. (This is the most-played episode in the history of The Club Industry Podcast.)
Click here to view the complete Newsweek list.