Bally Total Fitness Reviews

Pros

cleanliness, technology, support staff, new equipment, flexible hours, good following, willingness to listen to employee suggestions, fresh new marketing campaigns quarterly

Cons

willing to listen to employees but not act on anything, much more sales focused rather than taking care of their customers or employees, high management turn-over rate, questionable sales tactics

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to employee suggestions more, show concern for your employees and customers, put an effort into customer retention from the beginning and not after the fact

Pros

Great local people and management

Cons

Struggling financial company that kept cutting back things that effected members

Pros

Fitness evironment.contact with other personal trainers as co workers.lots of potential clients in members.

Cons

If you don' like to sale, BTF is not for you.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep the gym clean.Don't be cruel in the way you talk to people.Words can cut emotions just like knives can cut flesh.

Pros

Easy work for a student
Co-workers were fun and interesting
Opportunity to build rapport and network with members
Flexible scheduling with good work-life balance for front desk workers

Cons

My hours seemed to be dictated by how many memberships the sales staff could sell that month. Every couple of months I had a different schedule with fewer or more hours and had virtually no way to budget myself. These schedule changes came in the form of a notice on a board hidden in the manager's office a week before it was to take effect, however they did keep me on the same days so it did not interfere with school.

There was very little room for advancement. The way to advance in the company is to be great at the hard sell and meet the unrealistic sales goals. They also always wanted me to do more work, but pay raises were nonexistent. The pay for my job was well below the average (I was a receptionist making minimum wage to the penny at the age of 21, with prior health club experience). The only reason I stayed was because it was an easy weekend job for when I was in college. With their constant budget problems, ridiculous sales goals and no place to grow professionally, I was out shortly after graduation. They also move their managers around quite a bit. I have good memories with the staff and members there, but it's not place to have a career.

Advice to Senior Management

Value your members. The only time to talk to them is not when you want to sell them something or inform them that their rates are going up.

Pros

great co-workers,
members are always fun.
nice atmosphere.

Cons

You're only as good as your last month of sales.
If you're not good at sales don't bother with Ballys

Advice to Senior Management

Pride yourselves on more than signing people up.

Pros

Working in a world class Fitness Club/Spa is pretty much an ideal work environment, and Bally Total Fitness is as big as it gets in this industry. You meet tons of interesting people who want to achieve or maintain fitness goals. If you like exercise, talking about health and nutrition Bally's would be a great place for you. I always enjoyed signing people up and seeing there faces in the gym as they worked on their goals.

You can work out for free, wear athletic clothing to work, meet attractive people and brag about where you work ( people always seem fascinated by this). I had a good General Manager who kept things competitive but rewarding.

Cons

Its a SALES job through and through. If you do not like networking, up-selling, cross selling, generating leads etc then this might not be for you. Numbers are called in multiple times a day to upper management to make sure your facility is on task. Now don't get me wrong, working in a Fitness Club is almost motivation enough to help you make goals etc. But at the end of the day you are expected to generate appointments, leads and convert "walk ins" to members.

Hours vary weekly and they are open on some holidays that other places would typically be off (but keep in mind there are paying members who expect to be able to work out almost anytime).

Advice to Senior Management

Overall I had a good experience with upper management, which could have been contributed to the fact I had a good sales team and we were good performers so that kept any heat off of us.

Pros

Good stepping stone if interested in pursuing a career in PT
Exposure to a large potential client pool

Cons

Compensation is low despite high hourly rates
Dirty
Lack of advancement opportunities
Unorganized

Advice to Senior Management

Stop going bankrupt every two years... Keep track of lower management for arrogant and unprofessional behavior.

Pros

Free membership to facilities.
Commission on some items and memberships.
Work is not hard, you catch on within the first day.
Some well trained fitness professionals.

Cons

Unrewarding work, little chance for promotion or even pay raise unless there for years.
Management is unappreciative, Only one manager has ever thanked me for my work.
HR puts little effort in their selection process, it felt more like a "first come, first hire" than an actual test of skill and ability to perform a job.

Under trained staff in multiple positions. For example, Juice Bar workers did not learn how to work the front desk (It takes 10 minutes to learn) and vice versa. This lead to people not being able to take breaks/lunches without shutting down their station. When stations are shut down management gets upset, we complain about our dilemma, nothing is done. The cycle repeats.

Management cycles throughout its branches. I view this as a con because you never get to know your boss well, they change locations and you must deal with the same problems that were just resolved with the old boss.

I write these cons knowing my abilities and work attitude. I can say with the utmost confidence that I am a respectful, competent (if not exceptional) employee who has never had serious problems with colleagues.

Advice to Senior Management

Praise your staff.
Notice the harder, better workers and promote them to positions better suited. (When there are openings)
Don't rotate managers as often to different locations. It ruins the rapport between current employees and managers. It also re-creates previously resolved issues.
Train entry level staff in multitude of positions, this will allow for substitutions and flexibility.

Pros

Its a good starting gym if you want to be a personal trainer. Its not a 9-5 job if you're a personal trainer and you can make your own schedule so the flexibility is nice.

Cons

They turn you into a sales person and they treat you well if you are selling and poorly if you are not selling. You don't feel valued and they expect you to be there day and night prospecting for new clients. Its exhausting and the pay check does not pay off.

Advice to Senior Management

Work on quality instead of quantity. Even the quality of people that come in reflects the way Ballys operates. Treat employees like they actually matter and maybe you won't have such a high turnover rate.

Pros

The People are great, The Staff is outstanding. I will admidt that other gyms have far newer and more modern equipment but nothing beats a true gym

Cons

The equipment is not up to date, the Management is not very well informed of the regulations and benefits. Short hours and under staffed.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a look at new equipment, read up on procedures, hire from within.
stop making express gyms we like working out late when we get off of work