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Post by UnSure on Sept 25, 2017 15:50:21 GMT
I have been thinking about buying a Snap Fitness franchise to open a gym in our small town but reading the posts here are making me think hard about this. I wonder if it's a bad idea due to what I see being said, yet at the same time I wonder if this is just a group of the unhappy minority you have with virtually anything today. Read any reviews on traveling, hotels, restaurants and you always get a few bad reviews that don't seem rooted in fact. So it seems there are around 900 or so Snap Fitness clubs in the US, yet only about 8 or 9 vocal people here - why? If it's as bad as some of you say, are there not laws protecting people from predator style businesses? Are there not lawyers to specialize in protecting business people? I'm confused as to why if it's as bad as some of you say you are not working together with a lawyer and US government people to go after this business? I'm still on the fence here, but would like to hear some honest reasoning.
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Post by Haiku on Sept 25, 2017 16:07:38 GMT
If you have done your due diligence and have an area with a population to support your club but not large enough to have a discount club come in and put you out of business, I say go for it. I have a club in a similar area for the last 11 years and we have been profitable from day 1. I hardly ever contact corporate any more but they have been there when I needed them. Their technology is passable I guess but below industry average. The fees are probably a few hundred dollars more a month than they should be that isn't the reason some clubs are hurting. It's the $10 clubs that move in and devour their membership base. Good luck.
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Post by CrossCountyTrip on Sept 25, 2017 17:04:14 GMT
I was in the same position as you several months ago. I was looking at Snap, Anytime Fitness and Crunch. I was going to be driving through a lot of states over several months and decided to just stop in a couple different clubs and gauge the levels of happiness with the members, owners and staff. It all depended on who I was able to talk with at the time. I didn't set up anything in advance. Here's what I found
Snap -
I stopped in 38 Snap Fitness Centers. Of those I found 26 with owners on site. 12 were willing to talk with me. 3 had somewhat positive experiences, but they all made sure I knew that the technology they had to use was not up to par and had issues with it far more often than they'd like. Only 1 of those 3 said they'd stick with Snap if given the choice to leave the system. The main reason she stated would be the pain of transferring everything over because of the obstacles Snap places in front of her. 9 of the owners had a more negative opinion. I heard complaints about the billing systems they had to use, the increased fees they had to pay and the new ways that Snap found to charge them for different things, which they said they didn't want, didn't find useful or both. All of them mentioned a lack of respect for franchisees once they were about a year into the system. What I found most disturbing is that 14 of the owners said they didn't want to talk with me because they were concerned that I was a plant from corporate looking for franchisees who would voice any negative opinions and seek retribution against them. In the 12 clubs where there was no owner I spoke with club staff and 10 of them voiced negative opinions on the billing and management systems they were using. In 2 instances they said they used the billing and management systems as little as possible and did the majority of their billing and management on a completely separate computer.
Anytime Fitness -
I stopped in at 42 Anytime Fitness locations. I was able to find 22 owners on site. 5 of them said they were too busy to speak with me at any length and that they were happy with their investment. When asked if they would do it again those 5 all said they would. Of the 17 other owners, 13 were happy with the corporate office and what they had to work with. 4 said they weren't happy with the support they received from corporate and felt it could be better. When asked about fees there were 2 who said they felt the fees were too high. None spoke of having the corporate office come after them for voicing their opinions.
Crunch -
I only stopped at 5. It's a much smaller franchise and I couldn't find many along my route. I drove 50 miles out of my way to stop at one of them. 4 of the 5 franchisees had been franchisees for 18 months or less. All of them were happy with their experience, but it's hard to compare because it seems like that would be more of a honeymoon phase.
The equipment at all of the clubs varied greatly. Some seemed like they had great equipment and some not so much. After all of the time spent at all of these clubs I've decided to do it independently. It just doesn't seem like there's anything all that difficult. There are a lot of companies to provide management and billing of customers. When I look for 24/7 door systems it looks like I have 3 or 4 of those to choose from. There looks to be a bunch of used top notch equipment out there, so I can get high quality for a fraction of the price. My members would only be able to use my club, but I'm okay with that. Going independent means I'm more involved with the club, but I'm okay with that as well because it seems like those with franchises also have to be heavily involved. So the question is what's the benefit of being part of a franchise? I don't see one. Anytime seems to be franchisee friendly, but I'm guessing I'll be even friendlier to myself.
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Post by Dale on Sept 25, 2017 17:48:02 GMT
CrossCountyTrip Guest...Great synopsis/feedback. About what I would expect with Snap and Anytime (don't follow Crunch too much). Just look at the rapid growth of ATF locations both around the country and globe. Probably triple what Snap has. I remember the good old days when Snap actually had as many or more but those days have come and gone.
I believe your best feedback is to go the independent route. You are right it is not rocket science. 90% is location location location. The other 10% is top rate customer service, great equipment and cleanliness.
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Post by cheryl on Sept 26, 2017 12:38:48 GMT
Odd - A first time "guest" posts about looking at buying a Snap Franchise and less than 3 minutes later another first time "guest" responds via mobile (as to not have the same IP or MAC address?). Surprised neither of them mentioned disengaged owners or not working "the plan".
snap fitness is a predatory franchisor. All you have to do is read the FDD. If you don't understand it then hand it over to a friend that's a lawyer and ask them for their opinion. Even if you make good money (which we do) it becomes a quality of life question. Personally, I despise having people constantly reaching into my purse to steal money from me. It doesn't matter if they do it with lawyers, documents, requirements, etc. It's theft and I despise it.
Our club consistently spends money when we find something which will be a benefit to our members. Unfortunately, the snap mafia unreasonably raises fees (we're seeing our franchisee costs rise by 31.2% every year) and provides nothing of value to our members. Almost every idea they come up with is half baked. The tools they provide franchisees are sub-standard. If they ever tried to compete with them they'd go out of business within a year. Yet, they charge franchisees a premium. The important features we need, such as auto credit card updating, are promised, but ignored. (eg Auto updating was supposed to be implemented 7 months ago. Instead they're focusing on locking members out of the club because they don't have a digital copy of a membership agreement. Our hardcopies are kept in a fire-proof safe). It's not hard to determine where their priorities lie.
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Post by snaplongtimer on Sept 26, 2017 14:17:30 GMT
What I find interesting is that there is somebody that would actually spend HOURS of their time driving and visiting franchised gyms in order to make a decision about investing in a fitness club. This effort is much more than an average person would do. This is very strange to me. I suppose I may ask different questions as well. When I look to open a business in a certain area I don't travel across the country asking questions, but would rather stay in the general area where I would like to be and visit similar businesses. This would give me a better understanding of how my business may do in that area. Visit 85 gyms? No thanks.
Hmmmmmm...honestly, it seems like crosscountytrip's information would be very much appreciated by the corp office.
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Post by cheryl on Oct 1, 2017 13:43:52 GMT
Yes, you could call EVERY club in the amount of time it would take you to drive around the country.
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Post by greenergrass on Oct 1, 2017 17:31:50 GMT
The person traveling cross country could have a job that allows him/her to do this and he/she is looking for an investment in the fitness industry.
I'll point out to "Unsure" the main reason NOT to buy into the Snap Fitness franchise. A private equity firm has a significant ownership in this franchise. And it's the second PE since the first sold their shares, as expected, after 5 years and making a profit. This second PE needs to make money on their investment and their five years is nearly up. They are not getting their money from members, except for the 30 day trials. They are getting their money from the franchisees. As I have already mentioned, I suspect the push for modernization (where we pay three ties the value of a desk or flooring, etc) is so the PE can make money, show an increase in value, then sell to a new PE who will repeat the process. Meanwhile, we are bled dry and one by one the number of locations dwindles.
Now the reason we don't have a lawsuit against corporate is because we sign away the right to do this when we sign up for the franchise. And there is no organization, and there are no government laws to protect us from what corporate is doing. If you are aware of any, I'd like to know about them.
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Post by CrossCountryTrip on Oct 8, 2017 19:16:32 GMT
I don't check here often, and just saw a couple comments to my post. Sorry if I wasn't clear. I didn't drive across the country for the purpose of checking out different fitness centers. My family and I were going across country in our RV over several months. I have spare time while we're traveling and stopped at several different centers during that time. Also to be clear. I didn't drive the RV to the fitness center. I didn't take my whole family to the fitness center (though a couple times my daughter went with me). Any other clarifications I can provide? (A couple times I actually worked out on a day pass.  ) |
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Post by escapeclause on Nov 18, 2017 4:47:54 GMT
Hey Cross Country Trip guy - I DEEPLY regret not creating my gym on my own. I thought my life would be easier with a Snap turnkey solution but they do a lot of things that I strongly disagree with. Whether you choose to accept insurance plans or not, NOBODY was thinking about a franchisee when they agreed to basically pay me $2.70 per visit as full payment for a premium gym like mine. Corporate also takes $8.95 and gives your gym away for 30 days and you can't opt out of it. Sounds like you're doing your research. I love being a gym owner in many ways, I get to help people with something I'm passionate about and have met so many wonderful people who have joined my gym. All the hassles are with corporate - DON'T GO THERE! I had better technology off the shelf in my last business 5 years ago than Snap has TODAY!!!
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Post by determined1 on Jan 27, 2018 0:36:36 GMT
It's funny. I always have people tell me how much they like my club and how they'd like to have one of their own. I thank them and
1. Explain fitpass to them
2. Show them the fees I pay for services like a website, national marketing fee
3. Let them see fitware in action
That pretty much kills their interest in opening a snap.
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Post by snaplongtimer on Jan 30, 2018 21:52:06 GMT
I just explain how I've never been more stressed in my life owning this fitness center and therefore I can skip steps 1, 2 and 3.
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Post by determined1 on Jan 31, 2018 2:10:39 GMT
I believe there's a clause in the franchise agreement which states you can't speak negatively about snap. (I'll have to pull it up again. I hate looking at that thing). That's why I stick to strictly pointing out facts about the club and corporate's directives.
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