Saunas have no distinct advantage for a fitness business, especially a limited-member business. There is extremely low percentage of member use for saunas and there has been no way to charge for sauna use. I advise against it.

There is no "cast in cement"" answer to that question. Depends on whether the business is profitable or not, what kind of condition the physical plant is in, the condition/age of equipment, amenities, etc. Also what the net asset value of the company is, what EBITDA it develops, and what the competition looks like in the particular demographic area. I believe there will soon emerge a "buyer's market" for thousands of health clubs, due to the economy nationally and regionally, and the fact that our U.S. health club industry is overbuilt at this point and now in the beginnings of a severe consolidation. That said, there WILL be great opportunities soon...IF you've got the cash, the guts and the vision.

Jeff, you are asking for CRM software (customer relationship management). ActiveTrax is the closest thing I've seen to what is really needed, and in my opinion falls somewhat short of what REAL CRM software should do. You might want to look at a non-industry package such as SalesForce. Or Google "customer relationship management software." Regards - MICHAEL

No, we have not seen an increase in racquetball participation over the last 3 years. Racquetball is and has been a very minimal source of revenue for at least two decades if not longer. There are certain "pocket markets" for racquetball in the U.S. but they are diminishing as their core racquetball-player-audience ages. The problem with racquetball is that each court is 800 ft2 (20'w x 40'l) and more than that, thousands of cubic feet - that can accommodate at best 4 players (doubles) but usually only 2 players per hour. Since for the most part racquetball is only played about 5 hours of every club daily schedule, you are looking at unused square footage for 2/3 of each day and minimum-usage square footage by those few who do play. Just not a good business equation, especially in these economic times.

Do you mean more than one club of a multi-club chain? If so, most chain operations have an option to buy a membership that entitles you to use all clubs in the chain? Or do you mean can you join one independently-owned club yet use another club that is owned independently by someone else? If so, I have never seen that in my 33 years in this industry. If you want to use two differently-owned clubs, you have to buy a membership at each.