24 Hour Fitness

 

24 Hour Fitness is the world’s largest (by memberships) privately owned and operated fitness center chain, and 3rd in number of clubs behind Gold’s Gym and Fitness First of the UK. It currently has 425 clubs in the U.S.A. The company’s corporate office is located in Carlsbad, California. The operations’ headquarters is in San Ramon, California in the Bay area. 24 Hour Fitness has over 19,000 employees. The founder is Mark S. Mastrov and current CEO is Carl Liebert III. 24 Hour Fitness is currently a subsidiary of the private equity firm Forstmann Little & Company, since its acquisition in a $1.6 billion leveraged buyout in 2005.

Current Operations

24 Hour Fitness has about 3 million members and nearly 400 clubs in 16 states, and over 20 clubs in five Asian countries. Besides the USA, it has centers in Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei and Taichung in Taiwan, Beijing and Shanghai in China, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) through its wholly owned subsidiary California Fitness. Its European clubs closed in the early 2000s. Its major competitors in the US are Anytime Fitness, Bally’s, Gold’s Gym, and LA Fitness . Its main competitors in Asia are also the same, plus the Fitness First Chain of Australia.

Its rapidly expanding affiliate California Wow Xperience (CEO is a former Cali Fitness executive), is a California Fitness offshoot, has member swap agreements with both chains, and runs 15 gyms located in Seoul and Daegu, Korea (4) and Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Pattaya, Thailand, including one female only club(10). In Asia, its major chain competitors are Fitness First and Gold’s Gym.

24 Hour Fitness plans to have more than 1000 clubs in the next five years. With sponsorships with various celebrities and athletes such as Jackie Chan, Lance Armstrong, Shaquille O’Neal, And Andre Agassi.

The call center for 24 Hour Fitness is run by NARS (National Asset Recovery Services, Inc.), with 24 Hour Fitness Member Services being in the Republic of Panama. Collections services were once handled by Alliance One up until March 2008, when NARS took over collections for 24 Hour Fitness. The NARS collections department is out of Montego Bay, Jamaica.

There are more than 300 locations nationwide, and these popular clubs are known for being open 24 hours/day. Most clubs offer just about all the amenities you could want, including cardio machines, weightlifting equipment, and group fitness classes. However, they vary from location to location. There are four types of 24-hour fitness clubs:

Active: Includes free weights, machines, cardio and may include group exercise.

Sport: May include all of the above and may also include basketball, whirlpool and heated pools.

Super-Sport: May include all of the above and may also include massage, sauna, and steam room.

Ultra-Sport: May include all of the above and may also include day spa, racquetball courts, and Executive locker rooms.