The third annual Health Club Awards took place alongside LIW in September. We report on the event and hear from some of the winners

A gala dinner on 24 September marked the high point of this year’s Members’ Choice Health Club Awards competition. This is the third year the competition has been run, and the ceremony – in partnership with Health Club Management – once again took place on the first night of LIW.

The competition is unique, as it is members’ ratings alone that decide which sites are shortlisted and ultimately who wins. This year, a total of 400 entries came from a mixture of small independents, public leisure centres, hotel clubs and some of the best known brands in the industry – with 40,000 club members completing an online survey rating their clubs on the quality of facilities, customer service and value for money.

The National Motorcycle Museum played host to the black tie event, which was attended by over 300 guests and hosted by TV presenter Mark Durden-Smith. Durden-Smith addressed the audience saying: “These awards are regarded so highly because the judges, all 40,000 of them, are your harshest critics. They are the front line. They experience your facilities and services on a daily basis and so are in a unique position to assess your performance.”

Battle of the budgets
Clubs did battle in 14 regions around the UK. Each region was split into three categories – Budget, Mid Market and Premium – to ensure facilities competed against their peers locally.

The regional budget categories saw notable successes for both the Fit4less and Fitness4Less groups, with the latter taking five regional golds as well as the Best Budget Chain award. Marketing director Emma Edwards comments: “To receive such a ringing endorsement from our members is the best possible reward for all the hard work and enthusiasm that every member of our team puts into making Fitness4Less such a success. We’re delighted that so many of our clubs achieved outstanding results when pitched against some of the industry’s biggest players.”

Fit4less, part of énergie Group, took silver in the Budget Chain category and collected six regional golds, including Best Budget Club in London for its Kilburn franchise. Peter Croney, head of franchise recruitment and marketing at énergie, says: “We’re delighted to have achieved such great success across the énergie Group again this year. Well done to each and every franchisee. Awards across the health and fitness industry are increasingly important to help drive standards and recognise excellence where it’s deserved.”

Another big winner on the night in the Budget division was Xercise4Less, which won gold in the North West and Yorkshire & The Humber. CEO Jon Wright says: “We’re delighted to have been winners at a time when we’re investing in substantial expansion. It shows our model is working well and achieving great results, with thousands of happy customers, and these are the only awards that get to the core of that.

“We really value them as a sanity check and benchmark for our team and, while we’re delighted with the results, we look forward to winning even more next year as we open more clubs!”

Independents and chains
Sandwell Leisure Trust, entering for the second consecutive year, scooped up gold in the Best Small Chain category, as well as gold, silver and bronze in the West Midlands Mid Market category. Paul Badhams, gym development officer, says: “We see the awards as valuable recognition to be used to motivate staff, provide evidence to external assessors, and as a tool to promote to customers, both existing and potential, that we’re an excellent operator.”

The biggest winner for the public sector was Everyone Active, winning four regions and taking gold for the Best National Chain for the second year running. “It’s a great honour to be voted for by the people we’re working so hard for – our members,” says David Bibby, MD at Sports and Leisure Management (SLM) Ltd, which runs the Everyone Active brand. “We work hard with our 34 local authority partners to provide the best facilities and quality of service possible. This award means a great deal to us and we’d like to thank each and every member who voted.”

Independent operators also held their own in this year’s awards. Pulse 8 Health & Fitness Club and Nirvana Spa & Leisure were first-time winners in the Southern region, taking gold and silver in the Premium category. “We entered the awards to get a better understanding of how our customers value our brand and gain an up-to-date insight into our position in the marketplace,” says Barry Ashby, operations director at Pulse 8 and Nirvana Spa.

“These are the only awards that select winners based purely on member feedback, and therefore provide a true reflection of how well a club is performing and serving its members. It was truly an amazing achievement and, although only a small number of staff could attend the awards dinner, we recognise that our victory was achieved by a fantastic team effort.”

Positive member experience
“It’s great to see these clubs get the recognition they deserve,” says Simon Brown, MD of Health Club Awards. “The fact is that clubs entering our awards are already committed to providing the best member experience they can, and that’s reflected in the stats we receive: 74 per cent (29,600 members) think their club is providing good/excellent value for money and 72 per cent (28,800 members) would rate their club good/excellent when recommending them to a friend.”

Entries for the 2014 competition open in November. To see a full list of all the regional and national winners for 2013, go to www.healthclubawards.co.uk