I see that the Holmes Place chain of gyms gets some mixed reviews online. On the other hand, my local HP is on my walking route home from my workplace which is a major plus. Any comments about any of the Holmes Place gyms, and about the Zürich gym in particular?

My target is access to a rowing machine, free weights, and a few weight machines. I'm going to check it out directly, but I would appreciate any comments from people who tried this chain. Seems like they try to squeeze you till the CHFs squeak - is it true?

Thanks,
Paul.

You pay a premium compared to other gyms as they try to cross-sell on the "networking opportunities".
The restaurant is good and sometimes has events.
The free towels are cool.
They also try to upsell on personal training.
They automatically renew your contract unless you cancel in advance (common practice here).
They may call to renew the contract over the phone (legally binding in Zürich).
Equipment is in a good state of repair but not perfect.
Haven't tried to use the gyms outside Jelmoli.
You have to pass a selection interview to join (or used to).
It's nicely located close to all you'd need in the sports section of Jelmoli.
I'm unclear on the ownership status since the UK franchise was sold to Virgin I believe.

I was in the Zurich one for a year but moved to Oberrieden and have been there for about 3 years.

I didn't like the Zurich one at all - overall nicer than other gyms I have seen downtown, free towels is a nice touch, but it is very crowded during peak hours. It is rather quite a lot of money for something which is not that much better than other gyms.

I wanted to quit, but then I moved down the lake and switched to Seepark- and what a big difference! Even on busy Monday evenings I rarely have to queue to use the machines. Some mornings are quite busy with the expat wives, it is like an SUV convention in the car park and therfore difficult to get a spot. Still, you hardly queue for the machines.

Thanks, good information. If it looks of interest and they ask me for an interview, I'm going to point out that it works the other way round when I'm considering paying a membership fee to a gym

Paul.

OK worth knowing, I normally hit the gym after work about 6pm, so I guess that is peak time. My previous (non-Switzerland) gym had two rowing machines only, but had the benefit that even when nearly all of the tens of treadmills and ellipticals and bikes were taken, it was still possible to get a rowing machine. Not sure if the same applies here, or if there are lots of rowers around because of the lake,

Paul.

FYI... they got rid of 3 of the rowing machines last week.
There are still a couple of them but I am not sure of the quality.

I truly like Holmes Place, yes of course it is busy at peak hours, i.e. afterwork between 5:30 and 7:30 if the treadmills are taken there are many other machines to choose from while you wait probably no more than 5 minutes or so. Nice in the summer with the open ceiling and rooftop deck, classes are great and facilities are great as well. I recommend it.

Not that bad unless you can pay for a highly standard rate. I got bad experiences with the staff in Holmes Place Zürich. It was a failure but I can`t change it anymore. I`m still paying for my Personal Training and membership though I`m not doing my training anymore.

Why don't you sell your membership on to peebix, so he can give it a try for a few months?

Just a suggestion

If anyone is interested I can sell them my MigroFitnesspark membership. 3 months remaining for 300chf. You can use the Fitness Centre at all Zurich locations (Milandia Greifensee, Hammam Münstergasse, Plus 5, Regensdorf, Stockerhof). Includes unlimited access to Gym, Steam, Sauna, Thermobad, Nature Pool, Hammam plus all courses like Zumba, Power Yoga, Pilates, Schwinn cycling, Acqua-well, Muscle Pump, Bodytoning, Power Balance, etc.
www.fitnesspark.ch

wtf. Networking at the gym????

Do people in Switzerland ever stop working long enough to enjoy life?

I had a nightmare with the Holmes place in geneva. They tried to continue to charge me even after I had left and given the correct notice etc. I spent hours trying to sort it all out and would never ever use them again. I knew quite a few people who had similar problems trying to leave but this was the geneva branch. Just thought I would add my thoughts as I found it very stressful.

Laura

I suppose this networking might be for "other purposes"

Every gym does that in Switzerland, to everybody - though expats are of course the easiest prey.
The more dead bodies they have as members, the higher the profit.

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Thanks for the suggestion. That would be a great help. I will try to contact him/her.

Hi, in short: good. I have been at Holmes Place for years and am mainly happy with it. I have met lots of people through the group classes and like the fact that it's so centrally located. On the other hand, the bikes in the spinning studio are not well maintained and there are often things wrong in the changing rooms - e.g. the sauna door was missing for ages. But I've visited lots of other gyms in other places I've lived and don't think the shortfalls at HP are unusual. Generally HP gets my stamp of approval.

Hi,

Just wanted to add my thoughts. I have been with Holmes Place Oberrieden and it is a perfectly nice gym and not too busy.

However, a word of warning, in the contract it states that you will pay for two private training sessions a year, even if you do not use them. It is written in German and this was not pointed out when myself and my partner signed the contract, so we got stitched on this (I know, I know, I should have learnt German and read the contract properly, but they equally could have explained it to us since it is "mandatory").

Also, we are leaving Switzerland to go back to the UK and are being stitched on the notice period. Even though we signed a 12 month contract which ends at the end of September (which, incidentally, is when we are leaving) we are being forced to pay up until the end of November to cover our 3 months notice period. This, along with the fact that I sent our notice including deregistration letter by email and post back on the 24th August and they only came back today (hence the need to reply to this post), just makes me think HP is not that great.

I apologise, rant over, a lot of pent up rage going on.......

So, personally I think that Holmes Place are a typical chain gym, over priced and out for every penny they can get. But as a gym to go to it is fine and relatively quiet.

Thanks for listening to me!

Soph

We had problems with Holmes Place signing us up for personal training when we specifically advised we didn't want it.

They very kindly removed it from my contract, translated the contract (verbally) and requested we sign both as they were "identical". They weren't (our mistake, we didn't check the fine print and took them at their word).
We complained the very next week when we realised, but to no avail. You signed for it, you keep it! Needless to say for the past two years we've been paying for personal training we've not wanted or used.

No other complaints about the gym or the staff (they're all helpful) but just be careful you don't end up signing for something you don't want. Sadly it's left a bad impression and we'll be leaving the gym asap to join another one.

I subscribed a month ago, and managed to go 3-4 times a week (so far!) I am very happy with Holmes place actually.. I was very hesitating in the beginning since it was not that close to my place and more expy than many others..

I got also spa membership which is the key point for me! cos after work, i feel really lazy to go for any sport in a cold dark weather..
but spa option really attracts me and each time i just go there for sauna, steam room! and ending up on cardio machine!

regarding to networking thing, given that many people there are bankers, consultants, expats..etc ., people are presentable, friendly and generally nice. But doesn t seem like anyone is there just to meet with others..

only cons i can tell, in spa section, men women is mixed. so there s a rule that all need to have towel/swimming suit. but there can exceptions who don t care that rule

Extremely bad experience with Holmes Place, please read my review here:

http://www.vanjapetreski.com/blog/holmes-place-review/