gym Gym-free Vacation Vacation Fitness Vacations

Hotel Gyms

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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29 Comments

  1. Robyn

    hotel gyms usually are very very sad! I love that posting about how hotels market themselves vs. what they are really like lol and I have made MANY a color coded spreadsheet in my day! LOVE

  2. Carin

    It’s funny you write about this. The last hotel we stayed at the gym was one elliptical, one treadmill, one sit down bike and small set of dumbbells with one resistance ball.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      That’s pretty much what I get when I travel. And their pictures always make the pool look humongous and the reality is, it’s not a lap pool at all!

  3. Christi in MA

    I don’t expect too much from a hotel gym which is too bad. I guess it’s not worth the upgrades for the few people in there? We’ve gotten spoiled with the hotel we have stayed at the last 2 summers. A good mix of cardio machines, weight machines, dumbells and even a spin/pilates studio (that we haven’t used) I love that they provide plenty of towels, headphones and bottles of water. Not every hotel does this. We got into the habit of going first thing in the morning – then heading off to an amazing breakfast. It all balances out, right?

    1. Lisa Eirene

      That’s great you found a hotel that had a lot of amenities. And I definitely think it balances out. When I’m on vacation I like to get a quick workout in and then spend the rest of my day doing fun things and not worrying about my calories!

      1. Christi in MA

        I wonder if you could find a 3 day free pass to a gym near your hotel? Places like LA Fitness offer them on their website.

        1. Lisa Eirene

          Great idea! I didn’t even think about that. Although, I have a gym membership to a nation-wide gym and I’ve often considered going to that branch that was local. I never have because it always turned out to be inconveniently located. But it’s a GREAT option.

  4. Cindy

    I haven’t done a lot of traveling lately, but when I do, I have been choosing really cheap accommodations- so no gym. I try to make sure I walk everywhere when I travel to offset it. When I did travel for work a lifetime ago, the hotel (no idea which one) I stayed at in Chicago had a small gym and it was empty so I was able to get a run in. When I stayed in Florida, I stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort and they had no gym (that I know of) but I was so sick anyways it wouldn’t have mattered.

    I do like to pretend I can afford to stay in a nice place when I vacation plan. My must have would be a hot tub!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Walking on vacation is a GREAT activity. You’d be surprised at how much exercise it can be. For example, I probably don’t need to work out in Vegas because I probably end up walking 10 miles a day!

  5. Lori

    We tend to stay in pretty inexpensive places so that we can use money for other stuff during the vacation, so a hotel gym is not a requirement for me at all since it usually is not part of inexpensive places. It’s nice if it is there, but I know we are going to do a lot of exercise out and about – even if it rains. The nicest gym in a hotel I was at was actually on our cruise. Does that count? The cruise gym was quite nice with lots of cardio equipment and free weights.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Oh it’s not like we are looking for luxury but a decent gym is preferred for me. I don’t usually spend much time in the hotel/room when on vacation so I’m not as picky.

      Cruise gym definitely counts! That’s great you used it. I went on a cruise years ago and the orgy of food was hard to resist!

  6. Michelle @ Eat Move Balance

    I do appreciate when a hotel has a decent gym. I don’t need anything too fancy, but having a place to do some strength training on an extended vacation is nice. If you decide to visit Chicago, you have to let me know!! We’ll plan a dinner date! 🙂

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Definitely! I would love to get together!!!

  7. Biz

    I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been fooled at the “amenities” offered at hotels which is way off in real life. One trip in particular, luckily we were only staying at this place for one night, but it showed pictures of this gorgeous pool – I kept telling my then 8 year old daughter how much fun it was going to be once we got there!

    Only to find out that not only was the pool a postage stamp size, but was actually closed because of repairs and no one ever mentioned that – and it was Florida for goodness sakes!!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      YES!!! That has happened many times! I hate when the pool looks huge and it’s basically a hot tub sized pool. How disappointing for your daughter. 🙁

      The last trip we made to Austin, we booked the hotel entirely on the pictures of the pool (for me). We got there and the location wasn’t ideal but the pool was supposed to be big…yeah. Not so much. Didn’t even end up using it.

  8. Jill @ a Girl in Progress

    I’ve never had good luck with hotel gyms. Typically, I make plans to get up in the morning to workout and all the limited equipment is already being used. I usually wait a few minutes to see if anyone finishes, and they rarely do, so I go back to my room disappointed! I started just burning workout DVDs to my laptop computer or iPad and working out in the hotel room. It works and if you do workouts using body resistance (instead of weights) you can get a decent strength workout while you’re at it (pushups, burpees, squats, lunges, supermans, etc.). Of course, it won’t be as good as what you can get at home, but it’s better than doing nothing!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I have experienced the same exact issues and it’s frustrating. Especially when I am having knee issues and can’t run–if the treadmill is the only option to me, it’s kind of a bummer to just walk.

      Doing workout DVDs in your room is a great idea and YES doing the body weight exercises are a fantastic workout and you’ll be sweating in no time. My boyfriend often brings his kettlebell on vacation and does his workout with it in the room.

  9. Trevor

    I once had a free “gym membership” at a local hotel due to my girlfriend at the time working there. I never used it. It was worthless. It looked even shabbier than your photo. But they had a nice pool . . . I couldn’t bring myself to use it, however, after some of the stories I’d heard about it.

    Best just to stick to bodyweight exercises when on vacation. You can do ’em right in your hotel room.

    Cheers!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Eeek, I don’t even want to know about the pool.

      YES! Body weight exercises in the hotel room are a great idea. A jump rope and maybe some resistance bands are easy to pack in the suitcase.

  10. Lisa

    I’m a member of the Y and most other Y’s allow you to visit out of town locations. I used the visitor pass when visiting my family which was great. Once I took my exercise DVD’s when I visited my Dad and did them in my bedroom in the morning.
    I also like planning trips where there is exercise included – that makes things much easier!

    With smart phones and laptops it wouldn’t be hard to find a series to work on a specific area each day, like the routines I’ve seen on Pinterest or in health magazines.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Yes, that’s a great idea! And as for the smartphones–yes! I use the Nike Training Club app on my phone when I need some workouts and it works great.

  11. Nick Goodall

    Aha, never tried a hotel gym but I can understand your complaints. Disregarding the fact that it’s a gym, any false advertising gets me, nothing destroys reputation more than dishonesty!

    In regards to choices, I haven’t been in a hotel in a while, and I don’t honestly think it would sway my choice, I’m more for a nice view and convenience, if possible.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Agreed. False advertising isn’t cool. Michael and I like to travel and thankfully we’ve done it enough to find some good hotels that don’t mislead but there have been some doozies!

  12. Jen

    Funny you should write about this…I just got back from an Oregon coast trip where we stayed at reasonably priced older motel or as they called it…”inn”. The pics were very flattering…as they should be…no one is going to book a room off of depressing pics. However, I read the reviews extensively. I love reviews!!! Either way, you will get your answers there. I knew that the pool was tiny and the “gym” was skimpy based on the reviews. Overall, it was clean, pretty and the staff was amazing. They asked about my experience and my only complaint was a slow draining tub and sink which resulted in a coupon for my next stay.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I try and read reviews too but sometimes they are so hit or miss. It can swing from “best place ever” to “will never stay there again” type comments. Too many conflicting reviews like that make me confused as to what the reality was. And of course, a lot of people complain about stupid things. Like the room was small. Who cares? You’re on vacation, go explore outside the room! Or that the TV is old or something…

      Which Inn did you stay at?

      1. Jen

        It was in Seaside. I think it was called Inn at Seaside? At least for a beach trip, I’m of the same mind. The room is there for sleep or showering beyond that tv’s and the quality of wifi isn’t a concern of mine. You’re definitely right about the variety of reviews…I still find them hilarious! Usually, (hopefully) there’s at least a few that reference the same things…size of pool or exercise room, staff, the “breakfast” provided. There was a huge fancy place right on the beach with an awesome pool and the kids and I did breathe a small sigh of envy 🙂 Then we headed off to ride the bumper cars and build sand castles…

        1. Lisa Eirene

          In my search planning a recent trip, I read all the reviews for various hotels and there was only ONE review that included that the gym was sad. I guess I’m in the minority that it matters. I guess most people don’t care about the gym on vacation and don’t even know if it’s crappy!

          Seaside is fun. Hope you had a good time.

  13. Coco

    With all my business travel last year, I’ve seen a lot of hotel gyms! When I have a choice, I do try to book a hotel with a decent gym. And I do look for the photos on the website. I have gotten good at telling when there is a mirror in the picture that makes it look twice as big as it is! I’ve been in hotel gyms that would rival the nicest club, and others that are ridiculous — the bike could have been from an old I Love Lucy episode! I’m not hard to please – a treadmill, ellipitcal and free weights are all I need. And good venitlation, water, and towels!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      That’s funny you’ve had a similar experience as I. When I was writing this post, it wasn’t that I wanted some luxury gym but what I wanted was the websites to reflect accurately what they had AND maybe try a little harder to be nicer. One bike, on treadmill is not a gym.

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