LA FITNESS’ RESPONSE TO COVID- 19 CRISIS
LA FITNESS’ RESPONSE TO COVID- 19 CRISIS
We have kept the safety and well-being of our employees and members utmost in our minds during this crisis and have let that be our guide in making decisions. So, when we temporarily closed all of our clubs at the end of the day on March 16 our motivation was to do our part to help curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus. We hoped (like many others) that this would be a short-lived phenomenon. Once we determined that we would need to extend the temporary closure, we made the difficult and unwanted decision to temporarily furlough nearly all of our club employees. Fortunately, despite having closed every club on March 16, we will be able to continue to fully compensate every employee, whether working or not, for the entire month of March, and we will continue to provide health insurance at no cost for all current benefit holders through June 30. Once we resume operations, we plan to create a fund to financially assist eligible employees who return to work so our members can continue to see the same familiar and friendly faces.
For our members we have waived “freeze” fees and suspended all billing. Some members were billed for a short period of time during which our clubs were closed. To address this, we immediately took the following steps. First, we automatically extended the membership time for all of those affected members. This means, for example, that if a member paid dues to use a club through March 31, then that member will have 15 additional days of membership time (corresponding to the 15 day period from March 17 through March 31) after their membership would have otherwise expired. Second, in appreciation for their patience during this confusion, we offered that same group of members the option to (1) take additional free membership time at the end of their membership or (2) receive a complimentary three-month membership to give to a new member which is redeemable over the next 12 months. We began notifying members with details about these options, and explaining how these options may be selected, over this past weekend.
Finally, we have a team of employees spread out over our clubs, who continue to field questions from members about cancellations, refunds and credit options. We are being flexible in our resolutions to meet the needs of the members. We encourage members to first check to see if their questions were resolved in the email we sent with the options explained here. If not, we have Frequently Asked Questions posted on our phone app and website. If they still have questions, they can call or email us but again, we ask for patience as we do our best to assist everyone. The “call back” option is recommended as we are returning messages as soon as we can over the course of the week.
In the meantime, we’re urging all of our members to continue to take the steps necessary to keep themselves and their loved ones safe and healthy