Equinox Expands Sauna Offerings Across 15 Flagship Locations
The luxury fitness brand is betting big on thermal wellness as a retention and differentiation tool.
Equinox, the premium fitness brand, is making one of its largest facility investments in years — and it's going to thermal wellness. The company is allocating an estimated $30 million to significantly upgrade sauna, steam, and cold plunge facilities at 15 of its top-performing locations across New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Scope of Investment
The upgrades include expanded sauna rooms with increased capacity, dedicated cold plunge pools (where none currently exist), improved ventilation and humidity control systems, and aesthetic renovations designed to create what Equinox describes as a "thermal wellness journey" within each club.
Several locations will add Finnish-style saunas alongside their existing steam rooms, creating a multi-modality thermal offering. At least three clubs will feature outdoor cold plunge installations.
Our members are telling us that thermal wellness isn't a nice-to-have anymore. It's becoming one of the primary reasons people choose and stay with Equinox.
Strategic Context
The investment comes as Equinox faces intensifying competition from both traditional fitness brands moving upmarket and purpose-built thermal wellness venues that are attracting high-income consumers with more focused offerings.
The thermal wellness upgrade is part of a broader strategy to justify Equinox's premium pricing — which can exceed $300/month at flagship locations — by delivering amenities and experiences that lower-cost competitors cannot match.
Elise Lindgren
Editor-in-Chief, SaunaNews
Elise Lindgren has covered the global sauna and wellness industry for over fifteen years, first as a business journalist in Stockholm and later as founding editor of SaunaNews. She has reported from trade floors in Helsinki, factory lines in Estonia, and boardrooms across three continents. Under her editorial leadership, SaunaNews has become the go-to source for decision-makers across the sauna supply chain.
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