I love trying out different fitness classes when I travel to different cities. Finding the perfect class to take however is time consuming for someone like me, who over researches everything. I look to Yelp for party supplies, oil changes, getting my pants hemmed, new restaurants and of course boutique gyms. Some come word of mouth, especially in NYC like Physique 57 and Soul Cycle, but others take time to find a class with good reviews, feel comfortable with the cost, and then lastly have an available slot open during the time you want to take it. Apparently I’m not the first person to feel this way because there is a new website to help alleviate this trouble called GoRecess.com.
The site is free to join. First, you select what you are in the mood for. Next, your address and how far you are willing to travel. Lastly, what time you want to take your class.
Once you enter in all that info, the site spits out a list of classes that fit your requests with their price. Here is the part I’m not a fan of. Many of these places offer awesome new client specials. The site doesn’t mention it. If you bought an 8-class pack off Groupon, you’re sh*t outta luck as well and will have to pay the one class price tag which can be pricey.
So you can see there is a rating system above right? Well, once you take the class you can review it. The site owner, Megan Smyth told me that she hopes to start a points system like Open Table so that if you take a bunch of classes and write reviews, you’ll earn points that will hopefully lead to free classes. To avoid false reviews, you can only review the class if you purchased your pass through the site. This was a bummer for me, since I’ve taken tons of classes and write reviews for a living (basically). This is good to avoid a disgruntled member but not very helpful at this time.
So, how do sites get listed? If they use the booking system Mind Body, they are automatically given the choice to opt into being featured on the site. I love to concept and idea but I honestly probably won’t personally use the site unless I’m traveling for work or on vacation. Even still, I’ll probably hop over to the studio’s site to see if they have new member offers. This concept is new, but already has competitors like Classtivity.com which also offers photographs, cooking and music lessons in addition to fitness.
What do you think about this new site?
NEW VIDEO
In case you didn’t know, I upload a new video to YouTube every week. This week, I shared with my YT subscribers my experience at the SELF Workout In The Park in Chicago with Hungry Girl and The Laughing Cow.
