Alaska Club West - Anchorage

---

I live two blocks from the East Club, so I could easily do with a one location membership at a much lower price than the gold membership that allows me to visit multiple location, but that option is not offered for the east club. Supposedly, the east club is a and quot;goldand quot; facility with a pool which I never use, and the tennis court which cost extra.
For a gold membership you would also think I would get all classes included in my $90/month membership fee, but no! They charge extra for all the ridiculous fad fitness trends like Zumba, Studio Rush and others. I take cardio fitness on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays (included with my membership), and I happened to be working out on Sunday and saw that my cardio dance teacher was teaching another class. I joined in, but she asked everyone to sign in. Oops it looks like dance cardio, acts like dance cardio (same songs and dances) but its Zumba so costs extra. This is a ridiculous alienating business practice and should be stopped.
The Alaska Club also indiscriminately raise their prices. I was unaware of the practice so I called their member services department at the East club, and the customer service agent informed me that they need to raise prices because with new members coming into the club they need to buy more equipment, which is illogical. New members bring their own monthly fees that can pay for equipment.. so not only do I have to pay for new equipment that I use, I have to pay for the new equipment of additional new members, which only makes the classes more crowded, the equipment harder to use, and a general feeling of overcrowding in the locker rooms.
I have also heard from multiple sources that they do not treat their employees very fairly. Alas what do we do, unfortunately like many things in Alaska we don't have competitive choice, so we are stuck paying exorbitant fees to stay fit. The least the Alaska club could do would be to:
--be transparent about your pricing and discounts you give to groups or other parties
-- offer partial year memberships for those that only need your services on a seasonal basis
-- membership fees should cover all classes
-- don't call your east club and quot;goldand quot; it's unfair to all the people that live near the east club and would chose that at their primary workout facility.
-- do not keep raising your prices!

I don't feel comfortable working out in the mixed gender gym. It's a nice facility but is more noisy, more competetive, less intimate. The Club for Women is more suited to women who don't want to interact with men working out. there's more opportunity for mutual support, and less embarrassment about learning to use equipment as well. The staff is very helpful, welcoming, and friendly and non-judgemental.

Very nice experience. Went in for class before work. Then spent time in the sauna. Great way to start the day!

Have been training with Ravi Trujillo for several months. He is a fantastic trainer! He is polite, courteous, punctual, and an absolute genius at figuring out how to make the training sessions effective. He is also keenly attuned to his trainees and can instantly recognize when to adjust or change a workout regimen to meet the needs of the client. Working with him, I have lost body fat, increased strength and endurance. I highly recommend him for someone wanting to get in shape regardless of their starting point.

I was new to Alaska and got sucked into one of their promotions where they 'waive' the enrollment fees. I mainly went to the West Club although I have been to other Alaska Clubs around town. The classes they offer are what I enjoyed the most, particularly the spinning and the power pump. The TV's are nice, and easy to see from most of the machines. The tanning was nice, although it's not included in the price, you have to pay separately. The main reason I left the club was because of the monthly price at $60+ a month for one person.

I would probably rate the facility about a C, because it needs some repairs. I believe we pay about $2000 for the whole family. The overall club is a B minus, but my personal trainer is an A Plus. I will use them again because they are the only real gym in the area. There is another club but they don't have a pool.

The place is clean. They usually aren't too busy. They have a lot of good instructors for classes.

We picked it up because it was most convenient.

There are more then a few problems in this club. The music coming from the overhead speakers throughout the club is so loud that you need ear plugs. If you wear an iPod all you hear is your iPod being blasted by overhead background music from the clubs music system. If you get on the cardio equipment and put on the head phones provided by the club to listen to TV or music you still get blasted away by the clubs overhead speakers. In other words I hope you like really super loud music when you work out. A lot of the Nautilus machines are simply torn to pieces and in very poor condition. Some of the employees are helpful only if you ask for normal things but if you ask for something extraordinary like asking for the music to be turned down the employees become very arrogant and rude. There is also an extraordinary amount of weight slamming and grunting in this gym. If you like a quiet work out don't even bother with this gym. The Alaska Club West is over used and under serviced and under repaired. The club is fairly clean and nice after 10 pm until about 5 am it is quiet but after that the noise gets louder and louder. Between the hours of 4 pm and 10 pm don't even bother going to this club it is so crowded you can't even find a parking space. They could do a lot better and it costs a lot to be a member and they provide little for the price you pay except the locker rooms showers and a loud place to work out. Hope you like to spend more money on your gym then on your cell phone.