Hotels Compete to Pump Up Fitness Centers

Christopher Elliott, travel columnist for the New York Times and for the excellent travel site Tripso, reports that hotel chains have finally figured out that pumping up fitness facilities can help pump up their guest visits. Elliott tells us that Hyatt, for one, has hired Life Fitness, which makes the Lifecycle
exercise bikes, to furnish its gyms with new equipment such as the
latest high-tech cardio and strength-training equipment. For guests who prefer to take their exercise outside, the chain is  offering a Fitness GPS Forerunner Armband that monitors your heart rate and the distance run, and in this case but is programmed with the hotel’s coordinates, so runners can find their way back to check out.
Elliott reports Hyatt competitor Westin Hotels & Resorts recently teamed with Reebok to create its WestinWorkout program, a
$12 million upgrade that includes added treadmills, cycles, elliptical trainers, medicine balls and yoga
mats, and Holiday Inn Select has signed a deal with Nautilus – the makers
of Bowflex, Schwinn Fitness and StairMaster – to develop on-property
fitness centers. Read more from Elliott in the New York Times.