Driving up into the Ridges, you wouldn't think you were in this world, much less the Vegas Valley. To both your left and right are custom-made mansions (or maybe I should say 'castles'...) and lush plantation rarely seen throughout the rest of the desert. I found myself daydreaming as I drove excitedly through the Ridges in Summerlin for our monthly Connect To Fitness event being held at Club Ridges...
Almost to Club Ridges, my mind began reverting back to about five (or so) months ago when the whole 'idea' behind Connect To Fitness was just that... an idea. Thinking of the progression from then to now, I felt proud and grateful as I have been immensely fortunate to be so heavily involved in such an amazing and innovative project and organization. It's quite amazing what a little thought, drive and perseverance can give you if you keep pushing forward without looking back. My thoughts faded as I approached the guard at the entrance who has to confirm your invite and personally let you in. The drive to the fitness center is just so ridiculously scenic and tranquil and it’s enough to make you forget about the rest of life for that very moment. I pulled up to the parking lot at Club Ridges where my focus was automatically placed on the beautiful facility which is breath-taking in itself.
Located conveniently on a mountain basin, the Ridges is a gorgeous area in Summerlin that feels separated from the rest of the city. Set somewhere in the heart of this gorgeous, gated community is Club Ridges which is an upscale, residential fitness facility managed by none other than WTS International. The property itself is absolutely stunning with elegance and class and you would never guess just by looking at the facility that it has anything to do with fitness. It actually blends nicely with the mansions surrounding it. I guess the small giveaway is the large parking lot visible from the street which isn’t typical of a normal housing development. I swear you could be just in awe from the outside looking it, but I tell you what… You haven’t seen ANYthing until you have been inside. Traversing up to the doors with my short heels clip-clapping on the pavement (I’m NOT a fan of heels of any kind), I spotted Darian outside by the tennis lounge carrying a table from the outside tennis court area to the lounge which overlooks the courts. I switched my own route from the front door to meet and greet him and to get this thing started!
Although this particular time, I opted to go into a side door, if you were to be so fortunate to go through the front door, you would be (happily) greeted to your right by one of the lovely front desk employees who are diligently on their game in making sure each and EVERY guest and member is greeted as they come in, while they are visiting and as they proceed to leave the building as well. And unless you have never been into the facility, they will automatically know and greet you by name. After exchanging compliments with one of these awesome employees, you would most likely stop in your tracks and pinch yourself in disbelief. Sitting before your very eyes is this huge palace of a place they disguise as a fitness center that is exquisite in every sense of the word. You absolutely do not feel like you are in a gym, rather you feel as if you stepped into one of the houses you may have passed on your way to Club Ridges. Everything from the lighting to the color scheme are all set to portray a relaxing and divine environment that isn’t meant to be intimidating or overwhelming like some gyms can be. After lifting your jaw back up from the floor, if you were to turn your head left, you would view the group fitness/aerobics room (if you will) located in it’s own sort of secluded area of the facility overlooking the pool outside. The group fitness room itself is a decent size and there are many classes to be offered from Boot Camp to kids classes to Darian’s infamous Circuit Training (in which Darian also performs during the Professional Fitness Institute’s monthly Boot Camp, in which the students appropriately nick-named him ‘Dr. Death’). Looking straight ahead, before you would notice anything else, you would visibly notice the absolutely striking and dazzling pool area and you would more than likely stare and admire the fountains in the pool dancing and jetting while creating a magnificent ambiance. Once your gaze finally settles back indoors, you would notice the lush couches and chairs right in the front lobby which surround a massive, rock fire-place that you can warm-up next to during the coldest months of the year. If you take a slight right past the front desk, you will then come in contact with the fitness area. Now this, Faithful Reader, is a sight for sore eyes and THEN some. Using all Lifeline equipment, the fitness area is lined with full-sized windows that just as well give you a view of the pool area while also letting in the beautiful sunlight. Cardio equipment lines the left and front windows while the squat racks, functional machines, and dumbbells line the right wall. The middle of the floor houses the Lifeline machine area that is perfectly set up to complement the rest of the room. You will also find one of Club Ridges highly qualified personal trainers who will greet you as well and who will remember your name and your last visit and conversation (if you are a member, of course). The trainer will also make the offer to help with anything you might need and will be at your disposal for the entire time you are training or using the amenities. It truly is a delightful set-up. In front of the fitness area is a shelving unit stuffed with towels in unique and eye-catching arrangements and on top of the unit you will find the refreshment area staffed with a tea- and coffee-bar, ice water with some sort of fruit essence whether it be lemons, cucumbers, strawberries or a combination of any two. If you were to keep walking to your right, and turned to your right to face the service desk, you might notice the office behind the service desk where General Manager, Parisa Cooke can sometimes be found if you don’t see her always pleasant face traversing the facility. She is truly a gem worth getting to know and is one of the most friendly and sweet people you could ever meet. If you don’t say ‘Hi’ to her first, it is almost a guarantee that she will approach you at some point during your visit to drop a line herself. One of the things I credit to any WTS facility is the fact that more often than not, the members and workers are synonymous. I told Darian the first time I ever visited his facility that I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between who was staff and who were the members. It’s really a compliment as in many facilities there is a definite fine-line between who is working and who isn’t. I personally enjoy that touch as you automatically feel at ease and comforted as soon as you step into the facility. You can tell that the each employee genuinely cares about the people who come through the doors and there is no whiff of the hidden agendas you might get from being at another facility. A used-car dealership is not what you will get when you walk into a facility managed by WTS.
If you fix your gaze away from Parisa’s office and continue walking straight ahead, you will eventually come to the restroom/locker room area to your left and the tennis lounge slightly to the right. The restrooms are just awesome in themselves as you can find any amenity you could possibly think of needed to shower and get ready to go. Because a major goal of WTS standards is to provide the ultimate customer service experience, all you need to bring is a change of clothes and you need not worry about the rest as they have a mission to take care of and to cater to you (the member). The little touches throughout the facility that make things just a little easier and more convenient don’t go unnoticed and I, myself, am always in awe at each WTS facility I encounter or work at as I have never seen anything like it before. So, (and getting back on track) if you were to instead take the slight right into the tennis lounge, you might feel impelled to sit at the chair and table arrangement in the middle of the room and overlook the tennis courts and beautiful day or maybe you would head straight outside through the back door and instead have a seat in the shade at the tables with umbrellas set up next to the courts. There is also a basketball court to be seen and utilized as well if you take your line of vision a bit further. Coming back into the fitness area and travelling behind the building to the pool, you will be surprised at how lavish and divine the atmosphere is outside as you feel like you have travelled to an upscale spa at a high-end hotel and you might feel yourself in a disposition to fight the urge to lounge in a pool chair or to look around, make sure no one is watching, and take a dip in the clear, sparkling, blue water. There is also surround sound around the entire pool where relaxing music can be heard softly playing in the background. Once again, the ambiance is just unreal. Over to the right of this pool is another pool strictly for lap-swimmers so as to not inconvenience those who want to lounge, or those who want to swim hard. It is a very convenient concept that, again, the members benefit from.
An employee myself at two WTS properties (and hopefully a third soon!), I absolutely LOVE the company and what it ultimately stands for. As one of the world’s foremost managing and consulting firms for spas, fitness and recreation centers, WTS International manages properties both nationally and internationally and their facilities range from all different styles, sizes and types. You can find them anywhere from high-end spas, resorts and hotels, to golf and country club settings, luxurious residential properties, office sites, as well as master-planned community or recreational centers. They strive to provide excellence in the work environment and to help create and foster success both operational and foundational for the business. Having been around since 1973, they have helped develop some of the premier and top-notch facilities in the world to date. With a focus on employee and customer satisfaction, they have a unique way of creating an atmosphere desirable to all levels of employees and members. The turnover rate for any given facility is virtually nonexistent as they go through an extensive hiring process to seek out only the most qualified employees and they work hard to retain great rapport with each of them by being able to provide enough fiscal and financial support so the employees remain with the company without relying on another job to stay afloat. It is an ideal setting for anyone who wants nothing more but to cater to members without the pressure of meeting stressful demands and having to work in heavy traffic. Currently working for Dragon Ridge Tennis and Athletic Center as well as The Spa at Trump, I can voucher on behalf of experience that it is a fabulous company to work for. It is also a very difficult company to get into as spots don’t frequently open (remember: very low to nonexistent turn-over), and when they do have an opening, the company typically hires from within before outsourcing. Huge, huge, HUGE on customer and guest satisfaction, WTS standards succeed the norm and average by adding tremendous special touches to make members feel appreciated and catered to and they hold high standards for creating excellence within the workforce. At Dragon Ridge, located in Henderson at MacDonald Highlands, has been an amazing experience as I have really had the chance to be submerged in what it means to really treat your guests and facility with the utmost care and compassion. Working in residential fitness isn’t like your typical fast-paced gyms as the people file in and file out sporadically and the gym itself is never full. This is ideal for members as many of them look to residential fitness to get away from the atmosphere of typical fitness facilities. We are able to give them a more intimate experience where they can be known by name and accounted for each visit. Special touches include (but aren’t limited to) a hand towel on every machine made available to members, headphones they can borrow during their workout, complimentary coffee, cold towels and iced, lemon water in both the men’s and women’s locker room, water on the fitness floor, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in all the showers, lotion mouthwash, razors, combs, hairspray, and blow-dryers in the locker-rooms as well, choose-your-own-combination locks on the lockers so members don’t have to bring their own lock, eucalyptus spray to create an awesome aroma in the steam room, wash cloth and full towels in each locker room, free wi-fi, and employee recognition and availability at any and all times during their visit. Managed by WTS as well, The Spa at Trump utilizes many of these same special touches, but since the gym is a separate amenity at the Trump Hotel, we have different protocols and special touches we use for the guests that visit. One of these touches includes customizing each treatment to be enhanced to one of five different intentions. What I mean by this is that upon arrival, the guests are asked to pick what they are looking to get out of their treatment and what they want to feel like when they leave. The list of options includes calm, revitalize, balance, purify, and heal. The choices don’t actually affect the treatment itself, but the therapists use certain oils, scents, music, and colors to enhance their intention. Another great thing about this particular spa is the use of spa attendants and attachés. As an attaché, it is my job to arrive at the desk early to meet the guest as they walk in, give them a tour before having them get dressed, and to be by their side the entire time they are not in their treatment. It is even part of the job to introduce the guest to the therapist and we never call them by their first names unless specified by that guest to do so. The purpose is to make the guest comfortable by having someone by their side. It doesn’t make sense to have a guest stress out because they are lost, need something and can’t find it or don’t understand how to use something. They are coming to the spa to unwind and do the opposite of stress, so it’s important for us to make them feel that way during and after their experience with us. So, in a nutshell, working for a company such as WTS is much, much different than working for a typical corporation and high emphasis is placed around employee and customer satisfaction. The atmosphere is always laid back at these facilities and the emphasis is placed on treating your guests right and not being a sales-person to them. It’s refreshing for those who don’t have the personality type for that particular venue of the industry. If you haven’t checked out the WTS website, you can do so at www.WTSInternational.com. Look it over as it’s an awesome diamond in the rough that not many people have been exposed to. And trust me when I say that it’s a company worth knowing about.
Back to the present moment…
So, I walk into Club Ridges through the doors leading into the tennis lounge where my senses were met by the pristine scent of freshly brewed espresso. I noticed to my right there was a table set up showcasing iced lemon and strawberry water along with a vegetable tray, and straight ahead was the espresso machine (in which I immediately gravitated towards!). Up in the front, right of the room was another table set up for those who opted for one of many flavors and types of tea. As I mentioned before, you would NEVER guess this was a ‘gym’. Having got there a little early to help with set-up and provide the final finishing touches to the event. Walking diligently in and out of the tennis lounge were the gracious Club Ridges employees as well as power-team Darian and Parisa who were in mission mode to set up everything accordingly and to give an awesome presentation of their facility. At 4:00pm, guests began pouring in and the event began! We had a great turn-out and thank everyone who attended for taking the time out of their busy schedules to travel out and join us at the event. One of the things I most look forward to is the fact that I get to finally meet some of the friendly faces I have met via Facebook or other networking venues. I finally got to meet two girls (Alison Pontist and Chenee Marcias Marx), both whom I have had conversations with online. It was really fantastic and special to meet them and other connections face-to-face as it is obviously more personal. Each event I attend, I always end up meeting someone I connected with through technology and it is always a great experience to behold. As the event progressed, the room (as always) became filled with conversation and people mingled with each other the entire two hours. Twice during the event, Darian pulled names for prize-giveaways sponsored by Advantage Fitness Products (AFP), the Professional Fitness Institute (PFI), Lulu Lemon Athletica, and some house coffee and a water bottle donated by the staff at Club Ridges. The prizes were just awesome and I want to personally thank those who reach out at each event and choose to help out through graciously donating these awesome goodies to our events. The attendees are never disappointed and the prizes just keep getting better and better. Thank you to all who helped out with that as it is greatly appreciated! One of the other things I also enjoy about these events is the opportunity to mingle with my own coworkers outside of work. Although I love the work interaction as it is my absolute passion, it is also nice to have a conversation without being rushed away mid-sentence. I always am entertained as well by seeing my coworkers in their street clothes as we are always spoiled in the luxury of having to wear sweat pants, t-shirts and sneakers, all the while getting dirty and sweaty as the day progresses (although this doesn’t sound desirable… I’m sure you’d agree it really is a blessing in disguise to be a fitness professional and have the option of dressing down every day!). As the event began to come to a close and as guests started leaving, we gave them a parting gift as a token of our appreciation as well. With the ‘thank-you’ cards I bought this past week, I handwrote each guest a ‘thank-you’ and we were sure to give them to each guest as they left. As my own special touch, I wrote one for Darian and his wonderful wife, Michelle, as well as Parisa for helping to make this event possible. It’s the little things in life that mean the most sometimes.
As the event came to a close, I found myself thinking once again about how CTF is really expanding and reaching out to so many individuals. I’m always impressed with how the attendance rates keep increasing at the events and how many new and reoccurring faces I see and have gotten to know. I have had the honor and pleasure of meeting some really fantastic individuals who are doing some incredible things for the industry. I am fully inspired before, during and after each event and although there is a lot of work behind the scenes, it is always worth it in the end. Connect To Fitness has made some big baby steps in these past few months with both members, attendance rates, future plans, sponsors and booking event locations. We are only looking to expand further and hope that you, Faithful Reader, realize how valued you are to us and how much we appreciate your support and dedication to helping us as an organization grow and foster into something that can have an effect on more people in the world. We are growing by leaps and bounds and have many more great things in store for you in the future. For those of you who follow out of state, we will eventually be heading out your way as well as our plans to expand will be in effect after we are able to establish a solid foundation here in the Vegas Valley. We have two upcoming events in August to look forward to as well. One being here in Vegas early on in the month, and the other out in the beautiful Boulder City. Please RSVP and come see what we are all about! The Boulder City event will actually be pretty neat as there will be great networking opportunities to behold with different professionals in this town as well. The more people you know in this industry (or any), the better! Come out to one or both events and we look forward to seeing you there!
Until next week, Faithful Reader….
"People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering." –St. Augustine
"If you cannot be the poet, be the poem.” –David Corradine
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