Fitness Innovation
Why commit to one Austin fitness regimen when you can StudioHop?
The situation is all too familiar: You sign your life away to a year-long contract at the latest and greatest fitness studio only to find out that as soon as you put your money down, your friends have discovered something new.
Problem solved with StudioHop, a membership that allows you to hop from workout facility to workout facility for one flat rate.
Founder Natalie Wolfe was a yoga-loving SMU student when the idea first came to her. Although she loved her yoga three times a week, she craved more. She tried visiting various types of workout studios for a $30 fee and joining a big gym to try its wide variety of classes, but still she was unsatisfied.
StudioHop allows members to try several workouts for the price of one studio membership — or less, in some cases.
Wolfe preferred the experience of a boutique studio, the type of place where the staff greeted her by name when she walked in because they really knew her and not because her name popped up on the screen. It was then that StudioHop came to her.
“I wanted to change the way we work out,” Wolfe says. “The idea kept me up at night — dreaming up a logo, jotting down my favorite studios I’d want to include and going through business models in my head.”
Wolfe launched in Dallas earlier this year, and now StudioHop is expanding to Austin. StudioHop allows members to try several workouts for the price of one studio membership — or less, in some cases. And it’s not just the users who benefit. The studios dig it too.
“Both parties benefit: Members get more fun workout options, and studio owners also get paid for spaces that may have been left empty. It’s a win-win,” she says.
StudioHop offers a $100 a month membership for unlimited classes. Some of the participating facilities in Austin are Yomosas, Sukha Yoga, City Surf Fitness, Move Fitness, Onnit Academy, Ignite Fitnez and Fight Club.
StudioHop launches in Austin on August 1. The membership service will celebrate with a launch party on September 12 at Athleta at the Domain.
With new fitness studios in the works and an app that includes the ability to invite friends, rate instructors and get customized workout suggestions based on your preferences, we only have one question: Where do we sign up?
