Offer a Swim-only membership
Maya Girault submitted on
Tuesday 8th October 2024
Complete
The annual gym pass currently costs £249 for 12 months. We understand the cost is justified by the new Jubilee sports hall and the cost of maintenance for the gyms and machines.
Nevertheless, swimming costs less maintenance and we students are wondering if a reasonable price could be offered for an annual Swim-only membership. Perhaps in a bracket of £100-£150 / year / person.
In terms of logistics, holders of the swim pass would have to enter through the old Jubilee entrance, scan their pass at the gates and that will give them access to changing rooms and the pool only, if the end of the hallway is closed off.
The current gym pass should keep offering access to the pool, but perhaps more people would be able to regularly swim thanks to this new, cheaper pass we are proposing.
Responses
Here, you can view the complete set of official responses from the sabbatical officers regarding this submission.
Students' Union replied on
Monday 4th Nov 2024 10:48am
Dear Maya,
Southampton Sport ran a benchmarking exercise last year, where this scenario was originally considered. They mapped out how a single membership product might work but felt that it would also require options like climb-only, class-only, recreational sports-only, and gym-only memberships etc. - which presented challenges in the terms of feasibility and unknowns. They believed this could bring dissatisfaction to users with how items should be priced/value for money, plus each product offering different recreational opening times.
Consequently, this benchmarking indicated that an all-inclusive membership option was the most effective route, particularly as Southampton Sport assess the uptake of the new facility in year 1. In addition to this, there were more consultation meetings with students surrounding student memberships with Southampton Sport (away from the Sports Pass work), prior to the new pricing structure being delivered. From this, they did not receive any feedback which indicated this membership structure was wanted at the time.
Over the next year, I am sure there will be a lot more chances to feed in to any consultation sessions for students. I encourage you, and any other student, to engage with this as much as possible so any steps taken by Southampton Sport in the future regarding both memberships and the new facility, keeps improving with a student-led approach. I am holding a Facilities Forum on Friday 15th November in The Cube, from 2pm, where anyone can come along and speak directly to Southampton Sport about their offerings, if you would like to discuss this further or bring up any other concerns that you have.
When I contacted the team, they also have passed on a reminder of what they do offer, which is:
- Swim passes - a pre-payed pass for 10 swims at a discounted rate.
- Annual membership fee - offered at a discounted rate in comparison to the monthly membership (12 months with no joining fee, for the fee of 9 months). This includes access to the swimming pool, Bitterne Leisure Centre, The Quays and other UK University institutions.
Please feel free to reach out to me again if you have any more questions regarding this topic and Southampton Sport's offerings.
Thanks,
Conor White (he/him)
VP Sports 2024/2025
Actions
Forwarded to Vice President Sports
Monday 14th Oct 2024 10:02am
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