Collaborative model between fitness centres and universities: The case study of Universidad Europea and Holmes Place

Abstract

Introduction: As part of a growing trend toward greater collaboration between academia and industry, universities have an excellent opportunity to develop win-win strategies with renowned fitness centres. As an example of this, Universidad Europea of Madrid developed a research project for Holmes Place fitness centres in Madrid and Barcelona. The goal was for Universidad Europea to measure the rate of interest and the satisfaction level of Holmes Place clients with a recently implemented service called Clinic. This is a premium fitness evaluation service that helps clients to achieve their fitness goals by offering five assessments: Medical Welcome Session, Nutrition, Posture, Physio and Running. Methods: Surveys were collected from 736 Holmes Place clients. 76 of them were Clinic clients, while the other 660 were potential clients who had never used that service. All of the respondents reported their demographic characteristics, sports practice, training frequency and length of membership. Specifically, Clinic clients reported their satisfaction with the service, while potential clients expressed their rate of interest in Clinic. The data collected were analysed using QuickTapSurvey software. Results: 89.67% of respondents were potential clients. Among them, the percentage of clients who were interested in trying each of the assessments was 78.64% for the Medical Welcome Session, 82.42% for Nutrition, 84.09% for Posture, 82.27% for Physio and 55.61% for Running. On the other hand, 10.33% of respondents were Clinic clients. The Net Promoter Score (Reichheld, 2003) in these clients was 50. The percentage of satisfied clients for each of the assessments was 93.94% for the Medical Welcome Session, 94.59% for Nutrition, 84.62% for Posture, 92.59% for Physio, and 76.92% for Running. Conclusion The majority of Clinic clients were satisfied with this service, but these clients represented a small fraction of all Holmes Place members. As a result, Universidad Europea suggested to Holmes Place Senior Team that they improve the Clinic promotional strategy. This collaborative model allowed Universidad Europea to team up with a prestigious firm, while Holmes Place was able to detect the main issues related to its services, in order to improve them.