Weight-Room Service
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
It’s easy to fall out of exercise routines when you’re traveling. After a long day of meetings or sightseeing, by the time you get to your room you may not feel like going to the hotel gym.
But now some hotels will bring the gym to you, delivering equipment or even personal trainers to individual rooms, just as they would send up a meal or an extra pillow.
At certain Hilton hotels, beginning February 1, guests can book a trainer to come to their room. The hour-long sessions average about $68; the trainers are supplied by Bally Total Fitness health clubs. (To find out if the Hilton you are headed for is part of the program, call 800-445-8667 or visit www.hilton.com.)
Hilton also offers in-room fitness kits available upon request from the front desk. The mini-gyms include a yoga mat, elastic bands and resistance tubes, hand-weights, and a training guide. The kits are complimentary but must be returned before checkout.
Health clubs at many Marriotts are already open 24 hours a day, but guests who prefer to work out in privacy can order one of three new fitness options to their rooms, beginning in late January, at no cost. BodyRev, a portable exercise device and video routine, provides a full-body aerobic workout in 15 minutes. A “Traveling Trainer” kit includes resistance tubes and an instruction guide. The BodyWedge21 program has 21 exercises printed on a large foam wedge to work muscles from abs to triceps.
At Holiday Inn’s Wall Street hotel, guests can have stationary bikes or stair-climbing machines delivered to their rooms upon request.
Westin Hotels & Resorts has added new equipment to many of their fitness centers, but they offer an in-room program as well, in partnership with Reebok. Guests can tune into a workout on Westin’s custom TV channel that includes yoga as well as Pilates exercises, which strengthen muscles and improve flexibility. No equipment is necessary; the Westin routine is designed to be done in bed.
By March, Westin is also planning to have two guest rooms in each hotel outfitted with fitness gear. Westin’s sister hotel chain, Sheraton, also plans to test special fitness rooms at some of its hotels in the near future.
