Bay Club SB Uptown

I have a really hard time understanding how few stars this Gym has! Sure, you get what you pay for, but there are three Bay Clubs in the Santa Barbara area and your membership gets you into all of them. Also, they have SO MANY classes available that it is almost hard to choose which classes to go to each day! The staff and instructors are all very welcoming and many instructors get to know you by name. They have a lot of little perks, such as coffee in the mornings, razors and supplies in the bathroom, and extra classes (like Hot Yoga). I love this gym and am very happy to walk through those doors to start my day!

Wow I can’t believe uptown only has a 2 start average! The staff here is amazing, 5 stars all the way. Every single person I encounter at this location is so friendly and helpful. They are very genuine in their friendliness towards their members and the facilities are always very well stocked and maintained. I go to both the uptown and downtown locations and I really enjoy the instructors at both, but the staff at uptown really improves my experience there. Thanks guys keep it up!

This is a great club offering a variety of classes with staff who care about ALL! This is a space where anyone can feel comfortable — any age, any body type, any fitness level. The spin classes are challenging with instructors who care about offering quality challenging classes. I LOVE that they’ve recently introduced a hot yoga studio and see this as such a bonus value to the club. The hot yoga instructors are all extremely talented experienced that can offer members incredible body and mental healing! I strongly recommend this club!

I’ll start by saying I used to love this place for nearly 3 years. I actually converted several of my friends to this gym. I had negotiated a great rate and was getting great VALUE out of the gym. That all changed when it became «Bayclub». Their first order of business when they took over, universally raise the rates $ 10. Why? I asked the GM at the uptown location and got a longgg meandering corporate answer that essential amounted to: future benefits, slight improvement of equipment. Idk what the future plans were, or where these improvement were made, but why would I pay more now for nothing, I asked several times and only got the same non-​answers. I gave them several chances to retain my business and they simply were not interested. My budget for the gym has increased over the years but my willingness to be taken advantage of has not. I’ll go somewhere that appreciates their members more. Loyalty means nothing to «Bay Club».

I used to be a member here for about 2 years. It used to be Spectrum, now it’s Bay Club. I cancelled my membership a few months ago around the time the switch happened for reasons already listed from other reviewers.
I received an email from the Membership Retention Director, with a pretty good deal to return and that they were hosting a BBQ event on the weekend. So I decide to head to the club, grab a burger, and check out how the facility changed since the switch. Well, I get to the club, and there is no event at all. I double checked the email, and I was there — at the right place, day, and time. I called the front desk, and they didn’t even have any info about a BBQ. So I just took off.
It’s kind of shady when a company sends you a promotional email that’s basically false advertising to get you to come back into the club. I tried contacting them, but have not heard back.

Time to say goodbye to my gym. It was good to me while it lasted. Due to the $ 10 increase I had to cancel my membership. I was told there would be no increase in fees when they changed to new ownership but I guess the employees just assumed that.
The upgrades I’ve seen so far don’t justify the increase. Swapping out the plastic containers of shampoo, soap, mouthwash, and lotion to ceramic. Does anyone really care? I honestly prefer the bigger plastic containers than the tiny ceramic ones that belong in a home not gym!
Let’s see what else… The front lounge area has new furniture, every Sunday they provide free coffee with fruit, mini muffins, granola bars.
Give me a spa with a hot tub or juice bar for pete’s sake for $ 10 more. Maybe they’re working on that but there really is no room for it that I can see, unless they plan to add on to the building; which again there is no room outside for it. Don’t mind me I’m just venting!
The staff here has always been nice to me and I will miss this gym regardless. It’s a shame they don’t go out of their way to try and keep members like me who have put in years. If anything I feel they should be charging new members the extra fee but that’s just my opinion.
Oh well, on to the next one for half the price! C’est la vie

Increased their prices by 10 dollars without telling their clients, just cancelled! when I signed up, had paid for FIRST AND LAST MONTHS fee, and what do you know? Still charging my credit card for August, because I was misinformed by another employee telling me to cancel before the 29^th (before the billing cycle) On a positive note, I’m glad I cancelled. Time to find another gym!

The gym itself is great (which it better be for the price you’re paying). There is no wet steam just a dry sauna (not in the downtown one tho, that’s why I NEVER go there). They recently bought out Spectrum, but aren’t changing anything other then the name… oh yeah and the price! How can you up the price when you aren’t changing anything, actually you have. The hours are getting shittier, you wifi completely sucks now, you guys turn the saunas off earlier some night and yet you want to up the price? It’s sad to say but I’m almost tempted to go back to 24 hours at least there I can go after work on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday (which I only work til 7!!) without feeling rushed or not even make it in time. Or just because it is a holiday or you are having your own holiday party you choose to close early?! I think it is total bs because people are paying good money to have a nice gym and be able to get a work out in at a decent time even on the weekends! Even 11pm is kind of early but I would prefer that anyday over 7pm on a weekend. I Know everyone wants to get there day over with especially on a weekend but that’s not everyone else’s problem. You aren’t the school district or a county job so why should you get off early when people are paying a lot of money to be able to use the gym? I paid half the price and actually really like 24 hour fitness. I only transferred over because my roommate kept bugging he wanted a gym partner and my boyfriend and I were able to get «a deal» (which we paid half that at 24 for the both of us!) To all new comers look at other gyms because it looks like «Bay Club» might be getting lame. Hate leaving negative Unilocal but sometimes you have to let everyone else know the truth.