VIDA - U Street

J K 4 weeks ago

Having to make a pool reservation and then line up 20–30 minutes in advance as a paying member is ridiculous. And after all that, you still might not get a chair. Why not just lower the number of reservations? My guess is the same reason they won't return to the first-come, first-served system they used before COVID: The new approach makes them more money. Is it worse for customers? Absolutely. Does Vida care, as long as people keep paying? Absolutely not. If you're looking for a gym that somehow combines the worst aspects of a small local business and a large corporate chain, with none of the advantages of either, look no further! Will things improve? Probably not until there are more conveniently located competitors nearby. And when that happens, I suspect people will leave in droves. Come for the questionable business practices, stay for the lack of professionalism. Enjoy!

Bryan Truong 6 months ago

I would NOT recommend this gym. They have deceptive business practices- as a member for two plus years, not only did they raise the monthly price for the plan that I was on from $150 a month (the core), they also eventually discontinued the plan so that to access this location, you must now have the "core +" membership that is $180 a month. In addition, they gave free smoothie coupons upon signing up and refused to honor them and were very rude in doing so. there is no option to pause your membership, and even when downgrading to a "virtual membership" (where you cannot visit in person for the month), you pay $60/month and can only switch by emailing. The ONLY way to do this is by emailing someone "Scot Kendall" and you cannot do this in person (they purposely seem to make it difficult). Even after getting email confirmation that they switched my plan, when it came to the monthly billing date, they charged me the full $180. I had to email and point out their "mistake". I ended up cancelling that same day after they continued to bill me the full rate, and after acknowledging that they confirmed my request to downgrade but billed me the full rate, they said it would be refunded in 10 business days, but I have yet to get anything in my account. Be very wary with them, and check your statements, because they WILL take advantage of you. The gym itself is nice, but the employees at the front desk/smoothie bar are rude, and with their constant attempts to upcharge you, I would not recommend.

Steven Schwab 4 months ago

I've been a member here since they opened: This used to be a very good, high end gym. I wil say they maintain the equipment well but everything else from an experience standpoint they have cheapened. The products in the locker room went from high end to cheap and the smoothie bar went from real frozen fruit to this cheap and gross dried fruit so you don't have smoothies anymore you have colored water it's disgusting. So sad to see Vida go to cheap crap.

Ivo Georgiev 4 months ago

Same issue as all locations- IT IS NOT CLEAN in the locker rooms. There are many other issues like not being able to pause your membership, location specific bad customer service, steam room out of service when its supposed to be a part of the membership (tho with the level of cleanness..not sure you want to go anyway). Overall for the price..its laughable.

Ashley Abarr 4 months ago

I’ve been a member for nine years, and the price keeps going up while the quality gets worse and worse. My email is flooded with alerts of all the things that don’t work (no towels, steam room broken, internet/TVs that don’t work) and they’ve packed the second floor with all the cardio equipment- not utilizing the overall space well at all. Kobe the manager took almost two weeks to respond to an email, and simply sent a boilerplate response that didn’t seem to indicate he had read anything. The management truly does not seem to care that a new thing is falling apart every single week and they’re raising prices they can’t justify.