Being on the road used to be a viable excuse for bailing on a workout. No gym, no safe place to run outdoors -- no exercise.
But now there's little excuse for a routine going AWOL. Several hotel chains have added in-room fitness programs so guests can stay fit while traveling, and more are likely to follow, as fitness becomes a focus of hotels' ever-expanding amenities.
Among the offerings is Marriott hotels' Fit for You program, with three types of equipment (delivered to the room for free) that tone and strengthen. Hilton hotels provide a free in-room fitness kit and have teamed up with Bally Total Fitness so guests can work out with personal trainers in the hotel gym or the nearest Bally's. The Marriott chain and thousands of other hotels in the U.S. and Canada offer pay-per-view videos that include Pilates, yoga, cardio and stretch workouts.
These new plans are the product of savvy marketing and a societal move toward healthier living. Hotels offer amenities to give them an edge over the competition; at the same time messages about the importance of physical activity are everywhere as obesity rates rise. Airlines too have begun offering in-flight fitness programs for travelers.
"Anything we can do to promote people to be physically active, great," says Mike Bracko, a Canadian exercise physiologist and member of the American College of Sports Medicine. "We want people to have an opportunity to exercise in as comfortable a setting as possible."
The Hilton and Marriott chains say customer demand has partially driven their programs. A couple of years ago Marriott began upgrading some of its fitness centers, and in January the hotels started offering healthier restaurant choices. Nusrat Mirza, the hotels' regional director of operations, says that wasn't enough.
"Some people don't like to leave the room," he says. "I'm a busy traveler, and there are times when I don't have time to go down to the fitness center. And if people have kids with them, they can't leave the room and go work out."
Marriott's in-room exercise options, which have been available in full-service hotels for about a month, were created after scouring fitness trade shows and magazines. Michael Sena's Traveling Trainer is a small kit that includes elastic tubing bands for resistance training, plus a dining guide. The BodyWedge21 is a large foam wedge that allows users to do core and resistance training, and the BodyRev is a hand-held piece of equipment that combines strength training with cardio exercise. All come with instructions, and videos are in the works.
