Traveling Gyms - comparing bargains

We are in the LA area for a couple of days and in recent years one of the requirements of any hotel stay is a gym where I can work out. This time we stayed at a Comfort Inn in Eagle Rock which was about half the price of the Hilton in Pasadena but it had one defect - the gym is off site. It turns out that the gym is a 24 Hour Fitness facility in Pasadena.

I went there yesterday. When I am on the road, even with family, I try to get in about an hour (at least) on aerobic activity. The 24 hour facility in Pasadena is pretty good - although there are a lot of defects. First, the equipment was not as clean as my home gym. Second, I did not know that amenities that I expect from my home gym (towels and soap for example) are not free. Third, although they offer rental lockers - none of them worked. (One did but it was full and I did not want to put someone else's stuff in another place). The locker room is OK (in a basement) but a bit below my usual standards. Fourth, although there was a parking validation - it still cost me five bucks. So the free ended up costing me $8 for a lock, $3.25 for a towel and $5 for validated parking. (So net $16.25)

Today I went to a place where my mother in law goes. It is called Break Thru Fitness and it is on Del Mar and Lake. Parking is free, ditto for towels and soap. The guest fee is $20 - but free parking and all the other amenities included. So the net is $3.75 more. But the place is spic and span clean. The locker room is nicely done.

In the end while the net cost of Break Thru is modestly more expensive for a visitor, the total experience was much better. I found both places had pretty nice people behind the counter. Obviously, I would not need a lock every day nor would I need to buy a towel each day. So if you look at the two day cost 24 hour is much cheaper. But as noted above the experience at Break Thru is so much better.

In the scope of things - this is not the most important comparison I have ever worked out but as my mother in law used to say to her daughters - sometimes a free dinner can be too expensive.