Equinox Expands Sauna Offerings Across 15 Flagship Locations
The luxury fitness brand is betting big on thermal wellness as a retention and differentiation tool.
Equinox, the premium fitness brand, is making one of its largest facility investments in years, and it's going toward thermal wellness. The company is significantly upgrading sauna, steam, and cold plunge facilities at its top-performing locations across New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Scope of Investment
The upgrades include expanded sauna rooms with increased capacity, dedicated cold plunge pools (where none currently exist), improved ventilation and humidity control systems, and aesthetic renovations designed to create what Equinox describes as a "thermal wellness journey" within each club.
Several locations will add Finnish-style saunas alongside their existing steam rooms, creating a multi-modality thermal offering. At least three clubs will feature outdoor cold plunge installations.
Our members are telling us that thermal wellness isn't a nice-to-have anymore. It's becoming one of the primary reasons people choose and stay with Equinox.
Strategic Context
The investment comes as Equinox faces intensifying competition from both traditional fitness brands moving upmarket and purpose-built thermal wellness venues like Bathhouse that are attracting high-income consumers with more focused offerings.
The thermal wellness upgrade is part of a broader strategy to justify Equinox's premium pricing, which can exceed $300/month at flagship locations, by delivering amenities and experiences that lower-cost competitors cannot match.
Arlene Scott
Senior Wellness Correspondent & Hospitality Consultant
Arlene Scott brings over fifteen years of reporting and consulting experience across energy infrastructure, sustainable design, and thermotherapy-focused hospitality.
Full byline
Arlene Scott is a Senior Wellness Correspondent for SaunaNews.com, bringing over fifteen years of experience at the intersection of energy infrastructure, sustainable design, and thermotherapy. Her work focuses on the physiological benefits of passive heat therapies and the sustainable integration of sauna culture into modern wellness routines.
Arlene's background is rooted in the clean energy transition. She was a founding writer at MicrogridMedia.com, where she covered the technical and economic viability of desalination projects, microgrid deployments, and distributed renewable energy systems. During the mid-2010s, she was a regular contributor to Greentech Media (GTM) during its independent era — prior to the Wood Mackenzie acquisition in 2016 — reporting on the early integration of thermal energy storage and sustainable infrastructure.
Transitioning her focus from macro-energy systems to human-scale wellness, Arlene now applies her technical background to the hospitality sector. She operates as an independent consultant, advising boutique hotels and eco-resorts on the design, energy efficiency, and historical authenticity of commercial sauna and thermal spa installations. Her consulting work ensures that high-end wellness facilities balance traditional Nordic bathing principles with modern sustainable engineering.
Arlene holds a specialized certification in Applied Thermic Wellness from the Nordic Institute of Passive Heat Studies (NIPHS) and is a recognized associate member of the International Sauna Association (ISA). When she isn't reviewing the latest innovations in infrared technology or consulting on a new resort project, Arlene can be found tending to her own traditional wood-fired sauna in the Pacific Northwest. You can read her complete archive of essays on energy, wellness, and sustainable living at www.arlenescott.com.
