Equinox has a waiting list of more than 1,000 people for its $40,000-a-year membership, according to the company president, as demand for the luxury health and wellness programs grows.
“Optimize by Equinox,” the high-end fitness line Launching in 2024One of the most expensive gym memberships in the world and includes everything from personal training and nutrition to sleep coaching, massage therapy, and a “health concierge.”
Harvey Spevak, executive chairman of Equinox, told Inside Wealth that the program has seen significant demand and highlights the “insatiable” demand for longevity and wellness products by the wealthy.
“Health is the new luxury,” Spevak said. “The No. 1 thing the consumer wants in the experience economy, besides travel, is, ‘How do I live a high-performance lifestyle?’”
The Optimize program is part of Equinox’s strategy to become the leading luxury brand in the rapidly growing business of health and wellness.
According to estimates by the Global Wellness Institute, the global wellness market is expected to reach approximately $10 trillion by 2030, from $6.8 trillion in 2024. The population of millionaires and billionaires continues to grow, and with an explosion in companies and products promising miracle cures, rich people are spending most of the time.
Equinox has expanded beyond fitness clubs into hotels and hospitality, personalized performance programs, IV centers, blood-testing support and more.
The company opened its first hotel in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards neighborhood in 2019 and is planning to open a second hotel in Saudi Arabia. Spevak said Equinox is likely to have about a dozen hotels around the world — including the Middle East, the Caribbean and the Americas — within the next seven to eight years.
Equinox currently has 115 fitness clubs and plans for 40 more – including locations in Nashville, Tennessee; Toronto; Charlotte, North Carolina; And South Florida. Spivak said that despite being the largest retailer in New York by square footage, it is continuing to add more in its home city.
The Optimize membership leverages Function Health, a laboratory testing company that provides clients with testing for 100’s of biomarkers twice a year, which can serve as guides to a fitness, nutrition, and lifestyle program tailored to each client.
Spevak said the program has started in Los Angeles and Dallas and will eventually launch in New York.
The company also recently created a personalized program for women called EQX ARC. Using diagnostics, wearables and specialized coaching, the program is designed around different stages of a woman’s life and health journey, and already has its own waiting list.
The company’s IV-drip lounge at the Equinox Hotel at Hudson Yards — its only drip lounge to date — has already become a “seven-figure business,” Spevak said.
Equinox Hudson Yards is the truest realization of the brand’s holistic lifestyle promise, offering members access to signature group fitness classes, a 25-yard indoor saltwater pool, hot and cold plunge pools and a 15,000-square-foot outdoor leisure pool and sundeck. Equinox’s Hudson Yards footprint offers ample opportunities for training, working, reviving, socializing, community building, dining and more.
Matthew Peyton | Getty Images Entertainment | getty images
While Equinox is private and does not disclose financial details, Spevak said 2025 was a “record year” for the company and he expects 2026 “to be even bigger.” Other high-end consumer companies are reaching out to Equinox for partnerships on health and wellness, he said.
“When you think about moving the economy from a product economy to an experience economy, many large consumer companies are saying, ‘Okay, how do I continue to serve my consumer and health and wellness, and who do I talk to?’
“There’s really only one brand that has the authority and the brand equity,” he said.
A version of this article first appeared with Robert Frank in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter, a weekly guide for the high net worth investor and consumer. Sign up To receive future editions straight to your inbox.
