‘Health is the new luxury’ as wellness spending soars
Equinox has a waiting list of more than 1,000 people on its $40,000 annual membership as demand for luxury health and wellness programs grows rapidly, according to the company’s president.
The high-end fitness chain’s “Optimize by Equinox,” launching in 2024, is one of the most expensive gym memberships in the world and includes everything from personal training and nutrition to sleep coaching, massage therapy and a “wellness concierge.”
Harvey Spevak, Equinox’s executive chairman, told Inside Wealth that the program has seen remarkable demand, highlighting the wealthy’s “insatiable” demand for longevity and wellness products.
“Health is the new luxury,” Spevak said. “Besides travel, the No. 1 thing consumers want in the experience economy 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 health and wellness business.
The global wellness market is expected to reach nearly $10 trillion by 2030, up from $6.8 trillion in 2024, according to estimates from the Global Wellness Institute. With the aging population of millionaires and billionaires and an explosion of companies and products promising miracle cures, much of the spending is driven by the wealthy.
Equinox has expanded beyond fitness clubs into hotels and hospitality, personalized performance programs, IV centers, blood testing collaborations and more.
The company opened its first hotel in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards district in 2019 and is about to open its second hotel in Saudi Arabia. Spevak said Equinox will have close to a dozen hotels around the world over the next seven to eight years, including in the Middle East, the Caribbean and the United States.
Equinox currently has 115 fitness clubs and plans to open 40 more, including locations in Nashville, Tennessee; Toronto; Charlotte, North Carolina; and South Florida. Although it is New York’s largest retailer by square footage, it continues to add more to its city, Spevak said.
The Optimize membership leverages Function Health, a laboratory testing company, to provide customers with tests for 100 biomarkers twice a year; these tests can then serve as a guide for a fitness, nutrition and lifestyle program tailored to each client.
The program has launched in Los Angeles and Dallas and will eventually launch in New York, Spevak said.
The company also recently created a personalized program for women called EQX ARC. Using diagnostics, wearables and tailored coaching, the program is tailored to different stages of a woman’s life and health journey and currently has its own waiting list.
Spevak said the company’s drip lounge at the Equinox Hotel in Hudson Yards (its only drip lounge so far) has already become a “seven-figure business.”
Equinox Hudson Yards is the truest reflection of the brand’s holistic lifestyle promise, offering members access to private group fitness classes, a 25-foot indoor saltwater pool, hot and cold plunge pools, and a 15,000-square-foot outdoor recreational pool and sun deck. The Equinox footprint at Hudson Yards offers abundant opportunities for education, work, renewal, socializing, community building, dining and more.
Matthew Peyton | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Although Equinox is a private company and does not disclose financial information, Spevak said 2025 is a “record year” for the company and he expects 2026 to be “even bigger.” He said other top consumer companies have reached out to Equinox to partner on health and wellness.
“When you think about the economy shifting from a product economy to an experience economy, a lot of large consumer companies are saying, ‘So how do I continue to serve my consumer, my health and wellness, and who do I talk to?’
“There is really only one brand that has the authority and the brand equity,” he said.
A version of this article originally appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to high-net-worth investors and consumers. become a member to receive future editions straight to your inbox.
