What will they do with the freezes and cancellations? Chaos Opening the gym and pools for the vaccinated

There are quite a few studio rooms that are already working, even before the comeback of the industry was announced. “Many instructors I know receive Khalal and complete in black,” a yoga instructor told us. A Pilates instructor said she has been working in the studio for two weeks: “Private lessons are allowed, but we have about five instructors per class.” There are several large studio rooms in Tel Aviv in recent months. , Even when it was forbidden.

Doron Cohen, the owner of Studio C, told Ynet: “Let it open like humans, do not open and crash. 30% of the customers will come and we will spend 100% of the expenses. It will not work. Therefore, within a day the petition against opening to vaccinated 500 businesses has been signed. We’re in touch with more than a thousand gyms and studios. 95% of them are of this opinion. Anyone who has a small studio with 6-5 trainees has no problem opening. Hundreds of others will not open, they are big and they will lose money according to this outline.

“They took an entire industry and turned us into cannon fodder. Young people who have not yet stopped getting vaccinated with the second vaccine or do not want to get vaccinated, and I am in favor of a vaccine, want gyms and they are right. We said to the state: open the clubs when you reach 70% -80% vaccinated, Our soul in the business. And suddenly they announced that they were opening. In the boom. With the green sign, without a neat outline, probably because of pressure. “To drop everything on us. We will collapse. Therefore, hundreds will not open on the first. There will be a gradual opening at the end of March and then they will close it again. Because of another closure. Abuse.”

Are people used to zooming in?
“I do not think so. It did jump us 10 years forward, but only 15% -20% of the training will now be zoomed. It will be a hybrid. You want completion – do a zoom. I am currently offering hybrid subscriptions. Add another 50 shekels. The zoom will be open to you and you choose “If and when you want to come. You have the service. I think that is what will happen.”

Does it micromanage the service?
“Subscriptions cost NIS 220. A combined subscription costs NIS 270 a month and that includes 15 live lessons a day, VOD with ten lessons. Hopefully the customers will stay.”

Will there be a lot of subscription cancellations?
“Obviously. Suppose you open on Sunday and you say to an unvaccinated customer: You are not allowed to enter. So he cancels. In the State of Israel, they open without any rules. Someone wants to enter and she has no vaccine proof. What will you do with her? Are you a policeman? “Do not tell us not to go in, it’s illegal.” And it’s true, it’s illegal to check if a person has been vaccinated. We’re being made to the police now. In the malls they gave up the green sign, we don’t. “Thousands will cancel subscriptions. A customer will say: ‘Until now I froze a subscription, I waited because you were closed. Now you are open and do not let me in? Cancel my subscription’. The state disputes us with the customers, with the property owners. Everyone who can.”

Yuval Lebling, the owner of the Profit chain, also claims that he will not return to work at Rishon. “We are unequivocally unprepared for the opening. I do not welcome anything. We are in a difficult situation and we are being opened up in an impossible outline. At the moment we have not been released. How will they enforce, what are the responsibilities, what about the workers we should not ask “Fakes. There will be a serious mess for the clubs that will open on Sunday, it is better to prepare for a few days.”

How many customers will not be able to enter?
“We have customers aged 14 to 16 who, according to the outline, are not happy. 7% -5% of the customers. There are customers who have not completed a second vaccination. We want: 90% of the customers. Can: 30%.”

In Sportan, on the other hand, they told Ynet that they would open the country clubs. Holmes Place is also opening all branches, although in the meantime children are not allowed in those of the clubs that are intended for the whole family.

“At the moment it is forbidden, but in the next beat in two weeks we will be allowed to bring in children,” says Keren Shatui, CEO of Holmes Place. “About a year we say that our customers’ health is important to us, so because of economic matters we will leave the network closed? No.

“Technology has no problem with that: we have the ability to scan the green character. They will not open the door for you if the certificate is not synchronized with our systems, but we get angry responses from customers as if we have decided on it. It is very difficult.

“Only in Israel do people think that fitness is leisure and not a way of life and health. The world understands that it is an essential industry. Looking at Israel is distorted. There is no alternative to swimming for those with back problems. We asked them to open everything, because Edelstein said 50% of the 30s are vaccinated. That thing. “

Will customers leave you in favor of virtual lessons?
“People do not like the zoom and are not used to it. I do not think they will stay zoomed, but those who changed training in running less will want to come back. We feel people have missed, we have gained an average of 7-5 kg ​​and they feel very depressed. Some will not return due to financial situation but most will return to the gym and studio.

“Of course we leave all the zoom, live and vod classes for those who do not want to come or can not come back at this stage. There are many who are waiting for the second vaccine and I am inundated with pleas that will let them in. Unfortunately the Ministry of Health does not allow this.”

Do you allow cancellations of appointments?
“Assumes there will not be many appointment cancellations because it can be frozen until the restrictions are lifted.”

Will there be price increases following the period?
“No, at this point we have no such plans.”

The Spice network will also open on Sunday. Haim Frenkel, the owner, faced a lot of angry customers following the fact that the chain continued to charge on credit payments. “For the last two days, since we surprisingly realized we were going to open, we’ve been busy putting the shifts in. We’ve been closed for five months, some of the workers sitting at home, it’s a huge shortage of manpower.

“At the second level we are busy preparing the clubs according to the green mark, with the technological means that will allow us to check who has a vaccine certificate. The responsibility to filter people fell on us and also on the restaurants and cultural institutions, even though it is not our job. We got to say thank you for letting us work.

“Most will return. Zoom training is not an alternative in Israel. There are strong players in the world like Apple. The activity here has not taken off. There is no love and attention from the guide. Many have dropped out, see it in the obesity data. The bigger concern is that we have become a lazy generation this year “The competition is not against the zoom but against Netflix. It will take time but there is a large audience that really wants to come back. At the same time, there are many young people who do not get vaccinated and will have to look for small pirate sites or buy home equipment.”

What about customer refunds?
“We picked up a hotline and on Sunday we will start taking care of one by one. We are not running away from anyone, we have no way of escaping. You have to understand, there are businesses here that have suffered a fatal blow. They think I will employ all the workers, pay electricity and rent and not work. “And at noon we will open the clubs. Those who want to stay will stay and those who do not close the account with him and say goodbye as friends.”

All the guides are back?
“No. We are in massive recruitment and returning people will have to work more shifts. Unfortunately we will return with a smaller workforce with more hours for each sector. There are no workers.”

Ella Bar-David Shachar, who owns a Pilates studio in Haifa, is actually happy about returning to activity and especially happy about inventing the zoom. “I moved to a new studio a month before the first closure began. When they started talking about the closures I went into hysteria. I felt a huge investment go down the drain. Someone told me: There is something called a zoom. A week later I started zooming. And when we entered the first closure I informed my clients that 25 lessons Zoom workers and a very large portion of the trainees flowed with me.

“It works well, people say they feel like I’m with them at home. I pass the lessons from the studio with a good camera and I make sure to see everyone and fix. The advantage is that I teach Pilates mat and not apparatus.

“From the next week I will allow zoom classes plus 5-4 people in the studio. To my surprise a lot of people want to stay zoomed. Including vaccinated. I do not know if it is resting, or still afraid to get infected. The zoom also allows me to do specials in the studio I can not afford. “For the whole family. I also do not see myself going back to work with groups of 12-10 people. It is energetically charged for me. That way not many people practice on an air conditioner, they do not hear other trainees’ talk and you can concentrate on the lesson itself.”