Orangetheory Fitness South Tampa

Time for a new review - consistently outstanding studio. Always an easy five star.

Why?
Facility is modern spotlessly clean and everything always works.
Front desk check-in, kind of like Cheers, everybody is warm friendly and knows your name.
Coaching, beginning with the head-coach Blaze through everyone else always a great experience!
Technology, should be a given at most studios here always 100% working.

I always enjoy my visits. Back soon.

After a 3.5 year membership at Orangetheory Fitness South Tampa I am quitting. Someone else can take my status as Duchess or Duke.

The workouts are no longer challenging, the coaches do not engage the members and the cancellation policy is outrageous. $12 if you cancel within eight hours of the class.

I was paying $139 for an unlimited membership and never did not show up to class, maybe once a year. The one time I got sick in the middle of the night, I asked my husband to explain this to the staff when he went to our class, they charged me $12 anyway. I understand if people frequently cancel and that policies need to be adhered to but there should be exceptions given certain circumstances. A warning once a year or something...

The coaches are more like cattle herders these days then coaches that teach you how to do the specific movements. They are on a strict time schedule...

Equipment is getting old and now always functional. Dirt and dust everywhere. I don't think they clean.

With so many new fitness options opening up in Tampa, go someplace else.

I was in Tampa this week for a conference and wanted to get a workout in to make up for all the eating and drinking our crew would be doing. Orange Theory has been on my radar for a while, and I'm so happy I got to try it for the first time here.

I took the 7 am class with Blaze who was really energetic, challenging and attentive to me knowing it was my first time in a class.

The class is a mixture of treadmill work, rowing and strength training. With the use of the OTF Band, you can see how you are pushing yourself and while the workout is challenging, the stats on the screen motivate you to continue to push yourself. The good part is that no one exercise lasts too long, so pain is minimal for a really fun sweat sesh.

There were a few kinks at check-in, which was kind of annoying. However, the front desk team member did her best to make it a smooth of a process as possible.

Parking is limited as there are back to back classes which seem to be pretty full. Thankfully, there's also street parking in front also.

I am an OTF fan! Thanks, Blaze!

SIGN UP ASAP!!! I absolutely loved the environment in class and the energy of the coaches. I genuinely appreciate the team atmosphere but also being able to work toward personal goals. The coaches were great at explaining what exercises we would be doing and making sure proper form is being used. I got a great workout in and will definitely be sore tomorrow!

This location has a very welcoming front desk staff that is also very knowledgeable and answered all of my *new member* questions! I was especially impressed how Studio Manager Ben greeted me by NAME! It was so refreshing to already feel apart of this community at OTF! It definitely speaks wonders about their wonderful customer service. It was apparent that he really cares about everyone who walks into his studio.

Overall, a great company, staff & member experience!

Good morning Yelpers. Happy Friday!!! So, do you like to get your workout ‍ on! Well, your wait is over. I have the perfect gym for you to start your body transformation. Orangetheory Fitness is everything that you need in one short hour of nonstop circuit training! So, you say to yourself but I don't know what to do or how to do it. Well, there is a fix for that. They have the most knowledgeable and helpful coaches there to help you throughout your work out. And what's even better is that they actually tell you what to do, how long to do it for, correct you if you are not doing it right, and then they tell you when to move to the next station. How great is that! My number one coach is Blaze. Not enough words to explain how awesome of a coach that this man is. Than there is Melanie, a fierce woman for sure. Anthony, you are missed.

The customer service is of the chart.
5 Star by far! This is the best gym that I have ever joined. No regrets. Loving the new body that I am in. Thank you Orangetheory staff for being so awesome!!!

Love this place! The workouts are challenging and fun, the coaches are wonderful (Blaze and Niilo are my favorites), and the staff keeps the place very clean!

Since all Orangetheory workouts are the same, choose another location with better customer service and people skills. The female manger at this location decided to prohibit me from entering a class because she was assisting another member and then assumed I was late by the time I "checked in". I guess that's what you get for being courteous and waiting for the manager to finish assisting another person? She said since she was helping another member for several minutes, she couldn't confirm I was on time ..or late? I replied that I certainly arrived within the 5 minute policy but reiterated she was still helping someone. Manager proceeds to not let me in because she couldn't confirm. The workouts were good but I wouldn't go out of your way to this location, it truly felt like unequal treatment since the reason I didn't attend a class with empty treadmills was because she couldn't "confirm I was on time". The cherry on top: charged for the class!

AVOID THIS LOCATION

Rude management, terrible policies, terrible parking, older equipment than other locations

Just cancelled after FIVE YEARS of membership due to EXTREMELY rude manager Arjay. Would not let me attend class I had booked after I showed up SIX MINUTES past start time AND after I had called her in advance to let her know I was on the way AND when there were multiple open seats in the class. AND she charged me for a late cancellation after not letting me into the class. Said "sorry, wish there was something I could do." Pretty sure she manages this location and could do something. At the very least, she could have NOT late cancelled me since I was there and ready to take the class. She actually seemed to take pleasure in my exasperation over this ridiculous episode and made NO ATTEMPT to talk me out of cancelling my years long membership.

She seems intent on running this location into the ground. I think she is just coasting off old members like myself who have been reluctant to make a change, but the class numbers have been noticeably dropping and there are much less fully booked classes. Normally it is super busy after New Years but not so this week.

She/corporate instituted an asinine cancellation policy where you cannot even move your scheduled class to later in the day if something comes up if you are outside of the 8 hr window. That would count as a late cancellation and you'd be charged for 2 classes. This hurts members who are on the wait list and costs the studio an extra class. For example, I work and have an unpredictable schedule. I book 530 pm class. something comes up during the day so I want to move class to 645 pm, which has open seats. Even if 530 is wait listed, I would be unable to push my class back to later time without being charged late cancel for 530, unless I do this 8 hr prior. So in that situation I just don't show up or cancel because there is no point, I get charged, someone on wait list who wants to work out at 530 cannot, and I don't take the 645 pm class, so the studio loses money.

Re parking, I'm surprised every day that there isn't an accident in front of this place. The lot is small and people sit on Dale Mabry waiting to get in to get a close spot as cars have been broken into when parked on the side street.

There are way too many other options out there to deal with all of this.

The only reason I gave 2 stars instead of one is because of GREAT instructors including Blaze and Anthony who I will miss. I hope Camp or another gym hires them so I can work out with them again somewhere else.

Having been a member up at the Hilliard, OH location for several years, we moved to Tampa so I cancelled and reactivated my membership at the South Tampa location. The studio itself is a bit cramped; they crammed 15 stations in each of the three exercise areas (treadmill, tower and weight floor) so when you're on the weight floor you're constantly having to watch yourself so you don't bump into someone. They also seem to be a bit behind with the equipment upgrades; most Columbus locations have had the new treads with the screens on them for over a year now and this location still has all of the old treadmills. I would also agree with some of the other folks who've said the coaches speak really quickly and don't effectively explain what's required for each station. I'm a seasoned OTFer so I don't need as much direction but my husband was confused a few times during his first class because he didn't catch everything the coach said.

I'm giving this studio four stars because the front desk girls have been awesome throughout my and my husband's onboarding process, and it really is a great workout. We also really liked Blaze as a coach; he was high-energy and made a point to get to know the new people in class, and used members' names when calling out their progress which I always appreciated at my other studio.

I've had two bad experiences with this location.

Initially I called to sign up beccause I was a member of the OrangeTheory (OT) in MD. I was attempting to secure the same membership that I had prior to locating to Tampa (Elite Membership). Due to OT being a franchise, the MD location was not able to transfer my membership and thus I was required to cancel my existing membership and start a new membership with the South Tampa OT.

This location was not receptive to offering the same rate for the same membership that I had in Md. They were in fact rude about it, so I ceased my OT workouts since I couldn't get the same rate. It should also be noted that I canceled my MD membership in June. I reached out to OT in July so there wasn't a lapse in membership.

This past week I met an extremely nice OT rep, Ashley. She listened to my concerns and wanted to make up for my previous experience with the South Tampa location. Ashley offered me a free trial and helped me register for a class.

When I arrived to check in for my class Arjay expressed concern over the fact that I was a previous OT member and was attending a free class today. I explained why and Arjay proceeded to reluctantly set me up.

The work out was great! I love the personalization that the OT concept offers. Additionally being required to sign up, in advance, for classes ensures that you actually workout. It made me long for the workout regimen that I used to routinely participate in.

I'm giving this location a 1 star rating because, outside of Ashley and Dani (the trainer), my experience has been that the staff is just rude (I speculate due to arrogance and an elitist attitude). Some serious customer service training is warranted.

There are several reasons for my low rating.

Parking seems to be a major issue with limited availability surrounding this location. I'd rather not be attending evening or early morning classes, when it's dark, and have to walk around a dark corner to a side street where the over flow parking is located.

Additionally, the instructor was fabulous however the instructions provided in advance of the class were so fast that it makes it difficult to capture key points.

Finally, my biggest concern is that I asked Arjay rather my trail was good for today only or a week? I asked this question because I work outside of Tampa proper and wanted to test out going to a weekday class to better discern what times would work best for me and which membership would match my ability to make it to this location. Arjay's response to this question was "well technically you weren't even supposed to have had a free class, since you were previously a member."

Now I understand why she was so baffled when I explained that my previous interaction with this location wasn't copacetic because the staff was rude to me previously. She in fact seemed unwilling to accept that I was told that I would have incurred a rate increase had I signed up for an Elite membership at South Tampa.

Arjay evidently has no concern for my previous experience (because she disbelieves it) and doesn't see me as a potential new customer that OT has to work to convince or attempt to sell to.

I also believe that she doesn't see her reaction and her words as rude. Arjay perceives her response as normal and acceptable.

Arjay could have avoided this pitfall by simply stating "our location offers a 1-day/class free trial." That would have softened her message AND answered my question.

I think that OT has a great business model but they need to start afresh with a new staff that is trained in the art of customer service as this problem area seems to be a reoccurring theme for this location.

I'm grateful to Ashley for going above and beyond and to the Dani (trainer) for showing me modifications. Unfortunately this is overshadowed because the staff (in this instance meaning Arjay) are whom customers see first and last.

They leave a lasting impression that isn't appetizing and has me questioning rather I reward bad behavior by signing up or do I just walk away?

It's a shame OT doesn't realize that it's not just the workout but the quality of the staff that makes such a business great and encourages people to return and refer others.