spa therapist

fitness consultant

front of house assistant

cleaner

cafe assistant

Bannatyne

I have worked here for just short of 3 years and it is genuinely the worst place I have ever worked. Staff on the ground (none managerial) are over worked, under paid, undervalued, talked down to, talked about, unable to take proper breaks, expected to work overtime with no pay and there has been known bullying and harassment taking place that higher management and HR have been brushing under the carpet for years. It is an extremely hostile and unpleasant working environment, apart from a select few members of staff that make your shifts half bearable when you’re working with them. Insufficient training is provided, in the way of taking spa bookings and dealing with spa enquiries and working across other departments that aren’t in your job description (however this isn’t mentioned in the interview process). The high turn over of staff is also unreal, in my short time here I would say I have seen 30+ staff come and go, but management and HR can’t seem to understand why/don’t want to see there is a genuine issue. Some of the management have worked here for 10+ years and have now become part of the furniture and find it near impossible to lead by example and do the job they’re employed to do. The poor management means that staff have lack of respect and are able to do virtually what ever they want (but only if their face fits). Management have been known to sit in offices getting their hair and makeup done for hours at a time, being fake tanned in the changing rooms, go and do a session in the gym or go from office to office talking and slagging off staff and all of this is whilst they are on shift. However, if you’re a normal member of staff and dare to step away from your department or they can’t see you, you are watched on cctv, or they put a tannoy announcement out for you, I have even been followed into the toilets before - yet anything specific management do is overlooked? Myself and multiple members of staff have been bullied and harassed by a couple of individuals resulting in a decline of mental heath and forcing others to leave, yet there isn’t a bullying concern at this club? Bullying and harassment has been reported time and time again by multiple staff members however, once you do this you are seen as a ‘problem’ and they try and force you out - sometimes with success. There is no point reporting this to HR or any higher management as they’re investigation/grievance process is near to none and you are made out to be a liar. I suffered being harassed for over a year which resulted in developing further mental health problems. This was known to multiple staff members and reported to management/higher management and HR however, they managed to brush this under the carpet and started to single me out. I saw one response to a review on here from someone in HR saying they ‘care for their people’, Bannatyne doesn’t know what it is to care they are just interested in protecting their image and forcing people out who choose to speak out about things that should not be happening in the work place. The happiest time of working here was when I handed my notice in and I feel sorry for anyone who still works here/chooses to work here.

I worked as a Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer at Bannatyne, and unfortunately, my experience was quite disappointing. While the role itself had potential, the company's poor management, low pay, and exploitative policies made it an overall frustrating job.

Salary & PT Commission:
One of the biggest issues was the salary—it was shockingly low, on par with the cleaning staff. On top of that, the PT commission structure was abysmal. If you trained a client while on shift, the company took a massive 90% cut of the session fee, leaving you with almost nothing for your time and effort. Even off-shift PT work wasn’t much better, making it nearly impossible to earn a decent income.

Management & Cost-Cutting Culture:
Management, particularly higher-ups, seemed more concerned with maximizing their own bonuses than actually running a well-functioning gym. Budgets were constantly cut, and corners were shaved wherever possible. Instead of hiring a full cleaning team, they forced fitness staff to clean changing rooms, the poolside, and other areas—tasks completely outside of our job description. This was not only demoralising but also a clear sign of how little they valued their fitness team.

Equipment & Maintenance Issues:
Equipment was often old and in poor condition, and the company was extremely reluctant to replace or even properly maintain it. Complaints about broken machines, worn-out weights, or faulty air conditioning were regularly ignored or brushed off as "not in the budget."

If you’re passionate about fitness and looking for a company that supports its staff, Bannatyne is not the place. The pay is terrible, the PT structure is unfair, and management is more focused on cutting costs than improving the gym experience. Unless they make major changes, I would strongly advise personal trainers and fitness instructors to look elsewhere for better opportunities.

I enjoyed the general nature of my job and building my skills in the beauty industry although the work was very labour intensive and would be full 8 hour days of back to back massages with no breaks apart from 30 mins unpaid at lunch and 2/3 mins to change rooms in between clients. Unhygienic practices.
Therapists left to our own devices with hardly any support from manager, or would have to awkwardly go into office in which it felt like we were ‘bothering’ management team and was told to deal with various complaints etc on our own in a annoyed manner without proper procedures. Clients could see us over worked and stressed as spa manager sat on computer doing ‘paperwork’ every day? It was very embarrassing and had clients feeling sorry for us instead of the team being able to put on a relaxing spa experience for them. All about making company money. Senior positions picking and choosing which treatments they would like to do and moving more physically tiring treatments to other workers who are recently employed or not going to speak up for themselves. Pay was minimum wage and I personally was there a number in years with no view of advancing positions or salary increase.
No recognition for hard work we did, no incentives for pushing yourself or training. Very debilitating workspace. All training no transferable outside of Bannatyne! Unfortunate as loved working in team and generally good workers who work hard together, just deserve better pay and more breaks! A health club who’s not caring about there Spa Therapists Health at all!!! Would not recommend as first beauty job even though repetitive days helped me have good confidence with skills, unfortunately disheartened my career path in this industry. Smaller spas seem to care more about health guidelines, proper pay etc.

Co-Workers are friendly as are the Members. 
I have learned a lot form my position however the company has no training programmes in place to train new starters or to progress staff. 
Management in most areas of the club are fairly relaxed however the sales office is very micro managed. 
In the sales office you must hit targets, failure to hit targets leads to performance management and this can be demoralising. I have not had this myself but have seen this with other Staff members. 
Best benefit is the use of the club.
Personally the customer interaction with potential, new and long term members is one of the most enjoyable parts of the role. 
As sales and marketing manager you are very much involved with the marketing of the club as a lot of it is organised in club and you can also design marketing or leave it to the company we order our marketing from to design… I really enjoy marketing and the role allows a lot of freedom with the marketing if you are confident with it and is great for building experience in this particular part of the role. 
The clubs quality of classes and cleanliness is maintained to a high standard, this makes both selling the club easy and enjoyable to use. 
The hardest part of the job is doing everything expected of the role in 40hours a week… Since I have been there they have increased the paperwork and the reports and many other parts of the role without a pay increase and changed the commission structure for the Sales Managers (in my opinion very much for the worse and this also saves the company a lot of money!) 
If you work extra you don’t get paid extra and you don’t get these hours back.

At first I really enjoyed working here but within a month I realised how two faced and nasty 90% of the staff are, including managers. It is very cliquey and if you are not the favourite then you get given the worst tasks, any requested holidays off declined and completely bitched about.  The staff who are the favourites are also the ones who spend most of their time on their phones, putting little effort into anything when out the back...receiving zero discipline. Judging by another review on here it is clear that a few years on things are still the same. Managers and other staff will happily laugh at you and call you stupid behind your back rather than nicely correcting you on your mistakes. I spent most of my shifts in a room on my own polishing cutlery rather than being in the restaurant or bar. To have made it more fair the tasks should have been evenly shared amongst staff rather than because of favouritism. A lot of the chefs had anger issues and I get that it can be stressful for them but shouting aggressively and abusively is not acceptable, especially name calling behind staffs backs to other staff members. I ended up resigning instantly after 10 months because I could not handle feeling anxious 24-7 on the job. I was so scared about making a mistake and being laughed at and bitched about behind my back. Maybe if the restaurant actually trained staff and disciplined the staff who are the 'favourites', along with giving the other staff a chance then the Trip Advisor reviews would improve. Be prepared to also work long hours and if you are not the 'favourite' then be ready to work the worst possible hours that nobody wants.

The company is ran by unprofessional and uneducated management, who has no people or any other crucial skills required for the position. You always feel undermined, unvalued, disrespected. General manager seems to be dealing with personality issues and narcissism. HR department is appalling with little care for the people working in the company, rather acting as a lawyer for the GM.  Your personal concerns, issues, problems will never be listened.  Management is all about showing power end endless ego.  
The motivation and passion for fitness slowly fades as you are forced to scrub the gym every 2 hours, deep clean after classes and do pool tests all day. You get lucky if you do 2 group classes a week! The rest of the job is pure cleaning, so you should better apply to be a cleaner elsewhere as it might be paid better than a minimal wage! Personal training is not an option either as you only get 10% of the session price. Ridiculous... Also to mention, they like to underpay people if they have an opportunity. 
No benefits at all working for the company. You are forced to pay for the courses and qualifications they want you to have. You cannot bring partner or family member to the gym either. Bannatyne company cares all about the money. Staff turnover is unbelievable as no-one gets appreciated. 
No flexibility asking a time off. Management likes to make everything seem difficult . To plan a holidays is a massive headache, because most of the time your request gets declined for no reason. 

HORRIBLE workplace.  Please do not apply and do not waste your time. 

I've thoroughly enjoyed working for Bannatyne over the years, no two days are the same! I've been able to develop a number of skills and gain qualifications during my time at Bannatyne as the company will invest time and money in those that show a desire to learn and progress.

Working within the health clubs is great environment to work in; as your customers are present during their leisure time. this generally creates a laid back and enjoyable atmosphere. Getting to know your members is one of the best parts of the job, as you get the opportunity to talk to thousands of members who walk through the door you'll no doubt create a variety of different relationships!

I'd say the hardest part of the job is the service hours/days; we're open seven days a week and depending on your shift/role will generally work between 05:30-22:30. These type of hours simply come with working in this industry! However this is something you become accustomed to and if you can get past it, Bannatyne is a really enjoyable place to work.

The progression opportunities are fantastic at Bannatyne; I personally started back in 2012 as a part time Membership Advisor, by 2014 I was a Sales & Marketing Manager and by 2017 I was a General Manager! I know of plenty of other General Managers/Regional Managers who started in entry level positions, this really is a company that prefers to develop and promote from within if the right person is available!

Bannatyne's Health Club and Spa is a place to workout and socialise too. 
My typical day at work involved maintaining the tidyness of the reception desk, answering any queries over the phone or face to face, helping to sell any of the retail products, taking payments, processing gift cards, checking in spa guests, providing sales tours for people wanting to join and helping out on the cafe when needed. 
I also was responsible for either the start of day banking or end of day banking, along with keeping the daily reports up to date. 
I learned alot about the internal computer system and the different reports required for the end of day jobs to be ticked off. 
I also learnt about different selling techniques when providing tours of the gym and to encourage people to sign up.
Management was constantly changing whilst I was there, but my recent manager had many ideas of how to improve/change the gym before I left. This included updating the equipment, changing the colour scheme etc.
All of this I felt was necessary and good for the club.
I got on well with my co-workers and everybody pulled together to get the jobs done.
The hardest part of my job here was when we were short on staff and I had to help out on the cafe, whilst manning the reception desk also. At one point I was running all over the place, but I got some great feedback from the members.
The most enjoyable part of the job was the different friendships that formed with the members and my co-workers, along with the very great benefit of the free gym membership.

I work at the Head Office in Darlington as a Time and Attendance Administrator. My day to day role involves being in contact with many different staff across lots of departments and contacting staff within the Health Clubs. It is largely spent on a computer and on the phone but the variety of different areas I work with keeps it interesting.

I began as a receptionist, then moved on to being an administrator before this role. Soon I will be moving into a field based HR role. I have constantly learnt more and more with this company and gained invaluable experience. The staff and company have invested in me and my progression. 

I cannot fault the management I have worked with as they have always been supportive and helped me to believe in myself. I have worked across two health club sites and the head office and have always found the workplace culture friendly and welcoming. I've always felt valued and like part of a team.

The hardest part of the job is probably the difference across the month of volume of work, when it is quieter in my department I tend to help the HR and Payroll departments, there is always something to do. But then the busiest time for my department can be quite full on which I don't mind as you feel like you have achieved something each month once you've got through it.

The most enjoyable part has to be the teams I work with, everyone is committed to their job but nice to have a laugh with to break the day up. I definitely plan on continuing my career with this company.

Work front of house ensuring members have a pleasant experience at the club. Answer any queries and offer supreme customer service.  Also assist the membership team and pass on enquiries to increase the number of members to ensure sales targets are completed. 

typical day at Bannatyne's  would be to making sure all enquires are dealt with take payments for membership, stock or goods, deal with any front of house issues. 

What I had learned about this job role was how to deal with memberships in an amazing and presentable customer service way, I also got a good insight to different departments such as personal training and sales, giving me a boarder understanding on how they work and how I could present them from front desk. 

The management and co workers were fantastic to work with as I really enjoyed working with everyone and was very sad to leave when progressing my career and to a higher step. 

The hardest part of my job was dealing with a queue's of nearly up to 20 people with different issues and again sometimes having to cover the front desk on my own when short staffed or working more hours due to people being unwell which again I didn't mind. the most enjoyable part of my job was working with people I enjoyed working with and see most of the members come into the club as I had very strong relationships with most of the members inside and outside the working environment.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Spa therapist 324 salaries reported	£13.26 per hour
Fitness consultant 230 salaries reported	£12.66 per hour
Front of house assistant 177 salaries reported	£12.44 per hour
Cleaner 164 salaries reported	£12.45 per hour
Cafe assistant 109 salaries reported	£12.45 per hour

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