Originally Posted by Unimatrix One
Yes, hotel fitness centers generally suck. I used to choose my hotels based on which ones had gyms, but I gave up after several stays at hotels where the gyms were worthless. Now I just schedule my travel in short enough trips so I never go too long away from home (so I can work out at my local health club when I want to).
And can someone please explain to me what the hell is up with hotel pools? Why are 90% of hotel pools WAY too short to swim real laps in? I would love to swim laps during my trips, but hotel pools are almost all so small and useless. What's the point of having a pool if you're going to make it that small?
A lot of hotels have deals with local health clubs for cheap day passes. Even if they don't you can usually find a cheap day pass in nearly every city. I believe most of the national chains (Gold's, Bally's) allow you to use any of their clubs if you're a member somewhere else.
Being a retired military officer, I also am lucky enough to be able to use a fitness center at any military base.
Concerning your pool question, my guess is that there's a maximum size and/or depth of pool a business can have without having to provide a lifeguard?