Over this past year, I have gone on a fitness journey that has genuinely changed my life. Given the pandemic and changes in medications, I had gained quite a bit of weight that, to be honest, was unhealthy for me. Thus, at the end of last year, we got a Peloton Bike.
I have ridden it almost everyday, and, while traveling, supplemented it with outside running using the Peloton app (just FYI, running around the Tower of London and up the Thames River is really cool).
In October, it was announced that Peloton would put bikes in every Hilton-branded hotel in the US. I’m not going to speculate on how this deal came together, but I do think that it’s a pretty cool initiative that likely moves the spend needle for many consumers to book with Hilton.
I’ve used Pelotons at hotels before. More specifically, I’ve used them at The Confidante in Miami and at the Omni Parker House in Boston with mixed success (The height adjustment knob was broken at The Confidante, making it so I couldn’t move the seat to the height I need it, and the Omni Parker House was great with well-maintained bikes). I’ve also used them in a gym that I’m a part of here in DC (again, with mixed success). Thus, I was intrigued about the announcement between the two brands and interested in putting these bikes to the test.
Over Christmas, I have had the opportunity to try out this partnership during my stay at a Home2 Suites by Hilton in your run-of-the-mill side-of-the-road hotel that we were staying at, which was close to family. I’ll briefly go over my experience using the Peloton bikes, and then I’ll give my thoughts about whether or not this will be a long-term partnership that I think is beneficial for Peloton, Hilton, and, most importantly, consumers.
Also, in case you would like a 60 day free trial, you can use my link here. (I don’t get anything from the link.) If you want to follow me on Peloton, you can follow me at ProfOfPoints.
My Experience Riding the Peloton at Hilton Hotels
The Home2 Suites by Hilton that I was staying at had the gym right off the lobby on the first floor. Within the gym, there were water bottles and towels, which was a nice touch. Additionally, for those who needed them, the hotel provided cheap disposable earbuds to be able to use the Peloton bike (or the TVs on their other equipment).
The bikes were stationed at the far end of the workout room. In this specific Hilton, there were 2 bikes, and I used both of them across different days.
Each of the two bikes had a pair of 2 pound Peloton weights and sat on a Peloton-branded mat.
As with a lot of hotel gym equipment, the bikes were not really that far separated, so really only one person could work out at a time without being awkward.
Logging into my account was quite easy. I simply entered in my username and password, and I was logged in.
Each bike worked more less as expected, although I did have some minor issues (which I’ll discuss later on in this post).
At the end of my workout, I logged out and went on with my day. What’s really cool is that the bikes are set up to automatically log you out after a specific period of time. Thus, if you forget to log out on these specific bikes, no one would be able to access your information. I found this out when having to respond to a Slack message, which took a bit of time. I returned to see the following screen.
This hotel had disinfectant wipes, and I wiped down the seat, handlebar, resistance knob, and the back of the screen (where I could adjust the volume) after I finished working out.
Thoughts on My Experience using the Peloton Bikes at Hilton
I really appreciated the ability to use a Peloton at the Hilton. I was on track to hit 10,000 minutes for the year on my Peloton (which I hit on December 31st!), and, as a numbers guy, the thing I love about Peloton is the ability to get lots of data on my performance and track it over time.
That being said, I have mixed feelings about this partnership.
- It’s probably going to be difficult to get on one while at some hotels.
At this hotel, they had 2 bikes. Given the hotel’s location, I had zero issues with having to wait to use it. However, I can imagine at some locations which function as conference hotels in large business-oriented areas. For example, and I have no idea why I’m thinking about this hotel, the Hilton Atlanta has 1,242 rooms. I just can’t imagine that the fitness center has enough space for enough Pelotons so that they are easily accessible. I can see a pseudo-line forming to be able to access the Peloton.
Is it a deal-breaker for the average Hilton that someone is staying at? Probably not. However, I do think that this could be a real source of frustration for customers as they seek to continue to engage with their workout.
- The bikes will have to be maintained, and I’m not convinced that a large amount of hotels will make that an active effort.
I was at a Hilton that was in a small city about an hour from Nashville. I can’t imagine that that many people ride the Peloton at this specific location. Indeed, every day that I went into the gym, both bikes were at the height that I had left it the previous days. Thus, I doubt the front desk people have much experience fixing it if there was an issue.
For example, on my stay, one bike needed an update midway through the week. I hit update, and it needed to be reset up (i.e., it tried to make my profile the base profile, which I wasn’t going to do). When I mentioned it to the front desk, they had no idea how to set it up so that it would work, and they would call someone. I also question that whoever will fix it will fix it right (i.e., is it set up for a hotel? Where it logs me out automatically if it has no response from me?).
Additionally, the second bike had a really strong lag between turning the resistance knob and actually showing up on the screen. Again, after mentioning it to the front desk, they said they would get someone to come look at it.
I don’t envy working the front desk at a hotel. There is only so much they can do. However, management/ownership needs to have systems in place so that these problems can be fixed immediately. Is it probably different in a big city hotel (like the Hilton Atlanta)? Maybe. But who knows? They need to be maintained for this partnership to move some of my stays over to Hilton.
- Given the nature of the workout, and how Peloton has shown to get people to work harder at their workouts, they need to be cleaned regularly.
This is really picky. I am a firm believer in cleaning equipment after you use it at a public gym. Not everyone does it, but, generally speaking, at most public gyms, you see that happen.
Given that the Peloton is typically an in-home, personal device, I do wonder if the cleanliness of shared equipment might be an issue. Do people instinctively not do it because they normally don’t do it at home?
I have ZERO data on this. It’s a hypothesis (and I’m not even sure it’s a good one). But it’s a thought I had. Regardless, always clean the equipment before you use it. Every hotel gym should have disinfectant wipes to use. Just use them.
Final Thoughts
I love the idea of being able to use a Peloton bike when I’m traveling for work. It’s a great workout, and, now that Peloton has finally determined that they aren’t a hardware company, but an EaaS (Exercise-as-a-Service) company, this is probably a great way to build brand loyalty and do some marketing to those traveling.
That being said, it likely doesn’t move the needle on making Hilton my go-to hotel while traveling, which is still Hyatt. However, I think it does give Hilton a leg-up as my second choice when I’m unable to use a Hyatt for whatever reason. I look forward to using the bike in the future when I am staying at a Hilton in the US.
Will you be switching stays to Hilton so you can use the Peloton bikes?
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