The Place is widely believed to be the best gym in Phnom Penh (except for the few dissenters who favor the Sofitel), and it’s certainly the most expensive. They’re doing another rate hike on June 1st, so if you are thinking of joining, go now. I reluctantly joined last year and after six months of membership, offer you this unbiased review.
Laps or lounging, your choice.
The Place is huge–there’s an outdoor pool, a floor of mostly free weights and other weight equipment, another floor of mostly cardio, including at least twenty treadmills and half a dozen crosstrainers, plus a room of weight machines. On the top floor are studios for classes, which are included in the membership prices. Some of the current offerings are: spinning, yoga, pilates, body pump, zumba, stretching, Khmer dancing, and karate.
Pumpin’ iron Phnom Penh
The Place is an undeniably nice fitness center–air-conditioning throughout, everything is super clean and all of the machines have been recently replaced with Technogym equipment, which is apparently very expensive and high tech. The cardio equipment all have television on them that also, to my great pleasure and dismay, have solitaire and other card games. This slows one’s pace down considerably, but can keep me on the machine for an hour.
Personal training fees are $20 for most of the trainers, and the friends I have who use the trainers are happy with the training.
Playing solitaire while running–not easy, but well worth it.
Lest it seem that I am completely happy with the Place, let me enumerate its lesser qualities. They’re clearly doing everything they can to make the place more expensive–immediately after adding the Technogym equipment they put up signs saying that if you wanted to learn how to use it, you should pay a $20 training fee. Much of the equipment is confusing, and the staff aren’t proactive in helping you figure out how to use it. Members don’t get to bring guests, ever. I tried to bring a friend who was willing to pay the exorbitant daily rate, and because we wanted to go for a class, leave for lunch and come back and use the weights, we were told he would have to pay for two day passes, for a total of $30. It’s a ridiculous policy and goes a long way towards alienating their members.
Despite going there five times a week, I feel no affection for the place, which is a shame. Nonetheless, I will continue to go there. If you’re looking for a high-end gym in Phnom Penh, this or the Sofitel are your best options, and The Place is the most central.
The Place to be.
The new rates starting on June 1st are: 1 session, $15, 10 sessions (in one month) $130, 1 month $180, 3 months $380, 6 months $600, 1 year $880, 2 years $1,450. Around the big Cambodian holidays they usually have promotions that give about $100 off for a year-long membership, but the promotions seem to be getting smaller and smaller.
The Place
11 Pasteur St (Street 51), across from Wat Lanka, BKK1, Phnom Penh
T: 069 876 777
www.theplace-gym.com
The price is too expensive. like more expensive than in america, if the price is decrease i would love to go, The Place gym should be a good price, because not only one person workout there, there’re a lot of ppl. So the price should be normal around 400-450$ PER YEAR
sound really interesting,i wanna try there.
I bought a years membership at the place for $650. I found the place is over-staffed. About 8 girls on the front desk doing nothing and an abundance of male staff who spend most of their time in the changing rooms chatting to each other. That’s where the money goes. The facilities are nice, it is clean, and it’s hardly crowded. Contrasted against the Cambodiana, 1 smart girl on the counter and 1 or 2 gym staff who keep themselves busy. Different management styles.
I’m guessing the staff make about $100/month maximum, so I doubt the price is being influenced by the staff costs. They’re using new equipment that is far more expensive and abundant than what’s available at Cambodiana, which is probably part of the reason for higher costs.
I agree with Martin that most of the staff are there wasting their time and just trying to create a “wow”effect. As the article author said I myself did not feel any affection in about 2 years attending the gym. Staff seems just to care about the money and not the satisfaction on the gym users. This surely depends on the Management guidelines which I find very money addicted. For about 1 year then, the wi-fi inside the gym was so poor that at times you could connect yourself to some of the bars/cafes surrounding the compound. Eventually they did upgrade the wi-fi, after hundred of complains from furious customers. As I don’t intend to commit for year long membership, I will try Cambodiana.
too much 880USD per year, even the california Gym that specialize for this is expensive about 500USD per year in HCM city but not as crazy as this price.
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Mark, I agree about the staff trying to close the place early every night. I often work out late and have to ask them to turn the machines back on–45 minutes before they are supposed to close and then they give me the stink-eye until I leave.
My other gripe is that they have no reasonable plan for people that are in and out of town. 10 passes for $130 is sort of reasonable, except for the fact that you have to use them in a month. Cambodiana has a better deal.
Hi. I received the gym membership voucher for a year and plan to sell off. Any serious buyer please pm me at aaronincambodia@yahoo.com.
They are running a 5th anniversary promotion now – $720 for a new annual membership, $650 for existing members to renew for a year.
Thats the most ridiculous pricing for a gym, Im from america and they dont even have gyms that expensive. Your talking about $25 to about $70 a month gyms in America, if you want more people even tourist to come to your gym do something with your pricing. I live here now and will be for a year and will never pay your over charged facility, dont get me wrong its a beautiful gym but no where worth that much a month.
^^Agree^^
Hi have to respectfully disagree with Jay here when i)t comes to comparing the Place to gyms in the States. I have been a member of several back home over the years(and a handful overseas in various countries for that matter), and the place is worth more than any I have seen in the States for one simple reason – the equipment to member ration is dramatically better. Waiting in line for equipment is par for the course in gyms in the States, and was always the biggest negative for me by far. I have never waited in line for anything at the Place in 2 years as a member and that has great value in my mind. They have twice as many treadmills as they need, twice as many weight benches, etc. Frankly they seem to have wasted a lot of money buying more equipment than they need, but benefit is for those of us who value our time and don’t want to waste it waiting for things at the gym. For that alone I would pay the extra charge. Also, the main competition (Core Fitness), closes too early and their A/C isn’t strong enough. The Place has no competition in PP, and I would pay twice what they charge me frankly.
Only complaint is the staff late at night. They start shutting the place down 40 minutes before closing time, then seem to glare at you for not letting them go home early if you are still working out. C’mon ownership, will it really cost that much to have the cleaning crew come in AFTER the place closes??
Hi,
I’m Giulia and I work in the web division of Technogym. If you want to get more infos on training programs to do in the gym, take a look at our wellness area: http://www.technogym.com/gb/wellness/498
You’ll find lots of interesting advices to improve your quality of life
Thanks,
Giulia