Bally Total Fitness Announces Latest Customer Service Advance: Online Membership Account Access.

Business Editors

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 16, 2001

Bally Total Fitness' Customer Service Initiatives Earn Recognition

From Industry Watchdog Organization

Bally Total Fitness (NYSE:BFT) today announced its latest initiative to add further value to its memberships and enhance satisfaction among its members. Effective immediately, Bally's members can access their individual membership accounts online through the company's website, www.ballyfitness.com. With this new service, members can access payment and renewal information, membership expiration dates and other important membership information.

A recent survey of Bally members revealed that over 75% have Internet access and many are interested in accessing their membership account online. Winnie Clark, Bally Total Fitness' assistant vice president, direct and interactive marketing, noted, "We believe online account access will significantly increase our members' satisfaction as it enables them to see for themselves the precise status of their accounts." Clark continued, "It's an important new initiative that builds on the many improvements we have initiated to both build the value of our memberships and enhance the service we provide to our members."

Bally Total Fitness Makes Great Strides in Customer Service - Invited to Join IHRSA

As a result of the great strides Bally has made in customer service over the past several years, the company was recently invited to join the International Health Racquet and Sports Club Association (IHRSA) as the industry trade association's largest member. IHRSA was founded 20 years ago to help the young and highly fragmented industry improve its market and guard against the kinds of practices leading to low customer satisfaction.

"Bally's member retention is among the best in the industry," said IHRSA Executive Director John McCarthy. "One major reason for this is their increased attention to customer service - and Bally is setting industry standards for community service and minority involvement in large part because of their sensitivity to these issues. Consequently, we are very pleased to welcome Bally Total Fitness as a member of IHRSA. We believe that Bally's management team and its ongoing initiatives to continue to improve customer satisfaction will contribute a great deal to the success and stature of the industry as a whole."

Since late 1996, when the company's current management team took responsibility for leadership of the company, Bally has developed a number of initiatives to enhance the enrollment experience and build overall member satisfaction. Norm Cates, Publisher of the respected Atlanta-based trade publication, The Club Insider News, and the first IHRSA President in 1981, said, "Bally Total Fitness' executive management team has made truly meaningful strides in the Bally operation. The company has impressed the entire founding and current leadership of IHRSA with their changes and improvements, resulting in a unanimous vote by the IHRSA Board and the Advisory Council to invite Bally Total Fitness to join the Association. Bally has dramatically changed the landscape for the better in our industry and I am confident that Lee Hillman and his team will continue to make the Bally Total Fitness organization better for consumers across North America." Cates continued, "The latest customer service advance by Bally, its online membership account access initiative, is just more evidence of the excellent innovative customer thinking at Bally Total Fitness." Specific initiatives previously launched by the company include:

-- Institution of a code of conduct and training program calling for integrity
in all employees' actions -- with a practice of strict adherence

-- Modification of the company's membership contract forms to ensure clarity
and ease of comprehension

-- Development of a program to coordinate with consumer advocates across the
country, including attorneys general and Better Business Bureaus, to ensure
prompt attention to and resolution of potential issues

-- Computerization and centralization of the company's membership contracting
system to ensure consistent sales procedures and pricing in all facilities

-- Implementation of an aggressive shopping program to ensure policies are
being followed in all facilities

-- Development of a computerized quality assurance system, enabling management
to rapidly identify potential noncompliance among salespeople

-- Creation of a consistent, uniform sales presentation and materials to be
used in all facilities nationwide

In addition to these specific initiatives listed above, Bally has also invested in excess of $200 million in facility and equipment upgrades throughout its system over the past four years, including nearly 20,000 pieces of new, state-of-the-art exercise equipment. Not only that, but the company has also invested aggressively in the development of innovative fitness programming for members both in group exercise and one-on-one training settings. These investments have also contributed significantly to the growing level of satisfaction registered by Bally's members as evidenced through the company's increased member renewal rate.

Bally is the largest and only nationwide commercial operator of fitness centers, with approximately four million members and nearly 390 fitness centers located in 28 states and Canada. For more information visit www.ballyfitness.com.