REF: 66-2209-250228 - Sports Centre Membership

Your comment: I am currently looking at sports centre membership, as I am no longer living in university accommodation. I thoroughly enjoyed using the swimming pool last year. I have calculated that, if I purchase the 135 membership, I would need to swim 3 times a week, every week until June, to cover the cost of the membership. I am very happy to pay for each visit individually, but it occurred to me that it might be worth raising the idea of offering membership options with access to only specific sports centre facilities for a cheaper price. Obviously I don't know whether this option has been ruled out in the past, but I feel that it would be of benefit to a lot of students. Thank you :)

Our response:

Thanks for the email regarding the £135 deal which offers unlimited access to all areas.
We historically offered individual gold memberships for the pool, gym, classes and climbing, however, this heavily disadvantaged students that were wanting to use areas that saw a smaller footfall. For example, the gym (gold membership) would have 500 visits/users per day whereas the climbing wall would only see around 30-40. This resulted in the climbing (Gold) package being a lot more expensive than the gym package. There was lots of subsidising across facilities which made it very difficult to justify developing projects/areas in isolation. To cover the planning and overheads, and offer a great value for money package, it was agreed to simplify the membership categories and offer access to all areas for the price of what one gold membership would have cost. This increased the number of Platinum members joining hence you can now access all areas for £135. Prior to the introduction of the Platinum membership in 2017, a swim only gold would have cost £120.
We review/compare the market rates for other Welsh universities year on year and can confidently state we continue to offer the best value for money when it comes to sport, health and wellbeing.
The calculation below shows the cost if you visit the pool (PAYG) 3 times a week.
£3.50 per visit x 3 = £10.50 per week x37 weeks = £388.50
FYI - if you swim once a week @£3.50 until the end of term (June 2023), you will have paid the cost of the Platinum membership. If you purchase the £135 deal, obviously you could swim every day and have the options to use the gyms, classes, climbing wall and access to the track.
I hope this helps to show we are offering great value for money for all students using the wide range of facilities offered.