VIDA - City Vista

Negative experience: Over the winter I would have rated this one star during the construction - gym was packed to the gills, couldn't use a machine without being asked how much longer I was using the machine, and machines constantly broken. Now, it's more spacious but often, equipment/amenities continue to remain broken. Management emails near weekly about the A/C issues b/c of the owner not address filtration issues, it's very uncomfortable in several spots, worsening crowding in cooler areas. I was also disappointed to find out guest passes are just one time only, whereas my partner gets 2 passes at Bouldering Project each month and he pays less than I do. I do love the pilates classes, but you have to purchase them outside of your membership and they're wildly expensive. Finally, I'd say about 50% of the time I come in, they run out of towels at the front desk.

Negative experience: All water fountains have had old unchanged filters for months now. Toxic water. Dirty.

Negative experience: I've been working out at VIDA for over 10 years, and the overall upkeep and maintenance of their gyms has really gone downhill. And the City Vista location is among the worst. I prefer the U St location, but come here because it's a short bike ride from where I live. For the past several weeks, the air conditioning has not been working in large sections of the gym. A notice was put up in the new section of the men's locker room saying it would be fixed within a week. That deadline has come and gone. <> The A/C isn't working in other parts of the gym either, and temperatures are routinely 80-85 degrees. In an attempt to cool the facility while it's being "fixed", they've brought in huge fans that just blow hot air around. They've also placed several industrial-sized portable air conditioners that don't seem to be doing much good either. Throughout all this, there have been no notifications from Vida management pushed to the app. One would think they'd alert members if the A/C wasn't working. In fact, it wasn't working properly last summer either. In addition to these problems, the men's locker room is often a mess, with towels piled up, dirty shower stalls and sinks, and the sanitizing wipe dispensers are often empty, etc. Depending on the day and time, the front desk staff are either talking among themselves or on their phones. Vida has gotten away with all this because they occupy a certain niche. They're cheaper than Equinox, but nicer than budget gyms like NY Sports Club and Planet Fitness. So I guess they don't feel the need to change. Also, they seem to have been laser-focused on opening up new locations in VA while the DC locations get no love.

Negative experience: Updates have done little to address crowding - especially given how much equipment is consistently broken.

Negative experience: Looks like they really don't care about anything

Negative experience: This location is by far the worst of all Vida locations. The front desk staff is consistently rude, offers no smiles, and lacks basic customer service. They're often distracted with other tasks or conservations with another staff, and it's clear there is no proper training in place. For a brand that promotes inclusivity and diversity, this location and its team also fail to reflect those values, unless you're white.

Negative experience: This is the state of my $200/month luxury gym. 90% of the lockers don't work, electrical components are hanging out of the wall in the sauna, and the toilet paper rolls are strewn about both stalls in the men's locker room. Get it together. The employees are all very friendly and competent, and the recent renovations are a great improvement, but that is not an excuse to ignore the routine upkeep required to make a "luxury" gym worth the money when there are other options on the market.

Fantastic experience: Hi! Will the City Vista location be getting a cold plunge soon? Especially now that the Logan Circle location has 2 and there was a recent expansion on the City Vista location. Thank you!

Fantastic experience: What a transformation of the City Vista Vida location! While the expansion was a slight disruption in the flow of my workout, the result is a fantastic new space with an abundance of equipment and workout areas. I look forward to spending my time there daily. Great work!

Fantastic experience: While it took a bit, the new expansion has proven to be worth the wait. To be clear, the renovations aren’t fully complete and there is definitely still work being done so it’s not perfect, especially in the locker room area (but it’s getting close). The expanded weight floor includes two full size cable systems and free weight areas with turf, extensive cardio and squat racks. Again, not perfect but a vast improvement. I’ve been a member since 2008, originally at Gallery Place. I never thought I would stay as City Vista seemed subpar to me, but this has changed my mind. Highly recommend.

Negative experience: This is not a gym for meeting your fitness goals. Insufficient variety and number of equipment, and way too crowded. When I complained to the staff that they weren’t taking action to fix the equipment or provide clean towels, an employee there literally said I was mean for complaining and threatened to revoke my membership if I complained again. This location is tone deaf towards customers and needs a total culture change. Also, the men’s steam room hasn’t worked in at least six months. When I told an employee about it, they tried to tell me the steam room was working just fine.

Negative experience: Heed the other recent poor reviews. This isnt simply a matter of members frustrated with construction - though I cant say I enjoy dodging construction workers or being exposed to bare wires during my workout - this is the most poorly run Vida in the chain. On top of the numerous other issues mentioned, this location doesn't appear to have recently replaced any of their towels. The ones in the mens' locker room are ragged, torn, and no longer absorb any moisture. Management made it seem like phase 1 would be an upgrade to member experience. So far it seems like they've only added additional revenue streams (spa/salon) while significantly downgrading the workout experience.

Negative experience: I’ve been a VIDA member for nearly 10 years, and been using this location for the last 5. Employees are nice but the communication from management is abysmal. Steam room has been broken for the last 6 months at least, and a new notice is posted out front saying a repair team has been contacted or a part is on order - as if the problem is brand new so the posted notice doesn’t appear too old, with an estimated completion date that is always missed. It’s a similar story with other equipment that is frequently broken (water fountains/bottle fillers and weight machines) that don’t get fixed for weeks. And while I appreciate that this facility is being renovated and expanded to accommodate the very heavy traffic increase since the Gallery Place location closed, it’s very unclear from the renderings whether the free weight area will be any larger than either the original layout or its current new location - one of the longstanding issues at this club. Prior to the renovation and especially now since the closure of VIDA Gallery Place, the free weight area is densely packed at peak hours. Even if the total weight room capacity is larger once construction is finished, it would be a major safety issue if the new footprint adds weight machines and equipment without a significant expansion to the free weight area. I’d recommend VIDA and this location any day if it were just a matter of staff friendlinesss - unfortunately it’s a pattern of poor communication beyond the control of anyone working the front desk. If you get a good deal from Equinox or another competitor, it’s probably a much better value than you’d find here even if the monthly dues are a little more.

Negative experience: Absolutely the worst gym experience I had in my life. Planet Fitness is better than this. Steam room is not working for over 10 weeks now - no information available. AC in group fitness studios is not working. It’s s overcrowded (they closed the gym nearby and renovating this one at the same time - you can barely move around). It’s dirty. It feels like you are working in the middle of the construction site.

Negative experience: Recently cancelled my membership here. Equipment is frequently broken, the "upgrade" is months behind schedule, and the facility manager fails to take responsibility for the state of his facility. Although Equinox is more expensive it offers a true high class experience, which Vida fails to. If Equinox is out of your budget, there are other gyms that offer a similar experience at a far lower cost.

Negative experience: I was a Vida member for years but would counsel all to heed other recent reviews and avoid Vida / this location. Had to change gyms altogether. Phase 1 of the renovation that recently opened is underwhelming - the gym is always packed to capacity, to the point where I cannot complete a full workout routine because I can't use the machines or benches. The new weight space is small and has a bad layout that creates crowding. Vida is advertising that this location is 2x the size that it used to be - this is not the case, even once phase 2 opens (just look at the floorpan). False advertising. Aside from the terrible renovation planning, the gym is constantly dirty. I am often one of the first members to arrive in the morning, and weights are all over the place (i.e., not racked) and there is trash on the ground, both on the gym floor and in the locker room. They do not thoroughly clean at night. The locker room is much too small for the number of patrons and most of the lockers are taken at any given point. Add to this that the steam room has been broken for weeks. Finally, Vida's communication to members is disappointing. I used to frequent the Gallery Place location. Management informed us that the City Vista renovations would be complete around the time Gallery Place closed. This was entirely false and resulted in massive overcrowding at City Vista. Moreover, they told personal training clients that they could not receive refunds for pre-purchased sessions even though the location specified on the contract (Gallery Place) was closing. All in all, bad faith by management and a few potential consumer protection issues for the DC AG to investigate.

Negative experience: EDIT 9.26.2024 SO my below review was a 2-star “pre renovation” review. Most of it still holds true, but now “phase 1” has dropped and… it’s bad. There’s really no upgrade at all, BUT we did get a long hallway that cleaves the weight floor into two disjointed areas. It seems we managed to lose even more equipment in the process (t-bar is either gone entirely or I have yet to find it despite a good bit of searching), and the AC doesn’t seem to really reach the various areas of our strange island-gym. No indication at all of when the actual renovation (“phase 2”) will be done, which to me suggests it’s not soon. Knocking this down to one star at least until they fix the current mess. Actively looking for a new gym - looks like there will be a Gold’s in NOMA in early 2025 and I’ll likely be moving over there if City Vista doesn’t absolutely blow my mind in the next few months. ——————————————— I want so badly to like this gym. The location is great and the clientele is generally pleasant and respectful. But god the management just runs it into the ground. First, the price is absolutely exorbitant for what you get. Theoretically you’re getting access to a fully stocked gym, sauna and steam room, and at higher tiers other perks like massage chairs and class discounts. In practice, the machines are sparse (at most one of everything, nothing for decline chest, lacking some pretty basic machines like shrug machine) and poorly maintained (if something breaks, and things do frequently, they’ll stay out of commission for months without so much as an updated note. As I type this on July 4 there is a paper posted to a treadmill promising it will be replaced by early June). The other amenities are equally shoddy, with the steam room being the worst offender (down for entire quarters with no notice or communication whatsoever). The two massage chairs are also often broken, and are only available if you shell out a couple hundred per month. If any of these things frustrate you, you’re SOL - the GM Mylo is hard to reach and often ignores emails, and even when he does respond it’s empty platitudes that things will improve or “that he takes feedback seriously.” I would hold off on joining - gym is currently expanding and time will tell whether management ups their game/gets some needed replacements or only continue to fumble harder as the gym gets bigger (and presumably more expensive to boot). Note that other Vida gyms seem to be in better shape, and I like the chain as a whole, but this location is really having some pretty basic issues.

Negative experience: Agree with other reviewers as to how much I’d want to like this gym. It has a great location, and ostensibly good equipment. However, even prior to the renovation it dealt with significant overcrowding and broken equipment. The biggest detractor is that you do not feel like you get good value for the price you pay. As my wife and I pay nearly a combined $300 a month for membership, you are not receiving a gym that is in good working order or any perks you would associate with that price point. Members receive 2 guest passes in their lifetime (no, they do not reset year to year), and even a simple body weight scan (which simple requires standing on the machine) is $45 a scan. At no other gym in my past, including those at a much cheaper price point, were things like guest passes and body scans a luxury. Member feedback does not seem considered and if I were a prospective member, I would consider other gyms even if not as convenient as Vida City Vista.

Negative experience: Consistently broken equipment and overcrowding since Galleey Place Closure I have notified management at least three times about one specific Woodway treadmill that has been broken for well over a month. There is still no sign stating an ETA for repairs. Additionally, very simple shower repairs in the men’s locker room took months. Beyond that, the steam room is functional maybe 25% of the time. Since the other Vida at Gallery Place closed, City Vista is very crowded, even during off-peak hours. I recommend other gyms until this Vida gets their act together. Look at the other recent reviews—all note the same issues.

Positive experience: Vida Fitness is and pretty much has been the gold standard in spa-oriented gyms for our area but for me it very much depends on which one you go to. Sadly, I live near the City Vista location which is very lacking in certain areas, especially when it comes to the selection and distribution of the equipment for lifters like myself. I quit Vida during the pandemic and never went back, but recently I decided to give it another try and was disappointed to see that there had been no changes or rather improvements to the equipment. I recalled previously that they never listened to my suggestions but pretended to take me seriously --- looking at some of the other reviews that still seems to be the case. For example, there is not one decline press or a squat machine but there are a gazillion squat racks which as we all know take up a lot of space, which this gym lacks. For one thing not everyone wants to do squats by way of a squat rack and for another this is not the kind of gym that attracts heavy lifters. Maybe they had a fire sale on them yrs ago or dumped them there when they were switching out the equipment during the expansion phase. Regardless, folks of a certain age like myself are much better off with the machine equivalent, the type you expect to see in most gyms as you do in the likes of Planet Fitness and LA Fitness, since they are much safer and easier on the body — for one they have a back rest to secure the body in place and for another they have padded shoulder rests which are much easier to work with if you have the most common of all bodybuilding injuries, a shoulder injury. Back in the day when I used to go all out on the traditional free squat I would pivot to these machines when I was recovering from injury so there’s no excuse that a gym that charges well in excess of $100 per month doesn’t have one. Another kind of problem exists with their leg press machines. They have two and both are shoved (different areas) into corners like they were an after-thought. Anyone will tell you that there is not a single machine in existence that can accommodate more weight or rather an exercise that affords one to use more weight than this one. Other than a squat or a deadlift this is the most taxing on the body of any exercise, in theory. Clearly, this gym hasn’t take that into consideration here — the exercise is tough enough to begin with, so why make us any more claustrophobic than we would ordinarily feel. It’s one thing to have 1K pounds of weight come down on you but it’s quite another to have it come down on you when there is barely room to breathe or move. During busier periods they could also use more than one seated calf machine or a standing press. In fairness, the equipment they do is high quality in general and it's well maintained. This gym excels when it comes to classes (that’s how they make the money just like car dealerships do with their service departments) and the amount of cardio equipment/studio space, the spa, and the bathrooms except for the steam room which always seems to be out of order. Ultimately, if you are a serious lifter like me (even at my age), I recommend they do a major refresh which apparently they are planning, or you take your business elsewhere. The price is prohibitive especially for what you get unless you can take advantage of ALL the features/amenities which I am not there to do or have the time to do. Given the competition out there I would happily pay extra to work out here but not past $80 tops since I can go to LA Fitness and have a perfectly decent lift for $30. Oh and finally most of the bathroom combo locks were broken or not properly set which was a pity because it's nice that they had them -- they knew about it at the front desk but when I read earlier reviews the problem existed then too.

Negative experience: Went on a machine that hasn’t been functional for months, not exaggerating, only for it to break as I’m using it. For the price, the experience is entirely not worth it. If you are also looking for anything more than just a basic gym to do pretty basic workouts, this place is really not for you. I only come here out of sheer necessity due to where I live and I cannot wait to move out of this area and go to a better gym.

Negative experience: This review is for the Vida Gallery Place, the closed one, but I´m afraid some bad habits will transfer, like part of the staff, to this location. Let me make clear that the trainers are awesome and neither my wife nor me ever had any issues within out several years of membership and deeply enjoyed our time. I can´t say the same for the higher management unfortunately. Both of us were not able to be in the gym for over a month and we had equipment in a rented locker. We informed the staff, the front desk, some trainers, but obviously not everyone relevant. When my wife was able to go to the gym again, our rented locker was emptied and our property destroyed. I totally understand the eventual necessity to access lockers, what I absolutely do not understand is the way the forceful access to the locker was communicated to us. They put a sticker note on the locker. That´s it. The management has our email and phone of course, but did not reach out to us. We had property for over 300 dollars in there, more importantly items of personal value. When confronted with the mess, the management gave us the deer in the headlights semi interested look and promised to investigate. That was in April, so just three months ago. Noone obviously cared, no one contacted us and the location ultimately closed. I wouldn’t have written a review due to the closure and it is DC, most people might appreciate the chance to buy new stuff and forget about it. Fair enough. What triggered me was a complaining email from the management at Vida City Vista, mentioning people using permanent locks on temporary lockers. So the magic of email communication exists after all…..well, not for us.

Negative experience: Absolutely atrocious. They closed the gallery place location and now there are double the people in what is essentially the same size place. 4 squat racks for 200 people at a time. Lunacy that they expect $150 a month for this.

Negative experience: I used to like this gym but the quality has really declined over the past year. The employees never seemed to know what was going on, and the environment is very bro-y (women know what I'm talking about). Equipment is always breaking. The best thing about Vida is the trainers, who are fantastic and the only reason I kept my membership for so long.

Positive experience: Really like this gym but lately a lot of the machines are out of service and some for over a month. Not worth the fee if machines are not working.

Positive experience: I’m a visitor and had to pay $37.35 for a daily pass. To me that’s expensive because i pay that for a month membership back in NYC. That should be for like a 5 day pass. But there are croooks everywhere in 2024. The equipment was good. They had everything that I needed for back my day. But tomorrow I work on my chest I believe and they do not have all the equipment that I need so I will be going elsewhere possibly gold’s gym.

Fantastic experience: I've been a member for about four months and have been very satisfied. I mostly attend classes and I find the instructors to be good and there is wide range of classes available. I generally go in the morning or at lunch and I never find any of the classes too crowded. Sometimes I have been the only person to attend so basically it becomes a personal training session. They have recently started adding earlier classes, like 6:45am on Fridays and 9am on Sundays which I appreciate. I got a few training sessions as part of my joining fee, I didn't click with the trainer and she was a little pushy selling the packages but kind of expected. I heard they are getting ready to open a new section and do some renovations. I find it to be an excellent value for money. I was paying more than double what I pay now a month at F45 but Vida offers much more variety and flexibility.

Fantastic experience: Great gym with state of the art equipment and nice amenities. Always very clean. Staff is friendly and helpful from what I’ve experienced. I’m not sure what the bad reviews are about!

Negative experience: decent equipment, bad vibe. came in on a guest pass to check it out. packed peak hours with a lot of attitude. employees have zero energy. plenty of thirsty troll energy in the steam room, tho. tepid showers. not sure why the moisturizer in the men's room smells like old lady purse. no parking. boring merch. $130 a month... i'd rather save and go elsewhere so I can splurge on Barry's.

Negative experience: Probably Vidas worst location. Something’s always not working here and the training staff is super passive aggressive. Not worth it for the amount of money we pay each month. I do not recommend.

Negative experience: I looked up Vida Fitness and found a “free pass” for k street nw location. Staff just seemed very unmotivated/ lacked the know how to help me. I simply came in to use a day pass. It took 15 minutes and 3 people to “register” me. The most frustrating part is that after signing up for this day pass, this location called me 2 times, left a vm, text and email. For a team seemingly eager and aggressive to get me in the door, I wasn’t able to workout because the tour did not align with the managers schedule? So they then (after half an hour) offered a $37 day pass instead of the free pass advertised. Huh? lol. Idk it was all a weird way of communicating all together. I left and they went about standing around and what not. Also I had a suitcase and asked where the elevator was 3 times. They sent me to one that does not work, and continued to just like stand the f around. Idk bro, happy Friday.

Fantastic experience: Cool gym, plenty of equipment, wish I joined a lot earlier!

Negative experience: Update. Bathroom stall locks are still broken - now for more than a year. Steam room is down now for many months in a row. The showers are cold, several pieces of equipment including spin bikes have been broken for months. And no upgrades have began despite the manager’s response below. When the St James opens a DC location, Vida members will exit en masse. I will add photos next time I’m in the gym.

Negative experience: Steam room is out half the time, and when it's working, Towels are not available half the time!, and when you bring up the issue, there are people like Vincent at the front desk in the gym, who has absolutely no sense of customer respect and screams at people. Vida has definitely fallen way below standards in terms of the people it hires, absolutely disgusting customer experience. Will not renew. Hope the management listens

Fantastic experience: I joined Vida about a month ago and have been loving it! The space is designed intelligently so that even when it is busy, there is still plenty of room for everyone and you never have to wait too long to use the equipment. I'm especially a fan of their strict phone policy, which prevents any phone use without headphones in any public area (this was a real problem in my last gym). The changing rooms are extremely lovely, with steam rooms, saunas and relaxing music playing. The team members and management team are also friendly and helpful and the perks upon joining are awesome. Great experience so far!

Fantastic experience: Best space to workout, supportive trainers

Fantastic experience: One of my favorite gyms in the area! Great equipment, facility, and team. Worth every penny.

Positive experience: The gym isn’t perfect, but I think it’s the best option for this area. It’s almost never overcrowded, and it has a very good selection of equipment for the space. (It’s much better than the nearby equinox on both of those measures.) They could replace some dated equipment and try to keep the equipment better organized throughout the day, though. Also the floor and lifting platforms are slightly uneven throughout, which is a bit annoying. All of that said, I tried equinox anthem row for a few weeks and ultimately decided to come back to this gym. They allowed me to rejoin and waived the initiation fee, which I greatly appreciated.

Positive experience: If you are a looking a gym that can offer a variety of ways to achieve your personal fitness goals look no further. This Vida location offers the ability to get a quality work out right before taking a yoga class offered toward the back of the gym near the squat racks. I have had the pleasure of taking Patrick and Emilys classes in this past week and must say both classes left me at ease after some stressful days. Only wish there were more morning classes offered which is why I give four stars rather all five.

Negative experience: I have been a member for over five years now, had always appreciated the gym and the staff but this year I had a huge surprise when they increased my membership in 13% without any pre conversation or alignment. The reason we because my plan doesn’t exist anymore. And since when that is my issue? Beyond that, contacted many times the sales department and the answer I got was simply crickets. Their atitude was simply the pay or leave it, we don’t care! It is very sad to see a business that says care about people, integrity and so on and does barely nothing when dealing with existing customers. Now, when was during covid and the evasion was enormous, I was there supporting you and paying regularly. And to add more color and as you can see below. The business manager or owner dare to respond me to reach out! Seriously? Go there and check with Scott and Vin how many times I tried and no response. Be I of that reducing another star from the review. You can have my money, but not my satisfaction

Fantastic experience: I really like this gym! Its clean, good equipment selection, and the locker rooms are really nice. Is it expensive? Yes? - This is a hard question to answer. If you are looking at a place just for the weights, then yes. But when you take advantage of all the membership has to offer; I believe it is very much worth the cost. 1. The membership cost includes the vast majority of classes and all VIDA locations are available to you. Every VIDA I have been to is very clean and some offer endless pools. 2. The Sauna, steam room, and luxury lockers are really nice. Its great to relax after a workout or a busy day. 3. The gyms constantly look to improve. New equipment, new perks. I would recommend VIDA to anyone who is serious about working out and would use all of the amenities.

Negative experience: Please do not sign for this gym. They’ve taken at least $3000 from me in a two month period. They do not explain things to you, having you sign up for things you don’t understand and then they don’t allow you to cancel them. I had a membership on a monthly basis and they said I could not cancel it? I didn’t get the year one. On top of that, their personal training prices are outrageous and they especially try to force a personal trainer onto you. I am not happy with my service here and can’t wait to go back to crunch fitness

Negative experience: Oh, the gym? It’s great. But the customer service is abysmal. Have an issue? Want to submit a complaint? They’ll tell you that someone will reach out but they never do. Guess they are too focused on signing up new members to give an ear to the ones who have been here for years (and paid full freight during the pandemic).

Negative experience: Highly dissuade— steam room has been broken since July ‘21. Equipment is old, inoperable, dirty, and poorly-maintained. I had a most awful experience with two city vista employees and that led me to decide that I will not be renewing my membership with Vida.

Fantastic experience: Equipment is good, busy but not crowded in the mornings. I really appreciate that they don’t blare music here like some of the other Vida locations.

Positive experience: Ive been going to this gym for a bit more than half a year and appreciate that this location is less busy than other locations like the U St Vida. This gym is smaller than other locations but it also has a smaller regular customer base so it doesn’t feel too crowded, excluding the rare day where everyone in the neighborhood is fighting for a squat rack. There’s a diversity of equipment that is all in good condition - they appear to be adding in brand new machines right now also (August 2021). The gym’s air conditioning has had issues for about 2 months and is the reason I gave this a 4 star rating instead of 5. As someone with asthma, air conditioning at the gym helps me workout more effectively and avoid getting dizzy (especially with masks on). Doesn’t seem like there’s an end in sight for the lack of AC. I appreciate that VIDA management has reached out to members over email to keep us on the loop since it broke. My personal trainer is great and the reason I’d probably keep coming back to this location if I move further away. He’s friendly, kind, and knowledgable on the human anatomy. I feel like I get my money’s worth with sessions and, in addition to workout routines, teaches me the reason for doing workouts a certain way (I.e. the muscle attaches here and here so you want to rotate slightly). I would recommend personal training sessions to other people like me who struggle staying motivated. Equipment: 5/5 Staff: 5/5 Facilities: 3/5

Fantastic experience: - Modern equipment - Great relaxing, elegant locker room - Friendliness & responsiveness of management - Friendliness of most staff - Nice space with lots of natural light, and now a smoothie bar :-)

Fantastic experience: I love the variety of classes and the friendly staff. VIDA is awesome.

Fantastic experience: In normal times I would put it at 4 stars, but during COVID, VIDA deserves 5 stars for how they have managed the challenges. I feel very safe at the gym and other patrons are very respectful of the rules and other people's personal space.

Fantastic experience: Great gym!

Negative experience: What really turned me off is that it really feels like a cash grab and not like an organization that's interested in fitness and it's members. It's not like other gyms are cheaper, but if you're paying $150 a month then you should have higher expectations. Pay attention to the other reviews. management of the gym seems to be really poor and staff have no idea what's going on. Even simple questions are met with blank stares and having to go check with someone else. Cookie cutter decor and very little authenticity.

Fantastic experience: I had a complementary personal training session with one of the Master Trainers, Vincent. He was very professional and attentive.  I really appreciate that Vincent was focused on my goals and explained the rationale behind muscle movements and techniques. As for the facility, the location is great, the equipment is modern, and the staff have been very accommodating.

Positive experience: Still under construction a.t.m.

Negative experience: “In an effort to continuously improve our member’s fitness experience, we update and improve our amenities and equipment year round. To cover these upgrades, we charge an annual Club Enhancement fee. Your first annual fee will be charged to your account 90 days after your join date. We also charge a monthly eco fee of $3.00.” The fine print of their year long contract is ridiculous. I should pay “Club Enhancement fees?” Isn’t that my membership? And the eco fee isn’t part of the price. The whole contract here is sketchy. I’ve heard the same from others who try to cancel. Avoid at all costs

Fantastic experience: I like that the layout is all on one easily accessible floor. I’ve been going for a month at various times in the day and haven’t had to wait on cardio or strength equipment. The new men’s locker rooms have spacious showers and large, clean sauna and steam rooms. They’re currently updating the women’s.

Negative experience: VIDA suffers from monopoly syndrome. They know there's no comparable game in town, so quality is neglected. Consequently, the facilities are worn down, the membership is oversold (crowded gyms), and the staff is complacent (the housekeeping staff notwithstanding; they’re exceptional!). VIDA retains little loyalty to its members. For those seeking a new gym in the area, hold out a bit longer for the imminent opening of the Mount Vernon Equinox.

Negative experience: There’s no chase 24/7 walk up ATM at this location 445 if your looking for it.

Negative experience: This City Vista location is terrible! They been "under construction" for 6+ months with no showers, any real locker room, etc. Yet they still expect members to pay full price. Hope they get their act together soon...

Fantastic experience: I checked this gym out as I was visiting DC last week. My boyfriend and I were really impressed with the amount and quality of the equipment, how easy going all the patrons were even amongst the busy time of day, and how professional all the personal trainers seemed to be with their clients and with sharing space. They had plenty of free weights, Olympic lifting platforms, and lots of cardio machines in front. We didn't use the group ex rooms but they looked smooth and private, no chance of spectators! I was really impressed with the locker rooms--really clean, plenty of space, and I had the steamroom and sauna all to myself at 8am. As a gym rat myself, I would recommend this gym highly.

Positive experience: It's fine, but certainly not a luxury gym. Layout is crummy, equipment is standard, and locker room is incredibly outdated. Currently they are undergoing construction and it makes working out here miserable... even if end result will be nicer locker rooms. Number 1 area for improvement is communication with members.

Negative experience: Terrible cancellation policies. I thought I had signed on to a one-year membership but it apparently also ran month-to-month after that, so I had to go in and cancel it since I was moving. When I went to cancel it, they assured me that I would be charged only for the immediate month after. Instead I was charged for two months after even though my initial inquiry was well in advance of the 30-day deadline and the desk attendant assured me it would be fine. They also charge a $25 cancellation fee which is absurd. If you have to make customers jump through so many hoops just to cancel, maybe reconsider whether the product you are selling is a good investment.

Positive experience: Good location. Kinda small but definitely a lot of space and equipment. Friendly staff.

Fantastic experience: Love this place. So clean and on point.

Fantastic experience: Love it here .. I hope they put the seated calk raise machine in their.. I was looking for that today.. Overall no complaints!

Fantastic experience: Group fitness classes are fun and the sauna/steam room are wonderful.

Negative experience: READ THIS BEFORE YOU SIGN UP OR READ YOUR CONTRACT VERY CAREFULLY! If you want out, you have to sacrifice a virgin or worse. Hide your kids, hide your wife... hide your friends. Before I tear this place apart, I will say the gym cost me $100/month, which is a reasonable (albeit expensive) DC price to charge for a pretty nice gym. Good equipment, good facility, qualified trainers, steam room, sauna, etc. in a decently convenient location. However, they trap you in the membership using contractual fine print and the greediest policies I've seen of any gym. I have NEVER encountered a gym or subscription service in my life that, by contract, charges you after you have cancelled the service and doesn't even ALLOW you to cancel whenever you want to. Pretty sure even sketchy stuff like porn sites let you cancel when you want, they just make it hard. 1. I tried to cancel this membership when I no longer wanted to go as I received great gym benefits from my employer. I was told that I wasn't ALLOWED TO CANCEL, believe it or not. They said that the only acceptable situations in which I can cancel are if I move or if I get a job elsewhere. I had a 1 year obligation under the contract I signed, one they do not advise you on and expect you to read their extensive terms and agreements. Do NOT sign up for this gym unless you are sure you will absolutely go regularly for a whole year. If you are of the 1% of mankind who shuffles through terms and agreements over anything but your housing or car lease, good for you. If you are not, you're effed. 2. Before the year was over, I did, in fact, move. So I tried to cancel again. They charge you a $25 cancellation fee AND said that because I hadn't cancelled close enough to the next billing period, I will get charged for the NEXT MONTH, so another $100. I cancelled my membership 8 whole days before the next billing period. Which raises 2 questions: 1) WHAT THE HELL IS THAT $25 FOR?? I'm paying you $25 to NOT cancel my membership? 2) How is 8 days not a reasonable amount of time for you to process my cancellation and make it final? YOU CAN WALK FROM WASHINGTON DC TO NEW YORK CITY AND BACK IN 8 DAYS and you can't cancel my gym membership? 3) So if I move in the middle of May, I still have to pay $100 for the month of June? Even though I physically cannot go? 3. When I complained, the staff were not friendly, They defended their policy as fervently as a German officer from the 1940s would defend the concept of Aryan dominance or Tom Cruise would defend Scientology. It's set in stone, and they encouraged me to file a dispute, but threatened to send their collections agency after me. Go ahead. I have the money, but I won't indulge them with the satisfaction of victory and enabling them to perpetuate this shady business practice. Take my credit score instead. Never ever ever. There are other nice gyms out there if that's what you need. Do not come here. They don't even have a pool or a hot tub. Or a monthly free massage. That's the least they could give you for being a black hole for your wallet. ****** The staff's response to my request for an immediate cancellation: 1) Compares the policy to that of a LEASE. Apartments ask you whether you will be resigning the lease. They ask for their keys back. They want to know if they have to look for a new tenant. That is why they want to know in advance. The gym should not be comparing itself to housing. It should compare its policy to that of other gyms. 2) Details the steps to effectively cancel, which are comparable to the process of trying to acquit yourself of a felony. 3) He claims the business policy as "not greedy" because they want to keep their doors open and maintain a budget? Guess who else wants to do that? EVERY BUSINESS. I'm a customer, not an investor. I don't give a rat's a** about your budget and your doors. Chinatown liquors wants to keep their doors open but they don't lock you in their store until you buy a bottle of Cuervo. Survival is not an excuse for greed.

Positive experience: I visited the U Street, The Yards, and Verizon Center locations with a friend before joining Vida. City Vista is in a relatively convenient location with free two hour street parking for about 30 cars across the street, there is also paid parking on the entire block. It's about $2-$3.00 to park on weekdays for 2 hours there. I worked with June who took me early for our appointment at 1 PM on a Tuesday and showed me around. The front desk staff is all smiles and extrememy competent. They never forgot my name after the first day of meeting me! Immediately on the walk around you become aware, if you've been to other locations, that this may be the forgotten stepchild of locations. The yoga studio is painfully close to the group exercise room and it's not sound proof :/ It makes for an interesting soundtrack to a more quiet yoga class. To add insult to injury there are the chest weights (bench press etc) directly outside the yoga studio, in the mirror where you hear the dropping of weights, clanking of weights, and conversation going on outside. It is however entertaining to watch the guy's facial expressions they make at themselves through this two sided mirror. There is no pool, hot tub, salon, or spa. There is a sauna. In the locker-rooms you also can tell that Vida inherited this space from another gym. The locker-room was just BLAH. Not a vida layout, by any standards. There's face and body towels, and the showers. There's plastic paper towels in cheap holders placed around the sinks. There's no air hand dryers. The water bottle/water fountain has some pretty nasty tasting water in it, and it's definitely not your standard Vida add in. It's older and manual. There's no outlets, they're few and far between, forget about them being in the lockers. I can't imagine trying to get ready at this location in the mornings like you can easily at U street, Verizon Center, or The Yards, there's no room or privacy in this location's locker-room. With all that said, there was never an empty mouth wash, qu tips, or lotion/soap containers. As far as what is actually under management control it seemed a-okay. The gym space itself was kept clean and tidy as far as I could see. There's a boxing bag in the middle of the kettle bell/ropes section which is awesome in my opinion. There are no lifting platforms and the Pilates studio is painfully small. When I visited June pointed out that the iRide class is Vida's answer to SoulCycle- yay! I tried Joel's class and i was HOOKED. I joined basically to keep training with Joel. I also paid the larger up front free ($150 ish) to apply later to TRX or Pilates sessions, I did not take advantage of this yet. After joining I did end up spending most of my time at The Yards location because it offers a lot more in terms of space and workout area options, the neighborhood that The Yards is in is also a little more predictable for planning events for after the gym! In regards to classes: iRide/Assets/HIIT: Get there 20 minutes early for Joel's classes, claim your spot and stay there! Barre: Awesome low intensity ballet/pointe style booty and leg workout Yoga: Could not really settle in with the noise coming from group studio and weight room. Cancelling: Unlike some other reviews, I've had no issue. When I moved into a new home with a brand new home gym outside of D.C. all I had to do was email the staff and within the same day they provided the form to fill out and requested the postal service confirmation of changed address!

Fantastic experience: Went for a day pass while here for work. Great gym and wonderful staff. Missing a lying ham curl and seated Calf machine though. Just FYI. Otherwise enough equipment for all.

Fantastic experience: If you get spoiled easy I would stay away from this gym and go settle for a less awesome experience while spending more money. I have been a member of many gyms in many different cities around the country. I have never experienced such a great bang for the buck as I have at VIDA City Vista. Just go visit the place and you will see. The equipment is all in great shape, the place is clean and most importantly it smells great. Even the locker rooms smell great, now think about that for a minute. The locker rooms smell great, the rooms that are filled with sweaty nasty guys smells normal! This is such an easy thing to take for granted until you end up paying more for a gym membership and find you have to plug your nose every time you enter the locker room. If it is classes you are into they have you covered, but be warned you will leave the classes sore and feeling like you actually accomplished something so if you are into going to classes just to be seen this may not be the fit for you. I'm a cyclist and used the gym to keep up on my off season training, If you really want to put your legs to the test take Tim and Cayley's classes during the week and take Wills spin/sculpt on the weekend. These three will put a hurting on you that will take your fitness to the next level. The rest of the staff, well they are on a whole different level especially for DC. They are nice and helpful, they will take time out of their day just to have a friendly conversation and will do everything they can to make sure you are always taken care of. Go in and talk to Travis, he will get you taken care of. Just for the record, no I do not work for the gym. I am just a member who realized how great I had it after i moved and had to pay more for far less in a different city.