There is a waiting list for Equinox’s Optimize membership, which has an annual membership fee of $40,000

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According to Equinox’s CEO, Equinox’s $40,000 membership has a waiting list of more than 1,000 people as demand for luxury health and wellness programs soars.

The high-end fitness chain’s “Optimize by Equinox” has been one of the most expensive gym memberships in the world since 2024 and includes everything from personal training and nutrition to sleep coaching, massage therapy and a “health concierge.”

Harvey Spevak, chief executive of Equinox, told Inside Wealth that the program has seen remarkable demand and highlights the wealthy’s “insatiable” demand for longevity and wellness products.

“Health is the new luxury,” said Spevak. “The most important question the consumer in the experience economy wants, other than travel, is: ‘How do I live a high-performance lifestyle?’”

The Optimize program is part of Equinox’s strategy to become the leading luxury brand in the fast-growing health and wellness business.

The Global Wellness Institute estimates that the global wellness market will reach nearly $10 trillion by 2030, up from $6.8 trillion in 2024. As the population of millionaires and billionaires ages and the number of companies and products promising miracle cures explodes, the wealthy are driving much of the spending.

Equinox has grown beyond fitness clubs and expanded into hotels and hospitality, personalized benefits programs, infusion centers, blood testing collaborations and more.

The company opened its first hotel in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards neighborhood in 2019 and is close to opening a second in Saudi Arabia. Spevak said Equinox will likely have nearly a dozen hotels around the world – including in the Middle East, the Caribbean and the United States – in the next seven to eight years.

Equinox currently has 115 fitness clubs and has plans for 40 more – including locations in Nashville; Toronto; Charlotte, North Carolina; and South Florida. Despite being the largest retailer by square feet in New York, the company continues to expand in its hometown, Spevak said.

The Optimize membership leverages Function Health, a laboratory testing company, to offer customers twice-yearly testing for 100 biomarkers, which could then guide a fitness, nutrition and lifestyle program tailored to each customer.

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Spevak said the program has been launched in Los Angeles and Dallas and will eventually launch in New York.

The company also recently developed a personalized program for women called EQX ARC. Using diagnostics, wearables and specialized coaching, the program is tailored to the different stages of a woman’s life and journey to health and already has its own waiting list.

Spevak said the company’s infusion lounge at the Equinox Hotel in Hudson Yards – the only infusion lounge to date – has already become a “seven-figure business.”

Equinox Hudson Yards is the brand’s truest expression of its holistic lifestyle promise, offering members access to signature group fitness classes, a 25-meter indoor saltwater pool, hot and cold plunge pools, and a 15,000-square-foot outdoor leisure pool and sundeck. The Equinox at Hudson Yards location offers numerous opportunities for training, work, recovery, socializing, community building, dining and more.

Matthew Peyton | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

While Equinox is private and does not disclose financials, Spevak said 2025 was a “record year” for the company and he expects 2026 to be “even bigger.” He said other high-end consumer products companies are turning to Equinox to collaborate on health and wellness.

“When you think about the economy moving from a product economy to an experience economy, many large consumer companies are asking themselves, ‘How can I continue to provide health and wellness to my consumers, and who can I talk to?'”

“There’s really only one brand that has the authority and brand equity,” he said.