LUGANO, SWITZERLAND—Getting the heart pumping after a gym session can release endorphins and raise your energy level. Fitness buffs can take it one step further by turning sweat into electricity.
SportsArt creates eco-friendly treadmills, ellipticals and bicycles that harness the power of a workout and puts it back into the grid. A commitment to sustainable business solutions and practices is one of the company’s hallmarks. Its goal is to make products that are not only socially and environmentally responsible, but also solve problems for facility owners.
A player in the hotel industry, SportsArt has signed international agreements with major brands like Radisson Hotel Group and Wyndham Hotel Group.
“With no doubt, SportsArt has been an industry leader in innovative design and manufacturing excellence since 1977. The company consistently seeks to advance industry standards, positioning itself as one of the most creative manufacturers of premium quality fitness, medical, performance and residential equipment,” said Giovanni Berselli, EMEA sales director, SportsArt.
“This translates into a unique sustainable approach, which involves all the supply and business chains from suppliers, operation in headquarters, customers and consumers,” he said. “This has been the natural environment for the creation of the Eco-Powr solution. Eco-Powr is a series of cardio fitness products with a built-in inverter, which harnesses wattage from human exercise, converts them to AC power and feeds it back into the power grid as useable energy. Hotel owners who replace their cardio equipment with the Eco-Powr series will be able to reduce their facility’s carbon footprint, offset power costs and a lot more.”
As a traveler himself, Berselli has observed that sometimes there’s a confusion or intimidation factor when it comes to gym equipment. SportsArt equipment is designed to be simple to use and fully featured for a range of exercise enthusiasts—from beginners to athletes.
“I have the opportunity to train in many hotel gyms and I cannot avoid taking a look at the guests’ behavior in the gym. I noticed the approach they usually take on competitive cardio equipment. Usually, a guest will approach the cardio unit and try to understand all of the buttons of a very intimidating console. Or, they look around to see if someone, working out on a similar product, can be so charitable to deliver some hints,” he said. “This doesn’t happen with our Senza console, designed by our software engineers to start the workout with one click. For the experienced users, our Senza console has all the features to make the training as nice as possible, from watching TV to virtual tours in San Francisco, San Diego, Redwood Creek, Mission Beach, etc.”
Every hotel is charged with making the stay memorable. Providing exercise machines that go beyond the workout is just one way to stay on the guest’s mind after the visit.
“This is our mission with our energy-generating products. With the watts produced by the guest, hotel managers can set targets for each single stay, or monthly and quarterly objectives through our SA Well+ app,” he said. “You can reward the guest with an orange juice, free breakfast, a free stay, etc. The guest’s experience will certainly be enhanced, and it’s very likely they will book again at the hotel that granted this reward.”
Berselli noted that SportsArt’s Eco-Powr equipment has been specifically created to help hotel managers and general managers to capture that guest with the millennial mindset, who is increasingly environmentally sensitive; enhance the guest experience; and increase guests’ loyalty to the brand.
“Millennials—which we discovered is more a state of mind than an age range—are very passionate about the circular economy, ecological and cultural diversity and ensuring efficient use of our planet’s resources,” he said. “This is why more and more guests are using ‘green’ booking websites when they need to make their hotel reservations. They feel gratified by helping the planet and sharing their contribution on social media.”
