ClassPass Goes Beyond the Gym, Adding Theme Parks & Zoos to ‘IRL’ Wellness Offerings

The class-booking platform is adding Six Flags, SeaWorld, zoos and more to its booking platform, its boldest move yet to expand beyond just fitness

Could a day at the zoo count as wellness? ClassPass thinks so.

The app that became famous for allowing users to book fitness classes at discounted rates — now under parent company Playlist, which closed a $7.5 billion merger with fitness tech firm EGYM in March — has announced an expansion into U.S. theme parks, zoos, aquariums and other attractions through a partnership with EBG, an entertainment and travel commerce platform. 

ClassPass members can now redeem credits for admission to 10 initial venues, including Six Flags Magic Mountain, Legoland Florida, SeaWorld San Diego, Kennedy Space Center, Georgia Aquarium, Phoenix Zoo and San Antonio Zoo. 

It’s the clearest expression yet of a strategy Playlist CEO Fritz Lanman laid out at the ATN Innovation Summit in June, where he mentioned prying consumers off their phones and into real life experiences as the definition of success for the company.

“Our mission has always been to give users one flexible way to access wellness, however they define it,” Lanman said of the latest offering. “For some that’s a yoga class or a spa visit; for others it’s a day out with family at an amusement park.” 

Although none of the venues in the initial partnership roster offer wellness programming today, it’s not hard to imagine that changing if Playlist’s broader ambitions play out.

Wellness has been slowly heading this way for a while now, a sort of voluntary disconnect in favor of phone-free retreats and experiences. Even virtual reality fitness is toying with the same instinct. As Supernatural Health prepares to relaunch its VR platform this fall, its coaches, who typically live inside a headset for their audience, are on tour meeting fans in public instead.

The push into experiences lands a week after ClassPass rolled out a sweeping set of new partner policies for fitness studios, including fraud protections against direct customers poaching discounted trials, non-anonymous reviews, payouts on waived late-cancel fees and a new insights tool showing operators which classes drive the most revenue.