Going Local: Some Fitness Consumers Use Booking Apps To Support Independent Gyms

Mom-and-pop fitness brands may have mixed feelings about booking platforms, but a new survey suggests they can pay off

For a certain kind of consumer, discovering the independent studio or gym is more interesting than tapping the tried-and-true chain. It carries the same pull as skipping the big grocery store for the farmers market, a sense of being part of something special that isn’t copy-and-paste.

New findings from fintech company Global Payments (formerly Worldpay), put a number on that feeling: one in eight consumers who book fitness or wellness services through an app say they actively use platforms to discover and support independent businesses. 

The figure comes from a Censuswide survey of 4,002 U.S. and U.K. consumers who booked through a platform in the past year, with the desire to discover independent operators (defined in this case as non-franchised, small businesses) playing out against a booming backdrop.

In the U.K., consumers now spend an estimated £15 billion ($19.7 billion) a year booking services such as classes and massages through apps and marketplaces. Roughly £7.5 billion of that comes from Gen Z and Millennials, the two groups most likely to say they book this way more than they did two years ago. Nearly a third of U.K. adults (31%) now book fitness classes or gym visits through a platform, and 60% say they do so regularly.

The survey also revealed what platform users expect once they commit — ultimately, an easy booking process with a quick refund when necessary.

ClassPass, the booking marketplace now under parent company Playlist, says it put more than $50 million into marketing in 2025 to send new faces to its partners, an audience it describes as younger, more budget-conscious and chasing variety. But it’s bred loyalty, too: in a February 2026 survey, ClassPass found that 72% of users agreed they would not have found their regular studio without it.

Still, the platform has its share of critics, with some studio owners saying ClassPass bookings cannibalize direct business and pay out less than a standard sale. Others, meanwhile, credit the platform as free exposure that fills off-peak classes they wouldn’t have sold otherwise. 

For independent operators, ClassPass says it does the heavy and often expensive lifting that tends to be out of reach for smaller players, putting last year’s marketing spend behind paid media, Google, Instagram, TikTok, influencers, affiliates, co-branded partnerships and post-transaction advertising.

“Partners paid $0 in out-of-pocket marketing spend for that reach,” Playlist chief marketing officer Zach Apter said. “Because we’re filling capacity that would otherwise remain empty with clients our partners couldn’t have attracted on their own, we’re sending them purely incremental revenue.”

In terms of Global Payments, the firm counts SweatBox Dundee founder, owner and coach Sheli McCoy among its clients. McCoy said the fintech’s software has helped consumers find her Scotland-based functional fitness gym and book classes, freeing her to focus on coaching at the CrossFit-affiliated space.

“Your vibe attracts your tribe, and we’ve built a community based on that ethos, giving that opportunity to everybody who comes here,” McCoy said. “Success is knowing we can’t do everything ourselves — it’s about harnessing the talents of other people and bringing in technology to help us pull everything together.”