This year World Class Monaco is celebrating its third anniversary. Hello Monaco’s editor-in-chief, Olga Taran, interviewed the manager of World Class Monaco, Dmitry Grishin, on the club’s results and future plans.
Olga Taran: Dmitry, could you name the three most remarkable events that the club has experienced over these last three years?
Dmitry Grishin: First and foremost, the club being presented to the Prince of Monaco.
We were greatly honoured to welcome Prince Albert II and the Mayor of Monaco, these being the highest officials from the Principality. We introduced them to our concept and the international projects that we had implemented. Over the past three years, a number of significant sporting events have taken place in Monaco, including the Monaco Run, the Riviera Water Bike Challenge, and the World Class Functional Games.
I am also infinitely grateful to Princess Charlene. Not only has she distinguished the club and chosen it for her own regular training, but also graciously accepted to appear on the cover of one of our MYWORLDCLASS magazines and to give us an exclusive interview.
The second most significant event was the First European World Class Convention, an international fitness convention on the French Riviera jointly organized with Les Mills France! On September 18, 2016 the best French coaches held their master classes based on the most popular Les Mills programs. These classes were attended by more than 500 fitness professionals who came to Monaco especially for this event.
And the third one was the International Star for Leadership in Quality Award.
This year World Class was awarded the «Gold Star» for leadership in quality by the international company Business Initiative Directions (BID).
This is in recognition of the contribution by a number of people who love their work, know how to make our customers successful, healthy, athletic and happy.
According to the award organizers, this trophy symbolizes the World Class network’s considerable contribution to spreading the service culture in international business. This also shows the company’s commitment to the principles of excellence and quality innovations.
We are proud to be setting international quality standards and getting the recognition for it from renowned experts. This is a great victory not only for our company, but for the entire fitness industry.
OT: How would you describe World Class Monaco in a few words? What is its key difference from other fitness clubs?
DG: «The club has become my second home» — these are the kind of comments we see on social networks that make me happy. This is what we are really striving to achieve on the Riviera. Our club gives you the support of our coaches, a friendly shoulder of other members to lean on and a great emotional experience.
Speaking about our concept, its service, comfort and thoughtfulness make the club an ideal fitness space. We offer a full range of services attending to all your needs: sports practice, beauty treatments, recreational space and a restaurant serving healthy food. No other place in Monaco offers you such a combination at any one time.
We adjusted our operating model in Monaco to also being a tourist destination and we added a lot of premium services. We thus managed to keep a number of regular «haut de gamme» World Class clients.
Three years on, we are now a significant destination on the map of the Riviera, having brought together the best trainers, the most modern fitness technologies and an atmosphere of friendship and support.
Our client base counts over 1500 active members. We are on the constant lookout for innovations and development; we cooperate with the best partners. We regularly attend all the significant cultural and sporting events in Monaco. The club has really become a prime fashionable sports destination. And «fashion» is not just a word, but an actual thing here. We are now the trendsetters. If you want to be at the forefront, come with us.
We are not a typical fitness club in Monaco. Our life is full of social events, we go to concerts, hold fashion shows and are involved in charity.
OT: A typical client of World Class Monaco, what is he like?
DG: Our club membership turned out to be very international. We have many famous people. Most of our clients are managers and top managers of Monaco companies; many of them are French and include a significant number of Monaco residents. The club is also popular with Italians.
All our members pursue different goals. Competitive spirit and the possibility to win a champion’s medal often brings successful people into competitive events like triathlons, swimruns and Ironman. These people are in the main perfectionists — they are number one in business and they want to be number one in competitions. They are not happy just practicing sports, but insist that their coaches set them goals and they want to be fully immersed in their discipline.
Our customers stand out for being very demanding. These people have trained with a number of coaches, they know what good, high-quality personal training is and will not accept anything less than that. Another difference is in the efficiency of their time management. Our members plan their sessions well in advance. Businessmen do not like to waste their time. They often start their day with an hour’s workout followed by an hour of SPA treatment. These are two hours used efficiently at the very start of the day.
OT: What are your most exciting plans for the near future?
DG: The World Class team is constantly on the lookout for new ideas. We are just back from the European IHRSA Congress in Lisbon. We spent a quality few days with our fitness industry colleagues, learned the latest trends on sports equipment and did a study of some successful client cases for customer service.
Over the last three years in Monaco, we managed to create a highly cooperative team. Our business is all about people. We now have only those who genuinely «light up» with the idea of creating the most remarkable club on the French Riviera. We favour service and client support; we are trying to grow and expand, we are looking for the best coaches and beauty experts. Over the last three months, we have introduced a number of new simulators. We are now proud to have the best equipped training space in Monaco. Quite a few fitness innovations will be implemented at the start of 2019. Monaco residents and guests are going to have the most state-of-the-art cycling studio and a very interesting concept for martial arts practice.
WCLASS.FR
World Class Monaco
6 Avunue Marquet, 06320 Cap d’Ail
Phone: +33(0)4 92 092 092
