Equinox’s $40,000-a-year “Optimize” membership has drawn a waiting list of more than 1,000 people, underlining how aggressively wealthy consumers are spending on longevity, diagnostics, and high-performance living.
Demand for ultra-premium health programs is accelerating, with Equinox reporting that its $40,000-a-year “Optimize by Equinox” membership has attracted a waiting list of more than 1,000 prospective clients.
Launched in 2024, Optimize is positioned among the most expensive gym memberships globally. The program combines personal training, advanced nutrition planning, sleep coaching, massage therapy, and access to a dedicated “health concierge,” packaging fitness, recovery, and preventive health into a single subscription model aimed squarely at high-net-worth individuals.
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Harvey Spevak, the company’s executive chairman, described demand as “insatiable,” linking it to broader shifts in consumer priorities.
“Health is the new luxury,” Spevak said. “The number one thing in the experience economy, besides travel, that the consumer wants, is, ‘How do I live a high-performance lifestyle?’”
The Economics of Longevity
Equinox’s expansion into high-end performance programs comes as the global wellness industry is projected to approach $10 trillion by 2030, up from $6.8 trillion in 2024, according to the Global Wellness Institute. Growth has been driven by aging affluent populations, heightened post-pandemic focus on health optimization, and an explosion of products and services centered on longevity.
Millionaires and billionaires, whose numbers have risen globally over the past decade, are increasingly allocating discretionary income toward preventive care, biohacking, diagnostics, and bespoke wellness experiences. Unlike traditional healthcare spending, much of this expenditure sits outside insurance systems, making it highly profitable for private operators.
Optimize reflects this shift. The membership integrates services from Function Health, offering tests for 100 biomarkers twice a year. Those data points inform individualized fitness, nutrition, and recovery regimens. By incorporating clinical-style diagnostics into a lifestyle offering, Equinox is positioning itself at the intersection of hospitality, fitness, and personalized medicine.
The program has launched in Los Angeles and Dallas and is expected to expand to New York. A waiting list of more than 1,000 at $40,000 per year implies potential annualized revenue of at least $40 million if all those applicants convert — before factoring in ancillary spending on additional services.
Building a Closed-Loop Luxury Ecosystem
Equinox’s strategy extends well beyond traditional gyms. The company operates 115 fitness clubs and plans to open 40 more, including in Nashville, Toronto, Charlotte, North Carolina, and South Florida. Spevak said the company remains the largest retailer in New York by square footage and continues to add locations in its home city.
The brand’s ambitions in hospitality are equally expansive. Equinox opened its first hotel in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards in 2019 — the Equinox Hotel Hudson Yards — and is preparing to open a second property in Saudi Arabia. Spevak said the company is likely to operate close to a dozen hotels globally within seven to eight years, spanning the Middle East, the Caribbean, and the United States.
Hotels serve as strategic anchors in Equinox’s broader ecosystem. They allow the company to deliver immersive, 360-degree performance experiences, combining fitness, sleep optimization, nutrition, recovery treatments, and high-end hospitality under one roof. The IV drip lounge at the Hudson Yards hotel — currently the company’s only one — has already become “a seven-figure business,” according to Spevak.
This convergence of hospitality and health services mirrors a broader trend among luxury brands that are embedding wellness into their core offerings to capture higher-margin experiential spending.
Equinox has also introduced EQX ARC, a personalized program designed around women’s health across different life stages. The offering uses diagnostics, wearable technology, and specialized coaching to tailor fitness and wellness protocols. The company says the program has already developed its own wait list, suggesting strong demand for gender-specific performance services.
The move reflects growing recognition within the wellness industry that women’s health — historically underrepresented in clinical research and fitness programming — presents a substantial commercial opportunity.
Private Company, Public Ambitions
Equinox is privately held and does not disclose detailed financials. Spevak described 2025 as a “record year” and said he expects 2026 to be even bigger.” He also noted that other high-end consumer companies are approaching Equinox to explore partnerships centered on health and wellness.
“When you think about the economy moving from a product economy to an experience economy, a lot of big consumer companies are saying, ‘Well, how do I continue to serve my consumer and health and wellness, and who do I talk to?’” Spevak said.
“There’s truly only one brand that has the authority and the brand equity.”
Equinox’s Optimize program illustrates how luxury consumption is evolving. High-end consumers are no longer spending solely on visible status symbols such as fashion or real estate. Increasingly, they are investing in invisible assets: biomarkers, sleep scores, metabolic efficiency, and perceived longevity.
With the wellness market projected to approach $10 trillion by the end of the decade, companies that can integrate data, personalization, and exclusivity stand to capture a disproportionate share of affluent spending. Equinox is betting that the future of luxury lies not just in how consumers look or travel, but in how long and how well they live.