This is the 2nd Fitness Ridge I have attended. They teach you how to change your diet to make you feel better and make weight loss easier. It is a beautiful outdoor setting and a great indoor facility with an indoor pool for pool work. The trainers make sure you work hard and have the tools to go home and succeed. Jessica has created a great team of athletic trainers that really care about your success. Jessica, (a former school teacher) has us write encouraging notes to each other which creates a great support system among the guests. The food is good, filling although I did like the chef at the St. George Utah better. I would definitely come here but in the spring or fall next time to see the scenery! read more

DO NOT BOOK HERE from OCT-MAY. There is an ice storm and I can't get across the country today. They are charging me $350 to come a different week. If they can't be bothered or concerned about the weather there than my advice is that you shouldn't book there when there could be intolerant weather conditions. I know NY weather well and thought by April it would be safe but I've been sent in actual travel advisory to NOT travel and they won't even honor that. I have a friend who died traveling in similar conditions and was passenger in a car that flipped due to black ice. These ppl have no compassion. read more

I had a great experience at this resort on the West Coast, but it closed. I traveled all the way to NY for this week, but was very disappointed. From what I can tell, the best of the core staff no longer work here. The food was ok, but not better than that. t my prior resort, the food was fabulous. I also found that there was not really much energy in this place. The trainers seemed disinterested and there was very little life. In my other experience, the trainers were top notch and there was a choice of two workouts for the different time slots. I learned so much and tried so many new workouts, that I was excited to do them at home. Here, I did not learn anything I could not have done for myself without this long trip. There was also a lot of down-time. In the other place, we kept on target all day and it was really great. I did find the nutrition classes helpful, because they were slightly different. I was hugely disappointed and I would not recommend spending your money here. On the up-side, the grounds were pretty, but very remote, so you need a car to go 45 minutes away if you need anything. The rooms were tired and need a good cleaning. A lot of returning customers said they would not go back. So sad. read more

I have made 3 trips to the Biggest Loser Resort Niagara over the course of the last 2 years. The whole entire program is life altering! If your looking for a wk of hard physical and mental work it's so worth it. I will go back again and then again. read more

Wow! What an overall amazing experience! I came there to just focus on me while working out and eat the right amount of calories and portions in the structured environment. I came out from there with so much more..... The trainers are simply great: they know their stuff and are just awesome people: Theresa, Heather, Bill.. The dietitians' support is very good. Food is not only balanced in calories, it is also nutritious and delicious. Seminars and workshops were full of interesting and practical information. I met so many awesome people there.Thank you to everybody who makes this program possible. It is truly fantastic. read more

The Biggest Loser Niagara was the best thing I have ever done for myself. The program includes fitness, nutrition and wellness , and gives you the tools to continue when you get home. The resort is beautiful, the food is great and the staff is amazing. Highly recommend! I'm going to make this a yearly retreat. read more

See that beautiful lake with rowboats? The Bocci ball and tennis courts? See that sweet looking ninja obstacle course along the hiking trail? Don't worry, you won't be using any of them. I went here thinking there was going to be emphasis on the "resort" part. This camp is part of the problem with the diet industry. You will be given very extreme views about what is or isn't healthy until you are convinced anything but organic grass fed food with active cultures and enzymes will make you fat. You will walk, and walk, and walk, and then do cardio classes, but at no point is there any team sport or "fun" to be had. Want to go on vacation? This is not the right place. Want to learn about weight loss? Buy a book. Want some motivation to help you exercise? Get a personal trainer at your local gym Need help with portion control and preparing meals? Buy frozen dinners from the healthy section This place is a blight. If you know anything about nutrition going in, you will hate this place. I realize a lot of other people have amazing 5 star reviews, but perhaps you should be weary when all reviews are overly positive. read more

Be aware all consumers! Do not go to this resort without checking Groupon or calling for a promotion. My mother and I were unfortunately ripped off, and I would not like for anyone else to be in the position we were. We should have known this place was bad news from a week before we arrived. We called to pay our balance, and not even an hour later a Groupon deal was posted. We called to see what could be done for us and we were put through to the manager Jackie. She was unhelpful, unaware, and uncommunicative. We explained our situation and she said should could not adjust for us since Groupon is a third party vendor but she would take our issue to someone higher up (which, by the way, she would not disclose the name of the person she was taking this issue to) and said she would call us back. It took her FOUR days to call us back, despite the fact that our trip was scheduled for the very next week. She calls and says the best she can do is upgrade our room. We are understanding people and left it at that. Groupon is a third party, that's fine and well, there is nothing that can be done. We get to the resort the first night and at the dinner table with other guests we find out they paid around ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS LESS than my mother an I, so together that is over TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS less than what my mother and I paid. To make matters worse, this promotion was THROUGH the OWN RESORT, meaning they should have been able to give us this price adjustment. However, they did not. This promotion is called Spring Fling, in case the reader is wondering. Then to even further our aggravation we find out that those who PAID LESS THAN US THROUGH SPRING FLING also received a free massage, meeting with a personal trainer, and a nutritionist. On Monday we go to Jackie to renew our complain; how is it fair that we paid 1,000 dollars EACH more than those using the Spring Fling promotion which is through the Biggest Loser, not a third party, and we were not being offered any of these perks? A day went by and we did not hear back from Jackie. Then came Wednesday. We had to actively seek her out to get an answer. Once again she said she had sent this message to a "higher up" that she once again refused to answer who this person is. Thursday we have to once again seek her out and have her tell us what is going on. She says that she still has no answer because the higher up has not gotten back to her. I take a business card from the desk which names Kathy as the president. I ask to speak with her, and Jackie replied with "she is the higher up I have been talking about." This irritated me like no other. Why was she withholding this information from us for so long? Long story short, we had a meeting with Kathy today. She is the President and COO of the resort. She was unhelpful, lacked empathy and understanding, and was extremely unaccommodating. She said there was nothing she could do, our "room upgrades had value," and there were no price adjustments or credits she could give. No matter how many times I asked, she was unable to explain why she was unable to do these price adjustments or credits. I thought "You are the COO, you are certainly able to do this". I showed her a previous review that a poster wrote on TripAdvisor about how he was deceived and was given credit, and asked why she was not able to give us this adjustment. She merely replied "there are things you do not know about that situation, we are talking about your situation." As being the ONLY TWO PEOPLE in our group of 40 whom did not seem to be here through Groupon, Spring Fling, or some other type of adjustment, it was made clear to us that we were the only full paying clients. You would think that us, full payers, should have at least been offered the same perks as the Spring Fling guests, as they paid less than us and received the aforementioned perks. Instead, we were left taken advantage of. That being said, the trainers are indeed fabulous and the food is great. Unfortunately, the management and administration are incompetent, rude, and overall awful. This has ruined our experience and I will make sure to spread the word of how we were treated. No one deserves to be taken advantage of as my mother and I were. Update: After talking to Kathy on Friday, she said she would "see if she could do anything." Instead of having the decency to talk to us face to face she left a note at the front desk for us saying the only thing she could give my mother and I was a joint nutritionist meeting at 6:30 PM on Saturday. We are scheduled to check out on 1:30 PM on Saturday, which they are well aware of. Obviously, we will not be able to make the appointment. If she had gotten back to us Monday when we originally brought this to her attention instead of putting this all off until the day before we leave, perhaps we could have taken advantage of a joint appointment. Instead she purposefully put this off until the last minute. read more

Before I get into the negatives, I must say that if you are here for just one week as a fitness boost or reset, then you will definitely enjoy it and get a good and valuable education about nutrition, fitness, and wellness. I really like the trainers Theresa and Heather as Wellness Coaches. The location is beautiful. The food is FANTASTIC!!! I've heard the food beats out the other locations hands-down. If you don't know, going to the resort is absolutely nothing like the TV show. It is definitely a healthier approach, but also not meant for consecutive weeks of rapid weight loss. So, into the critique: The Biggest Loser is a franchise and the owners of the resort also host many other events here and they clearly make a larger profit from them because we start feeling like second class citizens when things are going on for them. These other guests will be given the nicer areas of the main lodge with the nicer chairs and will be eating desserts and having an open bar (so if you can't handle seeing people eat and drink things you can't while here, that can be very frustrating). But it is more the feeling-less-important that irritates me because I start to feel like I paid thousands of dollars for lousy service. There is no personal touch--no one pushes you in work-out (they say to modify according to your own ability, which essentially just leaves you to your own intrinsic levels of motivation) and no one calls you or seeks you out if you miss a class (they sometimes check off on their sheets if you showed up to a class, but if you didn't they just assume you're sleeping and don't do anything about it. They're still getting your money so it's not really their problem). You feel special the first week just because it's all new, but if you stay longer you start feeling neglected. You honestly can get more for your money by hiring a personal trainer and getting a membership at a gym that has a variety of classes. The Spa is kind of disappointing- they don't get enough business to care enough (evening side job for them). It is not uncommon for them to be late. Also, if the receptionist/cashier calls in sick, the whole Biggest Loser store is closed as well as the ability to book appointments for the Spa. From what I hear from returns, things have gone a little down-hill and things don't compare to other locations. I have heard that other locations push you so much more during each class and do more engaging outdoor exercises (tire flips, quick feet drills, etc). The head trainer here is named Bill, but you rarely see him so I don't understand why he gets that title. He IS more motivating in the ONE class I've taken from him (strengthening core), but besides that he stands there needlessly checking off your name if you're on a hike, and when you do your end-of-week weigh-in, he doesn't talk to you about things or go over your results or anything! If you don't initiate a conversation, he just weighs you, measures you, prints out your form and turns away. Horrible customer service at the worst moment. Oh, and if you really want everything measured, do it before you come. They only measure your bust, waist, and hips. I wished I had taken a full-body before picture and measured EVERYTHING. The three other trainers you see all the time. Theresa is amazing and her morning stretch classes are super motivational. I really like her. Heather is great as well. They are both wonderfully engaging in lecture classes (Katie, the nutritionist who teaches most nutrition classes, is very knowledgeable but a little too soft spoken/monotone, which makes staying awake harder). I do feel like the trainers could both push us more, but I think that's just part of the fitness model they are supposed to use. Alex is great in Zumba, but annoying in cardio (will talk too much trying to say inspirational things and it just gets irritating cause it would fit better in a mellow stretch class--I'd rather have him just shouting Go and Push It once in a while, but not every freakin minute! Sorry, that may be harsh- his weight-loss story is amazing and he has all the best intentions. Music during cardio can suck (unless you like constant pounding techno high intensity stuff)--best music is in the Pool it seems. So to wrap it all up- one week can be just right. I don't recommend more than one week (you also lose the most the first week and then weight loss drastically decreases). After that, take what you learned and use your money more effectively to get the personal attention you deserve. The staff's attitude is obviously that this is just a mundane job for them, which starkly contrasts against your life-changing expectations. I regret spending thousands to essentially go take regular gym classes, have a chef cook nutritious meals, and be one of the faceless checks the resort wishes wasn't cut smaller by branding fees. read more

Pros: (1) Great property - beautiful during the Summer/Fall with a big lake and lots of activities available (2) Great customer service from the resort staff (especially maintenance and front desk). They were always kind and several went above and beyond during my stay (3) Good food - for the most part it is delicious and filling! (4) Wonderful seminars from the trainers and dieticians. This is a highlight of the program (5) The opportunity for life altering experiences and forming deep friendships Cons: (1) There is no medical professional on staff: To me this is a major concern. Individuals who have significant weight and/or health issues, many of whom have not exercised in years, are involved in a fairly intense one-week (or more) overhaul of their lifestyle, including diet and exercise. The clientele is therefore more prone to injury. The resort is fairly remote (35min to nearest urgent clinic) and I think this is a big liability and significant missing element to this program. During one day of my stay 3 people were injured, at least one of which drove an hour to a clinic to receive medical services. I would hope they would look to employ a nurse, nurse practitioner, physical therapist, doctor, or someone whether in a full time capacity or on call to be available to support participants. This point alone is enough to keep me from returning and to look for a substitute instead. (2) Quality of the Fitness Sessions: I want to be clear - the trainers (2 out of 3) are wonderful in the classroom setting. They have deep, personal connections to the work they do and their stories are impactful, their compassion and care is real, and their motivation in that setting comes through. In the gym this same passion and energy is not present. Trainers seemed to be going through the motions, many of the movements throughout the week were repetitive in nature which is great for re-enforcing understanding but lessens the exposure to other forms of exercise and the diversity of activities. They seem uninterested and dis-engaged in these sessions and that's communicated through their actions (on their phones), their words (monotone), and their lack of energy. I also was disappointed in their attention to others. There were several individuals exhibiting poor form which can be dangerous and the trainers were not diligent about correcting them which presented a safety concern for me. (3) Dual Use Space - The Beaver Hollow Conference Center where this program is hosted also hosts private and corporate events. People involved in those events are not completing the same program and have less restrictive dietary constraints and less full schedules. Each time I have visited a raucous group has been present. The first time a wedding was happening on property and this meant cake (tough for those on program where we don't have access to sweets and are attempting to kick poor food habits) and lots of alcohol. It also meant loud partying until the early hours. On my most recent trip another group kept several of us up until past 2am and we have a 6am class and 7am breakfast every morning. When people reported the concern BL staff was not sympathetic or responsive to the issue. I think it's very difficult to run this program simultaneously with others and it would be ideal if the property did not co-book. read more

I had never heard of this type of resort until I saw a Groupon for it. It looked interesting, but I was undecided right until the last minute. All I can say is it was a much-needed amazing experience! It might seem expensive, but it was worth it. I was a little apprehensive because I am a marathoner and I am not considered obese, but I needed something to reset me out of my spiral downward into junk food and summer weight gain. I wasn't sure I would fit in. Well, let me tell you I had nothing to fear. I fit right in. There was a very diverse group there, and all activities and classes are great for everyone at whatever point of the journey you are. The food is amazing, the trainers are amazing, the dietitians are amazing, the facilities are amazing. After one week, I left with my skin cleared up, I weighed less, I was sleeping better, I felt better, my mind felt clearer, and most of all I left with lots of knowledge and tools to go home to implement a healthier lifestyle. I highly recommend it if you have been thinking about it. I'm considering making it my annual me-time vacation. One last point though- remember you get out of it what you put in to it! read more

We stayed at the resort and found the trainers and administrators of the resort lacking in tact, skill and ethics. The facility is beautiful, but the trainers are inexperienced. The resort rooms and villas are dirty, have a musty smell, the laundry room however is clean. The instructors (nutritionist and other) do not enjoy being told anything different other than what they teach, often, they do not know how to respond to questions. One of the nutritionist will go through slides in rocket speed, like Q-card teaching, leaving the guest in confusion, she will always say, ''by tomorrow...by the end of the week....this will all become clear'' and nothing really becomes clear. The trainers do make sure you work very hard, and often they forego the injuries and muscle tensions which are too much for the body to bear. After witnessing several severe injuries, and guests continuing their training because they wanted to fit in with the instructors, one guest fell and hurt herself so as to stop her training altogether. There is a lot of hypocrisy within the staff and their behavior. There is a lot of hide-and-seek with the ''corporate'' staff members with information about fees and promotions and specials. There is a review below of a woman and daughter who say they were ''ripped-off''. I agree with them completely. A lot of people that go to the resort are very obese, some are there after dieting continuously and unsuccessfully. They are told that the ''resort's'' way is the best way, it is a lifestyle change. Unfortunately, they work the muscles and the body so hard, there are people who do not lose any weight, I actually gained weight, my friend only lost 2 lbs, and lost 3 lbs in lean muscle mass, which is dangerous. I showed my results to my doctor, and he was quite upset. When i questioned the instructors, they said the doctor doesn't really understand....etc...and that the bad results are due to dehydration. I would caution people to do their due diligence before they purchase any special coupons or promotions for this particular resort. read more