A.R. Kaufman Family YMCA

Positive experience: Could be cleaner - walls, floors, especially the change rooms. Rusty lockers, stinky toilet area in change room.

Fantastic experience: Always busy hard to get a handicap parking

Positive experience: Need improvement

Positive experience: Decent place, friendly staff..lot of parking space

Negative experience: They can't even answer a bloody phone. So " professional"

Fantastic experience: I just joined the ymca, friendly staff, lots of parking

Fantastic experience: Gym all facilities including. Swimming, sona, hot tub, baby care.

Fantastic experience: I have been with them for more than 6 years, they have given me and my family very good service! Would definitely recommend out of all the other ones! Thank you YMCA!

Fantastic experience: Great service

Positive experience: Years ago I attended this YMCA from about 16 to 22 and then again in my early 30s it was great every room was full of activities all day.my kids have done akido and Karate also swimming lessons the family pass was well worth. now I am trying again with my youngest daughter also teenaged son and were not off to a good start I think the founding members would be saddened by this turnout so far from the goal they look to achieve now there are hardly any activities now I just see empty rooms what programs are running are staggered, hours apart between two different age categories youth program and teenage programs as no back to back program leaving nothing to do for hours.me and my daughter have been trying to call all day to check for availability with no one to answer the phone when we tried the Waterloo number it redirected us to the Kitchener number with still no answer.on my daughters first day a group of kids approached her of international kids told my daughter they would say she is racist if she didn't buy them snacks including a 14 year old girl who said she would steal my daughters snacks now today my daughter tried to go for the open swim she was told no but after her another international girl asked to swim saying she had no membership or no pass to get in and was allowed.fron the looks of things this is a comfortable environment for people new to the country but I think people born and raised in Canada might feel a little uncomfortable in this location.

Fantastic experience: Great place for the whole family

Fantastic experience: Good gym with plenty of weight and workout gear. Plus change rooms have a dry sauna and a hot tub as well as locker assignments.

Fantastic experience: Is the best place for kids and their parents to!

Negative experience: Decent enough equipment. Front of house staff are very nice. Poor attitude from a PT on the floor. Worse of the YMCA's I've been too.

Fantastic experience: Great services! And the place is very nice

Negative experience: People let their kids run around and do whatever they want, including getting on equipment that will hurt them. Too many ignorant, Disrespectful people go here. Change rooms are run down and showers are dirty. Hygiene is also an issue.

Fantastic experience: I was so happy in the lesson swimming class with my daughter with the instructor/ lifeguard TIGHE. He is very committed and she improved at with him. I would love my daughter can have again class with him. Congratulation TIGHE.

Fantastic experience: Nice place, clean and tidy

Fantastic experience: Wonderful people and gym to be in always

Fantastic experience: Great gym! Lovely staff!

Fantastic experience: Great place to socialize

Negative experience: zero stars. equipment old enough to have great grandchildren. consistently out of towels. enough foresight to print a color poster stating no towels. not enough sense to provide what people have already paid for.

Negative experience: The facility is old, tired and BORING! Unfortunately, it is a waste of $30 monthly, AND you can't cancel at any time. You are stuck paying for a 6 month minimum! A waste of money with three (or possibly four, ymca's confusion) more months. I can't wait for summer to end this ymca financial drain. It would be far better joining a $15 monthly gym.

Fantastic experience: Very organized management and clean

Fantastic experience: Superb place to start your fitness journey.

Fantastic experience: Excellent customer service. Would definitely return.

Positive experience: Great people and facilities. Love the VIP locker room with hot tub. Downside is the short hours especially on weekends.

Positive experience: Over all not bad but their changing room lockers are really filthy (Looks like they haven't been cleaned out from years)

Fantastic experience: This is a friendly, clean facility. I enjoy my time in the pool.

Fantastic experience: Awesome staff and nice facility. I switched to the Y from Movati and I’m very pleased with my decision

Negative experience: It was an insulting experience for a potential customer. The front desk staff on 27/12 at 6.15 pm did not give us a tour of the facility. I would've quickly enrolled for four, but thank you for saving my $200/month.

Negative experience: The gym closes too early and there are limited classes that are almost always fully booked with an overflowing wait list. When the hot tub is actually working, I enjoy it and the very limited private gym in the plus change room, but that’s not what I thought I was signing up for. Even swimming is limited and the pool is tiny. This location is best if you want to play racquetball or squash or prefer to work out on your own instead of have a job. Also, heaven forbid you want to call the location. You’re sent directly to voicemail with a ‘sorry we missed you’ message. It doesn’t even ring, so they’re not sorry. The YMCA just wants your money and they bank on people to remember the good old days and keep pumping money their way. It’s insanity

Fantastic experience: The gym's well-equipped strength training area caters to various fitness levels, providing a diverse range of machines and free weights for a comprehensive workout. The abundance of parking space ensures convenience for members, eliminating any hassle when arriving for a session. What sets this gym apart is the added recreational activities like Sunday badminton and racquetball. These options not only promote cardiovascular fitness but also create a social and engaging atmosphere for members. The opportunity to engage in different sports adds a refreshing dimension to the fitness routine. Furthermore, the overall cleanliness and maintenance of the facilities contribute to a positive workout environment. The staff is friendly and accommodating, enhancing the overall experience for members. Whether you're focused on strength training or enjoy participating in group sports, this gym offers a well-rounded fitness solution.

Positive experience: Overall excellent value. The atmosphere is one of inclusion and respect. Memberships are typically $45-65 a month per person. They offer financial assistance based on your income if you want or need that. Here's my big list of pros and cons. Pros: (Specific to ARK) The staff are great. Haven't had or heard anyone having problems with staff that weren't self-induced by their own negligence. Very helpful and it's at the point where I consider them family. The place is quite clean, you see staff are in and out of change rooms and washrooms frequently. Lots of equipment, I'm not a workout bro but I see lots who come here (the nice kind) and they seem to have no problem doing their thing. Due to extensions to the building, there's actually quite a variety of secluded areas to workout. Classes are great but you'll be registering each time through their app (it's good enough) and some classes/ play are fills up insanely fast. Group Centergy, Yoga and Group Power seem to be the hardest to get but to be honest I think they struggle to get enough instructors. More on that in cons. Instructors are hit and miss but they're never condescending or rude or anything, just each have their own style and some are better than others. The pool is a decent size and has lots of times and lessons across the week, I'd be surprised if you couldn't find time slots that fit you and your family. Men's Plus change room has a sauna and hot tub, towel service, lots of room, couches and whatnot. Very nice. Cons: (Specific to ARK) Men's change room is bare bones and quite small. Get the Plus if you can, it's another $10 or something and much nicer and better kept. Group class instructors are mostly volunteer led. Not a problem but because classes are full the volunteer route seems to severely limit how many classes they have. No worries, you can become an instructor for a certain class if you have enough hours of having taken that class (good thing) for the low price of $500 (what!?). I'm honestly bewildered that they charge volunteers to become instructors, especially since these are presumably paying members wanting to help out or improve the place. I could've been interested in becoming an instructor in the future but with the hefty price on top of my membership fees to make you guys more money? Nah. They should waive membership fee for a year of those who complete the paid course and maintain weekly classes for 6 months or something. Place is old. It's evident in a lot of areas if you look up, or in the corner, or from the outside. It's built in the 80's so if you've ever been in an older government institution before (especially military) the older and ugly vibe will feel familiar. Cons: (Specific to parents @ARK) Saturday is the worst day to visit the Y, it is the busiest day for swim lessons and as such you will receive a masterclass in negligent parenting each weekend. This of course isn't the Y's fault but it is to be considered when finding a gym and schedule that works for you. More below. The family change room is ridiculously small considering their target audience. They encourage families to use the gender specific change rooms but if you have both sexes then it's the family one for you. Also, people don't follow that rule anyways. For example, there are lineups to get in and out of the pool because there are only 4 shower heads! And parents are trying to shampoo their kids without getting soaked (all but impossible). This is where bad parenting impacts your ability to get in and out of there at a reasonable time. Keep in mind, the Plus change rooms are 18 and over. So no bringing your kids in there. Group classes don't match up with play care often enough. They start at the exact same time or end after okay care ends. The 9-1030 slot is the only one that seems to have any consistency. And of course, Saturday is the worst day for this since there's very little 0-5 year old programming or none at all.. and the Group Blast / Power classes do not sync up with the programming either. That's it. I still love the place.

Fantastic experience: Nice quiet environment and all the equipment you could ever need

Positive experience: Nice place and many activities to choose from. Kids love this place.

Negative experience: One of the front disk operators is the worst ever 2 seasons same attitude wrong informations i hope the managers there take a look at the front desk its your image first of all

Fantastic experience: Great place to start your fitness journey, people at the front desk are always super nice and helpful as well!

Positive experience: Very friendly staff, a great gym. But it is pricey, although the money go towards good causes.

Positive experience: Very good customer service. 1 less star because this pool is only 20m. Good hours and activities

Fantastic experience: Мені дуже подобається. Комфортне місце

Fantastic experience: Un lugar para toda la familia! Excelentes actividades y todos los chicos que trabajan son muy amables.

Fantastic experience: A good facility.

Positive experience: Very friendly staff. Helpful

Positive experience: Good place by to expensive for a membership

Positive experience: The facility and the machines are old. Lots of facilties.

Fantastic experience: Amazing staff, all the amenities you need!

Fantastic experience: Fantastic facility and wonderful staff. Very knowledgeable and helpful.

Fantastic experience: Lots of activities to do. Swimming, gym,yoga, basketball. And more...

Fantastic experience: Nice facility with sports and gym equipments.

Fantastic experience: Family freindly. One of the best facilities in KW

Fantastic experience: Clean, friendly, organized. A great class everytime!

Positive experience: The Y is great, but why don’t they accept debit?

Positive experience: Good place for kids, need more squash racquets for members to borrow

Fantastic experience: Good selection of areas, nice private facilities inside of changing room

Fantastic experience: Great staff and great programming. Got in for some cardio this morning. The facility was clean, people friendly and staff professional.

Fantastic experience: Awesome place to work out and swim. Can't beat there prices!!

Fantastic experience: It great place for workout very professional staff and very friendly since i been working out her 17 plus years

Fantastic experience: This is one amazing place for health, fitness and fun.Friendly atmosphere and family oriented.

Positive experience: Swimming classes options are great for the little ones. A bit crowded. It's very warm even during the coldest winter nights.

Negative experience: The hours post covid19 have not returned to what they once were. I get off work at 830pm and they close at 9pm. I can't make it there anymore. They used to close at 11pm. They almost never answer the phones after 5pm which tells me they don't care or want to hear from their members.

Fantastic experience: I love everything about the Y! The staff are amazing and they have something for everyone They work very hard to be as inclusive as possible and have great options from very challenging workouts to classes for people with physical limitations

Fantastic experience: Love love love this facility. Great place for my daughter to swim and myself and 14 year old son to work out in a friendly non judgmental enviorment

Fantastic experience: This review is just for the customer service I have received at this location- very friendly staff at the help desk and they assured me that this is a safe space to be myself and how to report anything that made me uncomfortable! Looking forward to visiting this place a lot!

Positive experience: I hope to go back to longer hour. If not I will cancel. Right now we pay MORE for less hours. WHY? This place used to be good before COVID, not anymore due the short program.

Positive experience: Really expensive and no option for family membership. Ton of programs are now reduced or gone since COVID... Time to bring them back please. It's cheaper for us to have the kids in swimming lessons and us at another gym vs consolidating at the Y.

Negative experience: Was a great gym . I was a member at ymca for 18 years but with reduce hours on weekends and close all holidays I left. Still hoping it will go back to the regular hours and holidays being open I will definitely go back . I met some amazing people but as off right now glad I left.

Fantastic experience: They have the best staff; they are warm, make you feel welcomed and remember you and your family. You feel part of the family. Thank you YMCA for making a difference.

Negative experience: Nice gym, I really enjoyed going there but because of the hours, closes at 5 pm Saturday and Sunday and 9 through the week, I'll be leaving to join another gym, they should go back to the pre covid hours and holiday schedule.

Fantastic experience: this Exllent fitness club for health way of life. it needs in head add that you have jacuzzi, sauna....and it will be perfect if somebodu could explain for participents the rules: that not clever peoples read newspaper in sauna

Fantastic experience: Great pool with lots of lane swim times. Unlike a profit-driven fitness facility, there are no high-pressure sales tactics. Just want to come for the day? Buy a day pass and no one will bother you to buy more. Need a break? Put your membership on hold easily

Fantastic experience: Love this place, we bring our son here all the time for swimming. They have a really nice pool that nice and warm, the life guards are friendly. We are also a big fan of the child care service they offer so we can get a work out in wheil we are there. I haven't eaten at the food court but there is a small one there that offers snakes and drinks. You need a membership but it is good for every YMCA in Ontario.

Positive experience: I've been enjoying this YMCA. The environment is welcoming and I feel very comfortable. I pay for the female 18+ membership gym. It's a great option to have. I would love if they had some mirrors in the private gym to check form. It would also be nice to have an aerobic step and barbell instead of just dumbbell. EDIT: Editing my review to say that they need more moderation on the youth accessing services. Multiple times I've had youth make inappropriate comments towards me, block the hallways, and under 15's come and play with the exercise equipment/run around in the main gym. I like that the Y can be a safe haven for youth and provides good after school activity, but it should not come at the expense of your other guests.

Positive experience: When you enter this place you feel very unwelcome. I have 3 incidents with the front desk workers. The first two incidents I felt coldness, and no help. The other incident was no smile, expressionless customer provider very firm “can’t do anything much” come again later the words make you feel that you are not valued. There is a need for YMCA to hire people from various cultures and train their employees to respect every one!

Positive experience: Decent gym. Well ventilated. Old machines. Good basketball court. Change room smells a bit odd sometimes. It’s okay for the price.

Fantastic experience: I see a lot of reviews stating hours and class sizes haven't recovered since covid restrictions. I can't speak to that. this Y caters well to our needs. we are getting lots of value from the gyms and short term babysitting. clean facilities. the staff have been extremely friendly and helpful.

Fantastic experience: Incredible place. The place I feel at home. Employees and volunteer plus every single person inside was absolutely nice. Everyone with a smile and happy. Probably because the structure and classes with pretty kind professors is the same: the best. You can do almost every kind of physical activity (mental too, why not?): Aquafit, Gym&Strength&Balance exercises participating in 3 or 4 kinds of classes, Yoga, Cycling, Squash courts, basketball… a lot of activities for all ages since the childrens and family, passing for youths, teenagers, young and old age people. You must try too.

Positive experience: It is a great place to start your fitness journey and especially for your little ones. I was a member during my teens, and now my children. I gave a three star just because the programs are very limited for kids, it's outdated look as we are working out in community center gym; I mean even McDonald's on Homer Watson had three renovation. Family change room needs a full time cleaner during summer camp!

Fantastic experience: I took my granddaughter over for a swim. She loved it ❤️ The facilities were clean, front desk staff and lifeguards were smiling, friendly, and approachable. The lap timer, the smell of chlorine, and the buoy lines took me right back to swim team and lifeguard classes! Thank you for the memories, and for helping me create new ones with my granddaughter!!

Fantastic experience: Everyone at YMCA is AMAZINGGG... they are all so helpful and friendly. When I signed up with them last year, it was the first time for me to sign up with any YMCA but they made me feel right at home. Since then, there has been no looking back - we all use different services/activities that they provide - swim classes, toddler swim classes, personal training and more!! Keep up the good work everyone :)

Fantastic experience: My friend and I joined a Tuesday group activity. We had a great experience. The instructor was friendly and helpful as we were new to the activity. The team members were awesome too they helped us to get the needed equipment for the activity. We loved it.

Negative experience: Never answer their phones

Negative experience: Needs to have longer hours. Closer at 03:00 pm on a weekend !

Positive experience: Incredible facilities, but the hours are a little restricting.

Positive experience: Nice place and staff, but due to Covid hours are not great, with little time on weekends.

Negative experience: They think everyone works 9-5 in Canada and their hours of operations designed according to 9-5 workers……..

Negative experience: This is a bad experience for people who want to register because the front desk lady is resist and in my opinion crunch gym is better

Fantastic experience: Very Clean workout space!!Lots of workout machine choices..Quite and peaceful! Lots of kids activities!!Love Ymca

Positive experience: Good service, struggling with staffs so had to wait on line for more than half an hour ( which is understandable because of COVID ) they charged me $20 before my son could start over there.

Positive experience: Despite the small size, there were lots of areas with a variety of equipment styles in each location of the building. Was caught by surprise. Friendly people

Positive experience: They have great facilities and very welcoming Staff, the prices could be adjusted to groups, in-order to be more reasonable per household.

Negative experience: If I could give them 0 stars I would. The staff are terrible and so disrespectful. Last time I went there and they showed up so much attitude even though I waited 30 minutes to get someone to talk too. There are not helpful and so rude to customers. The previous staff were alit nicer and respectful.

Negative experience: My family an I have been members for many years over covid we did cancel our membership. we just recently came back an the cost is a lot higher, I’m not really upset about cost I’m upset about your pool programs, we live around 3 pools an your programs never have hours that my whole family can go an swim! The one time I could take My three kids my hubby was working it was a Monday an my kid where home for Easter! So I get there an the warm pool was open but the cold pool was 3 quarters lane swim? With a small amount open for kids? What’s the point of paying for the ymca? I pick the ymca for the pools so my Family can do Family activities together. I guess the ymca is no longer family friendly when it comes to swimming. I will be going In an canceling our memberships I can get much cheaper gym memberships for my self and pay cash for the once in awhile open/family swim that you have. Ymca is not family friendly when it comes to family swim an or family activities.

Positive experience: Staff is super friendly i used to use the squash room with my ex and my mom now goes for aqua fit honestly thinking about renewing my membership and getting my husband and kids one 2. So my husband an I can work out with the girls, the girls can get swimming lessons, and there are many other fun things for you and your family. Im not 100% but I think they might even have summer camps

Negative experience: Can never get a hold of staff when you call. None of the programs for my preteen are happening like I was promised when I signed up and the one that did happen got cancelled and moved out to Cambridge during rush hour. The pool is ok, but that's about it. Super expensive considering all we can do is swim.

Positive experience: The staff at reception always has snappy disrespectful attitudes. They definitely aren’t very friendly at all. However my son has done every activity In his age group & I’ve never had a issue with the program leader. They’ve always talked to myself & my son with respect & been very kind. The child care for babies/toddlers has been amazing & I feel very safe leaving my toddler in the childcare room! The gym & change rooms have always been very clean as well!

Fantastic experience: An experience for the whole family. Swimming, squash, fitness center and more. We really enjoy it!

Fantastic experience: Professional staff and comfortable facilities

Fantastic experience: Very friendly makes you feel welcome

Fantastic experience: Positive: Communication , Professionalism , Quality Happy with the staff and workout facility.