'Biggest Loser' resorts to expand across the USA

The Biggest Loser weight-loss/lifestyle-change resorts are about to gain ground.

Currently there are two successful outposts with ties to the hit NBC TV show of the same name: one in Ivins, Utah, and a newer branch in Malibu. The original Utah resort is pretty much booked till October, a reservationist said Tuesday.

Now, two entrepreneurs have joined up with those behind the original Loser resorts and will expand the concept and take it to other parts of the country.

Larry Bond and David Marshall, whose eclectic backgrounds include music, gaming, philanthropy and hotels, plan to turn the two properties (now with 140 rooms between them) into an empire that will have 2,500 rooms within three years, they told me Tuesday via phone. The third Biggest Loser resort will be located in the Southeast or Mid-Atlantic region and is due "in the first quarter of 2012," says Bond, who is CEO of Fitness Ridge Worldwide, the new entity overseeing development of the chain.

ALSO SEE:  What's it like to stay at a Loser resort?

What's the concept? "David and I were evaluating the obesity epidemic and we were looking at ways to join forces and start attacking the issue," Bond says. Marshall, a managing partner of Fitness Ridge Worldwide whose bio includes founding the legal online gaming company Youbet.com and the ProElite Mixed Martial Arts League, says he is hoping to "bring new technologies to help people" lose weight and change eating habits at the resorts, as well as maintaining new lifestyles at home via monitoring and life coaching.

Adds Bond, "We're expanding on the great work that's been done" on the TV show and at Biggest Loser Resorts, which have a hefty rate of return guests. The two say they plan to create Loser "hotels within hotels" at existing lodgings, with separate dining areas and workout spaces. They also hope to encourage corporate retreats at the new resorts that will train employees in healthier habits to help them live longer and be more productive.

The new resorts will maintain value pricing, Bond says. Currently, stays start at $1,995 a week a person, double, in Utah, including lodging, all meals and classes. Four weeks is $7,200. Malibu is a bit more expensive.

Says Bond, "We're trying to be of the people," rather than a chain of pricey destination spas.

What do you think? Is expansion of Loser resorts a winning concept? Would you go to one?

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