Saints & Stars and PLTS are two of the Netherlands’ most recognizable boutique fitness brands, combining premium facilities, high-energy classes, and a hospitality-led experience across Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
Saints & Stars, founded in 2018, is a high-end fitness and wellness brand offering concepts including HYROX, reformer, yoga, and recovery experiences. PLTS, founded in 2017, is known for its unique high-intensity reformer Pilates classes. The two brands, both of which joined ClassPass in 2019, operate four Saints & Stars studios and nine PLTS studios.
For Chiel Hoetmer, Head of Product at Saints & Stars, the brands’ mission is rooted in experience. As he explains, “Saints and Stars, we are a high-end gym, where we combine luxury with hospitality and try to deliver that in an experience.” That experience is designed to motivate members for the long term. “We try to inspire and motivate our members, or like we like to call them, our tribe, to get the best version out of themselves.”
Since partnering with ClassPass, Saints & Stars and PLTS have used the platform to reach a wider audience, fill more classes, gather actionable feedback, and make smarter decisions as the business continues to expand.
How ClassPass makes it easier to try premium fitness classes
In the beginning, Saints & Stars took inspiration from boutique fitness operators in the U.S., launching with a pay-as-you-go model across group fitness and personal training. But the team quickly ran into a key challenge: drop-in demand could be unpredictable. Seasonality, holidays, and even the weather could have a noticeable impact on attendance. As Chiel explains, “If the weather is nice in Amsterdam, everybody’s in the park, drinking a nice beer…and then obviously your business is down.”
That volatility pushed the team to think about how to create more consistent demand through memberships, recurring revenue, and broader brand awareness. At the same time, Saints & Stars faced another challenge: its premium positioning was both a strength and a barrier. The brand’s luxury look and feel helped attract its target audience, but it could also make some first-time visitors hesitant. “Our look and feel is quite luxurious...sometimes people are afraid,” or assume they need a certain fitness level before walking in. In reality, he says, “Everyone is welcome at Saints & Stars.”
ClassPass helped address both challenges by making the brand easier to discover and easier to try. By introducing Saints & Stars and PLTS to a new audience, ClassPass gives more people a low-pressure way to experience the studios without a major upfront commitment. Chiel shares, “ClassPass has definitely enabled us to lower the [barrier] for people to come to Saints and Stars.” For a potential customer, the mindset has become, “Oh, I can just try it out with ClassPass. If I don’t like it, I’ll just go to a different studio.”
This flexibility has helped Saints & Stars and PLTS reach audiences, especially younger users and people who are interested in trying a variety of workouts.
How ClassPass fills classes and creates a better studio experience
For Saints & Stars, one of the biggest benefits of ClassPass has been the ability to drive demand outside the traditional peak workout windows. Like many studios, the team sees strong demand before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m., but needs ways to optimize capacity throughout the rest of the day.
ClassPass helps bring in new clients, including university students, who are more likely to book during less conventional times. That improved utilization matters for the business. More classes mean better use of studio space, instructors, rent, and operating costs. “The more classes we can offer [with ClassPass], the more effective the studio gets to be,” Chiel says.
ClassPass also helps improve the client experience. Group fitness depends on energy, and fuller classes often create a stronger atmosphere. “By filling up the classes even more, the experience gets better as well,” Chiel says. “Doing a HIIT class with two people is a bit awkward and a bit boring, but the more people you have in a group class, the better. ClassPass definitely helped us reach that level.”
When Saints & Stars first opened, its class roster was limited to just a few hours in the morning and afternoon. Chiel recalls that “if we had more than ten bookings in the beginning, people at the front desk were freaking out,” whereas now, “if it’s like 40 people, we’re like, ‘Oh, easy day.’”
That growth has been significant. Chiel was one of the original four instructors; today, the business works with around 140. He describes ClassPass as “a good accelerator” that helps brands reach more people and scale their business.
How ClassPass improves business operations
ClassPass has also become an important product and operations tool for Saints & Stars and PLTS.
For Chiel, who focuses on product quality and class innovation, ratings and reviews are especially valuable. ClassPass feedback is gathered at scale, so the team can use it to understand what customers really think about classes, concepts, and instructors.
“People are very honest with their feedback,” Chiel says. That honesty helps the team identify patterns. “It’s actually a very accurate number for us to see which concepts are popular and which ones are lacking.” If an instructor’s score falls below the average for a concept, the team can step in with more coaching. “If we notice an instructor is scoring lower than the average for that concept, we just do more peer-to-peer review with a trainer,” he explains.
Operationally, ClassPass’ SmartSpot tool has helped reduce manual work and improve occupancy. Chiel describes the early days of manually opening and closing spots between systems as a nightmare. However, with SmartSpot, the process became much easier. “SmartSpot definitely is a great way to fill up and increase the occupancy for our concepts,” he says. “With SmartSpot, we are able to be more efficient.”
ClassPass’ no-show and late-cancellation policies also helps improve booking behavior. The no-show rate has dropped significantly, giving the team more accurate data and more reliable attendance.
ClassPass’ in-app marketing tools have also helped Saints & Stars promote larger-scale events. For special activations, the team uses placements like banners and pop-ups in the ClassPass app to put events in front of more potential attendees and generate stronger turnout. That increased in-app visibility has supported larger events, including an Amsterdam Dance Event activation with Awakenings, where Saints & Stars hosted around 3,500 people.
How ClassPass helps data-driven decision-making for growth
As Saints & Stars and PLTS have grown, they increasingly use ClassPass data to inform their decision-making. Club managers use performance and occupancy insights on a daily basis, while the broader team combines ClassPass data with internal dashboards to understand class demand, occupancy rates, and the ratio between direct members and ClassPass users.
That visibility helps the business identify which classes and concepts to grow, adjust, or replace. The team also uses ClassPass market insights to better understand demand across Amsterdam neighborhoods and evaluate where new studios could perform well as an input to their expansion planning strategy
By combining internal knowledge with ClassPass data, Saints & Stars and PLTS can make more confident decisions about locations, concepts, and future investments, especially as trends like strength training and reformer Pilates continue to grow. “ClassPass has a lot of data, a lot of expertise,” Chiel says.
ClassPass: the ultimate partner for every stage of growth
For Saints & Stars and PLTS, ClassPass has supported the business through every stage of growth—from building awareness to scaling operations and planning what comes next.
In the opening phase, ClassPass helped the brands reach a new audience and make it easier for new customers to try the studios. As Chiel explains, “ClassPass is a great partner to address a bigger audience…it just enables more people to find and try out your studio.”
As the brands grew, ClassPass helped increase occupancy, fill spots more efficiently, and support a larger class roster. And as Saints & Stars and PLTS continue to expand, ClassPass data helps inform decisions around concepts, cities, and neighborhoods. For Chiel, that flexibility is what makes the platform valuable for businesses at almost any stage.
Beyond the tools and data, the partnership itself has been collaborative and mutually beneficial. Chiel describes it as a relationship where both sides are invested in each other’s success: “It feels very synergic…ClassPass benefits from Saints, and Saints benefits from ClassPass. That feels like a good partnership”
