Benton Harbor-St. Joseph YMCA

About

The Benton Harbor-St. Joseph YMCA, located at 3665 Hollywood Rd, St Joseph, MI 49085, USA, serves as a comprehensive community hub offering a wide array of facilities and programs. It typically features multiple pools, a fitness center, gymnasium, group exercise studios, and various youth and family programs, aiming to promote healthy living, social responsibility, and community development for all ages.

The facility generally offers a variety of pools with different temperatures: a warm-water leisure pool maintained around 86-88°F, a lap pool typically kept at 80-82°F, and a therapy pool which is warmer, usually around 90-92°F.

What are people saying (AI review summary)? Overall, reviews for the YMCA location are mixed to predominantly negative, primarily highlighting significant issues with cleanliness and maintenance. Multiple patrons describe bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers as consistently filthy, reeking of urine and mildew, with hair on floors, rusted lockers, and stained fixtures. The gym is also noted to frequently smell of body odor. While some members praise specific amenities like the variety of fitness classes (especially aqua workouts), good workout equipment, and an effective steam room, other facilities are criticized for being outdated (e.g., pool area), having excessive chlorine, and restricting the use of swim equipment. Staff interactions receive mixed feedback; some front desk staff are described as nice and overall staff as great, but specific complaints mention condescending behavior, ignored phone calls, and rude lifeguards. The membership cancellation process is reported as frustrating and difficult, with members being charged for unused services and required inconvenient in-person visits. Furthermore, some find the value for money questionable, citing overpriced snacks and insufficient food provided for children's programs. A strong recurring sentiment suggests the facility is in dire need of remodeling, improved cleaning, and better staff training, with the Niles location frequently cited as a much better alternative.

Location

Gallery

Amenities

• Accessible Entrance

Reviews

Listing Reviews

May 4th, 2025

Alaor Neto

One star is too generous. The bathrooms, family rooms, and locker rooms at the Benton Harbor YMCA are absolutely disgusting. The entire area reeks of urine and mildew the moment you walk in. There’s hair all over the floors, rusted-out lockers, and a general feeling of filth that makes you want to walk right back out. It’s clear that proper cleaning and maintenance are not a priority here. For a place that promotes health and wellness, the conditions are completely unacceptable. Do better.

November 4th, 2021

Boston Sams

Love coming here after dropping the kids off to school....offer a lot of class my fav is the aqua workouts and that steam room definitely be on point and there is always time and peace to enjoy a good book

July 1st, 2022

Rissy Lozano

Best Gym around - Pool, Fitness Classes included with your membership, you get what you pay for. A few programs mostly for kiddos. Staff is always great. Wish we had the therapy "hot tub" pool and The female and male separated steam rooms like Niles. Worth a try!

July 13th, 2023

Kennedy Jade

Moved across the state and it took months for me to get a hold of somebody to cancel my membership. When I finally did I was forced to pay a “balance” on a membership I haven’t used in nearly a year. Lady on the phone also said I need to “come in” to fill out paperwork and asked how far I moved… I’m not driving three hours for that & I don’t enjoy paying for services I haven’t been using. Shouldn’t be that hard

April 19th, 2022

Erika Haas

The older lady with the gray hair at the front desk is condescending and ignores the phone ringing, the bathrooms and showers in the family locker room are always filthy with hair on the floor, trash is full, the shower curtain is stained, dirty and disgusting, the life guards are rude and not friendly at all, the pool area is outdated, most of the swim equipment we arent allowed to use during open swim unless we are in a class or doing swim laps, the gym always smells of bad body odor all the time, the snacks at the front desk area are overpriced and my son goes to the monthly ymca night out for kids and he tells me that they get one piece of pizza for dinner and water, that's it. I pay 20$ everytime he goes to the night out and we are members and i pay 65$ monthly, and that is what they feed our kids. Also, the pool has so much chlorine, it burns your eyes. The good things are that the other staff at the front desk is nice and they have nice work out equipment but all in all this location is in bad need of remodeling and new staff. Wish we lived closer to the Niles location, it is MUCH nicer there.