The Hills Swim & Tennis Club
- Note: there are two clubs with similar names: The Hills Swim & Tennis Club on Manzanita Drive (this one) and Oakland Hills Tennis Club on Redwood Rd. (click here )
Parent Q&A
Parent Reviews
Parents, please Sign in to post a review on this page.I belong to The Hills Swim and Tennis Club. We have had many happy playdates and parties on-site. We have brought friends and family to enjoy the facilities. The pools, gym, tennis courts, and facilities are clean and the members are very friendly. It is very down-to-earth. They offer yoga, PIlates, weight training, tennis lessons, and a Zone-2 Club swim team for the kids. Many members are long-time members. I am interested in giving up my membership as my children have grown and gone off to college. Please feel free to contact me.
The Hills Swim & Tennis Club in Oakland, off Skyline, does lessons for non-members starting in September - https://hills.caclubs.com/aquatics/private-lessons. We are members and have been very happy with the instruction our child has gotten in the past.
I highly recommend the Hills Hurricane swim team. My son, who is now 18 and college bound, has benefited greatly from this team and the community.
The Hills Swim Club is wonderful, but the monthly fee for families (as opposed to individuals) is $300. Hard to find a membership less than $8000, plus transfer fee, but you can usually sell it for more than you purchased it for.
Archived Q&A and Reviews
March 2009
Re: Gym & Pool Membership near Montclair
We belong to the Hills Club (that is the one on Manzanita, not to be confused with the Oakland Hills Club on Redwood Rd). We moved to Oakland about 3.5 years ago and joined the club about 1.5 years ago. My wife uses they gym and takes occasional classes which she has liked. I mostly like to Swim. There are two hot tubs (one adults only) and saunas in each dressing room. They are doing a major renovation right now and I hear what is done so far looks great. It is a beautiful spot and the kids love it. They have child care, though we have not used it, and a summer camp, which we have used and our kids have enjoyed. One of the main reasons we joined is that we knew so many people there and the social aspects have been great. When we go up with the kids in the summer they almost always have friends there. The pool is heated and there are plenty of people who use it year round. The memberships can be resold, and I'm guessing they may have gone down in price with the economy. I did not worry to much about it because you can resell it when you are done with it and as long as you plan to hold on to it for a while it is not likely you will lose money on it. Happy Hills member
Join the Hills Swim and Tennis Club. Memberships are at an all time low, just go on Craigslist to find them. You also pay a monthly fee - I think its 205 these days. There are three pools, one for every size. It is much cheaper than the Claremont. It is also a much nicer club than the Montclair Swim club in terms of surroundings. Go up for a tour. My family has been a member for 7 years or so and my son is on the swim team. The people are pretty laid back, a lot of members bought in when the price was $250 to join. It is not a bunch of wealthy, well-dressed people, just average families with kids. In the summer it is great because there are tons of kids to play with and people bring up their wine and beer and food. There is also a new cook and the food at the cafe is great. Karen
May 2007
Re: Laid back, fun swim club w small kids (Oakland)
We've been members at Hills Swim & Tennis Club (www.hillsswimandtennis.com) for about 2 years now and like it a lot -- in fact, the main reason we joined was that we discovered we know so many people with kids who are members there. It's very laid-back. People bbq and hang out, and there are a lot of kids around. There's a nice kids' pool (2-3' deep) and kids' hot tub, in addition to the lap pool, etc. They have summer programs for kids, but not much in the winter that I know of. About my only complaints are that the childcare is kind of pricey and it takes a while to drive up there. Other than that, we love it. Pool-side
Re: Seeking Oakland (or somewhat close) Swim Club (July 2003)
We love the Hills Swim & Tennis Club. It's up off of Skyline at Manzanita, they have three pools, two hot tubs, a sauna, a work out room, lots of classes (yoga, ballet, pilates etc) swimming lessons and a grill witha a pretty extensive menu. They also have oicnic tables and gas grills so you canalso bring your own food. It's very causal and family friendly. There are no memberships currently available through the club so you would have to buy one from a member. Look in the classified section of the Montclarion or Piedmonter. I think they're about $8,000 now, but you can sell the membership when you decide to move on. The monthly dues are $155 for a family
Re: Seeking Oakland (or somewhat close) Swim Club (July 2003)
The Hills has great pool facilities and again poor strength training equipment, don't know if they offer aerobic classes. And it is really cold and windy up there.
Re: Looking for a Swim Club (May 2003)
I used to belong to the Hills and talked my husband into joining the Claremont when we moved practically next door to it, so I have opinions on both.
Pools: I loved the 3 different pools at the Hills, and yes, they have a great (separate) toddler pool. But my son turned two, he refused to be in the toddler pool anymore, he wanted to play on the steps of the grownup pool. Although the toddler pool at the Claremont is very small, he loves it because it is connected to the big kids' pool area. He seems to have plenty of room to move around and I have to drag him out when I want to leave. Also, I think for moms who have more than one child (not me) the Claremont's set up makes it easy to watch a bigger child and a smaller one at the same time, whereas at the Hills, the kids' pool and the baby pool are too far apart for that. The Hills does have diving boards which the big kids love, and the Claremont does not.
Workout facilities: Yes, the work out facilities at the Claremont are a lot better than at the Hills, although for me, the Hills' stuff was fine. My husband, however, was sold on the Claremont because of the workout room.
Childcare: Here the Claremont wins, by far. A huge advantage of the Claremont is their great childcare. My child ASKS to go to the ''kids' club'' at the Claremont - he never liked the childcare at the Hills. He has a blast at the Kids' Club (except for one day when he was the only kid there and he wasn't too crazy about that).
Cost: the Hills is MUCH more reasonably priced and it is really easy to resell your membership, usually for more than you paid for it. And the monthly fee at the Claremont is almost triple what the Hills was. The guest fees at the Hills are a lot more reasonable, and they let your babysitter bring your child instead of you, at no additional cost (the Claremont makes you buy a ''nanny pass''). The Hills was also really nice about letting my nanny bring her own kids the week they didn't have school.
Snack bar: The Claremont's snack bar is much more expensive than the Hills, and the person manning the cash register is the slowest mammal alive. You are not supposed to bring your own food at the Claremont, either (a rule I totally ignore), but lots of people bring their own stuff at the Hills which I think is much nicer. On the other hand, the Claremont's snack bar has beer and wine, and they set up a poolside bar in the summer (a plus for me, I like my booze!).
Other: don't join the Claremont for the free night's stay at the hotel. They know you are being ''comp'd'' when you check in, and they put us in a room next to the service passage and we got to listen to loud banging from carts being rolled up and down all night long. And in the morning, we had a cold shower. Ugh! Frankly, if the Hills was located where the Claremont is, I'd have stayed at the Hills and brought my flask to the Hills instead of sneaking a sandwich at the Claremont).
Re: Looking to Join a Swim Club near Montclair (Nov 2002)
I have a family membership in ''The Hills'' - swim and tennis club in Montclair - that I want to sell. It sounds like it would fit your bill perfectly - the monthly dues are less than half the cost of the Claremont's ($145 versus $355). It has three pools - a baby/toddler pool, a big kids' pool, and a huge pool with lap lanes and a separate diving area. Also has tennis courts and fitness room (although the latter is not as big or as nice as the Claremont's - nor are the locker rooms nearly as nice as the Claremont's). Email me if you are interested.
In some ways our situation is opposite yours - we live a few minutes from the Hills, and about 10 from the Claremont. We joined the Claremont because the Hills seemed exorbitant given its facilities, and we also enjoy tennis, and the Claremont's programming is better. I couldn't see paying such a high initiation for the Hills and having to bring our own towels and use sub-par facilities, with a difficult parking situation; selling a membership down the road was not enough of a benefit to justify joining. I'm sorry the Claremont hasn't responded - we didn't have that problem. I've seen people show up at the front desk and ask for a tour - since you live close by you could try that, or reach out to me, and I can put you in touch with membership. We appreciate it now even more than when we joined (there was an adjustment period for us, and as with the Hills, the club is not perfect). The staff knows us all by name, the tennis and swim coaching are excellent. I recently had to start using the gym to rehabilitate after a surgery, and the trainer I've used has been wonderful. We toured both (and a couple of other clubs as well) and paid attention to which place most resonated with us. If the difference in monthly fee doesn't affect you too much then perhaps consider where you and your family feel happiest. A reservation is not needed to swim or use the hot tub, but they are finishing up a pool deck renovation, so the main pool and outdoor hot tub won't be available until mid/late May, which might affect your perception of the Club (but the lap pool is available). Once the main pool is open I'm excited to backstroke while looking at the palm trees again (and stars in winter). Even though it's not perfect, we have a lot of gratitude that the Club is a part of our lives.
For comparison, I sold our Hills membership last year for $17,500, with the buyer paying transfer fees, and I don't think we were the most expensive option out there. So it does seem to keep increasing every year, although I would think it would hit a ceiling at some point. It is a lot to ask for a buy-in given the annual fees you pay on top of it, but I think that's true at all the swim clubs around here.