We are making full use of the Connect product as part of an overall commitment to help transform our business. We have been working with Gladstone Health and Leisure for a numbers of years now, but only installed their online booking software Connect in January of this year, starting with one pilot site. However, based on the success and after dealing with initial teething difficulties of the product we rolled this out across 28 of our sites, including six golf courses.

The online booking portal has reduced phone traffic to the centres and acted as an immediate queue-buster on site, taking pressure off reception, which is allowing reception staff to deal with customer queries more easily. In fact, there have been very few problems; creating a new class or activity is a really simple process and, because income is automatically fed into the general ledger system, there’s no manual effort involved.

From the customer perspective it offers far more flexibility in the booking process. It’s available 24/7, so they can book whenever suits them, rather than having to wait for a centre to open. Popular classes are now getting fully booked, with members booking online to guarantee themselves a place. They can see at a glance what time slots are available, which is really important for our golf courses, they can manage their bookings, for instance moving bookings or cancellations, and they can update personal details without having to contact the site.

Dishonoured bookings functionality has also allowed us to tighten up on no-shows by introducing a £2.00 fine for people that don’t arrive, leading to a significant reduction of around 35%. Plus we are saving time and money by introducing up-front payment at the time of booking.

All in all, the capabilities of Connect have been impressive and we continue to work with Gladstone to help transform and improve other areas of our business.

Gerry Campbell, General Manager at South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture