Village Health & Wellness Clubs, a leading leisure operator in the UK, manages 33 premium clubs across the country. Known for providing a premium experience, Village are always looking for ways to elevate their offering, providing a consistent and high level experience.

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Like many leisure operators, Village identified areas of their offering which could improve, but also recognised the challenges of scaling a service offering that has consistency, availability and affordability.

Presented with an opportunity to overcome these challenges, working with HireBob.ai, Village have begun to implement Ai to expand their member service levels.

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THE FOCUS

Identifying trends, Anthony Heskins, National Sales & New Openings Manager at Village, has noticed an emerging need from Village members to access support, coaching and guidance on lifestyle factors outside of the four walls of the club. Anthony commented “We’ve seen a growing trend of our members looking for our support on more holistic wellbeing, rather than just gym programming. It makes sense, as our sector pivots more towards wellness and less just about physical activity.

“Achieving wellness goals isn’t just about what we do in the gym or in the exercise studio, it’s more of a holistic approach that encompasses many factors such a nutrition, sleep and education. Recognising that our members needed this valuable support, we were faced with a challenge of how to provide a consistent, scalable and high level of service in this area. Our personal trainers are providing this in 1-to-1 sessions with our members and whilst valuable, finite trainer resource and availability restricts how many members we can support at once. We quickly identified that we needed a process / technology that allowed us to deliver this level of support on a larger scale.

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SOLUTION

Seeing Ai as a route to provide a solution to the scalability issues, Village partnered with HireBOB.ai to launch an intelligent, personalised and trainable solution housed within the Village app.

HireBOB.ai is providing a 24/7 service module that allows Village members to gain unlimited support, coaching and guidance on nutrition. With the ability to ask any real time questions on diet, nutrition, calorie intake, recipe and meal planning, Village have significantly elevated their service and coaching experience beyond the four walls of their clubs.

This innovative service is being initially trialled across 4 clubs, at a target audience of 16,000 members, before potentially being rolled out to the full estate of 33 clubs.

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THE OUTCOMES

The feedback from the trial phase has been overwhelmingly positive, with both members and staff appreciating the enhanced level of support available through the app. Anthony Heskins, noted “the significant impact of having such support accessible at any time has been a game changer. HireBOB.ai has elevated our service level and provided a new level of support that otherwise would not have been achievable. This AI-enhanced support not only benefits members within the gym premises but also supports healthier lifestyle choices outside, thereby extending our ability to support our member’s wellness.”

“Moreover, the integration of HireBOB.ai serves as a complement to our human workforce, working alongside our team to improve service quality. AI's ability to identify members who could benefit from additional support and connect them with our personal training team exemplifies a harmonious blend of technology and human interaction.”

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‍LOOKING FORWARD

Encouraged by the success of the initial trial, Village Gym is hoping to expand the use of HireBOB.ai across all 33 clubs later in the year. With additional potential to expand the use of Ai to enhance their sales and onboarding process for new members.

CONCLUSION

Village Gym's partnership with HireBOB.ai represents a significant step forward in the use of technology to enhance customer service in the fitness sector. By providing 24/7 access to personalised support and coaching through Ai, Village Health & Wellness Clubs have found a consistent, scalable and accessible solution to improving their members’ experience.

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