Woodhouse Day Spa Improves Customer Experience with IQinVision Monitoring
IQinVision announced that The Woodhouse Day Spa, in Ft. Wayne, IN, has deployed IQinVision megapixel cameras at their facility to enhance guest security and overall quality of their experience. Homeland Technology Group is the integrator for this project.
The Woodhouse Day Spa was voted the number one day spa chain in America by Day Spa Magazine. All Woodhouse spas are locally owned and operated. Woodhouse Day Spas offer over 70 distinct treatment options, but what really sets them apart is their focus on customer service and in creating a quiet, restful place to escape.
About four years ago, Ryan and Sarah Lindemann, the spa owners, installed an analog video surveillance system. “The facility is quite large, and we wanted to keep track of where everyone was. Unfortunately, that system proved cumbersome, it was difficult to retrieve the video we wanted, and the image quality was bad,” Ryan Lindemann recounted.
Working with Homeland Technology Group, Lindemann decided to remove the poorly-performing analog system and upgrade to IP video surveillance. Now, the Woodhouse Day Spa has 34 IQeye megapixel cameras deployed in public areas, at the check-in and check-out counters, in the retail shop, laundry room, and outside the front entrance of the 10,000-square foot facility. (No cameras are installed in any treatment rooms.) Video from the IQinVision cameras is managed by Exacq Mobile video management software.
Lindemann explained that the system is utilized 90% of the time for live monitoring and the balance for incident review. Staff can monitor video at the check-in and check-out desks, the employee break room has a monitor, and Sarah Lindemann, the spa manager, keeps tabs on activity from a 52-inch monitor in her office.
“Our staff is very good at monitoring the video,” explained Ryan Lindemann. “Most staff wear headphones, and we can communicate efficiently and quietly as to where certain staff are, where they are needed, and where our guests are and how we can best direct and serve them.”
“It’s funny, when we first installed this advanced system, the employees thought it was to monitor them. But, rather quickly, they became aware how the system can be used to create an enhanced environment and customer experience. Video is another tool to help them do their job better.”
While the spa doesn’t experience any significant security incidents, the video system is there should something come up, and it has been used to review video of when an item went missing, or if a guest questions whether a treatment went the prescribed amount of time. “We can go back and confirm when someone entered the treatment room and when they exited the room. We can show it to our guests, and it’s amazing how quickly they understand,” Lindemann explained. The video system also provides a healthy deterrent against the possibility of employee theft.
The Lindemann’s also see future additional uses for their megapixel IP video surveillance system. “We can monitor camera views on our iPads and iPhones and on our PCs at home,” said Lindemann. “We had our first child a few years ago and when the time comes for our second child my wife sees the potential to use the video system to keep on-top of activity at the spa, so she doesn’t have to rush back to full-time work as quickly as she did with our first child.”
“We’re very committed to doing a quality job for our guests. There is no question that our video surveillance system is helping us offer a safe environment, while also enabling us to provide a great customer experience,” Lindemann concluded