Exerp explains inclusion of government mandates in fitness clubs’ reopening processes

Exerp has shared its experience of how gym operators in other countries where it works have introduced government and health mandates for managing Coronavirus in their members' journeys when reopening.

With gyms in NSW, the ACT and Victoria moving towards levels of reopening after lengthy lockdown, Exerp advise “Australia is the last market to open up where Exerp operates, meaning we have the experience of opening up in other countries around the world.”

With governments and some operators looking to demand proof of vaccination in order for members to enter facilities, Exerp advises that it “did not need to develop specific functionality to help clients manage re-opening except for capacity management which was developed early on in the pandemic.

“The capacity count takes into account reserved spots in upcoming classes and members checking into the club simultaneously, a trigger was also developed to message the members (via any method you choose) to advise them (if mandated) that they’re visit to the club is coming to the end of its time limit.”

Thhe member management system for enterprise fitness operators went on to advise “our existing functionality to have flexible configuration provides our clients the ownership of their members' journeys more so than many other platforms.”

With the impending opening of the Australian fitness clubs, Exerp describe a typical members journey:

• Members are sent an email advising the club is due to reopen soon, as mandated by the relevant state government, and that ‘in order to access the club you will need to be fully vaccinated etc’. Within the email is a deep link to a web page specifically designed for the re-opening.

• Once the member clicks on the link they are presented with a login page, this validates their credentials stored within Exerp’s softwware to ensure they are logged into the correct profile (in most cases this is the same login the member already uses when logging into the member portal on the clients website or member app).

• The member is presented with a questionnaire of the client's design and is required to be completed in order to submit the form. The questionnaire answers are stored on the members profile for the staff to view at a later date if required.

• At the same time, members will be required to upload a document proving their vaccination status, this is accessible for the staff to review.

• Once the ‘Submit’ button is clicked, this triggers a field to be populated in Exerp which releases the members access to the club and to make bookings. This field is role protected and can only be edited by staff members that the client deems necessary.

• This will also trigger an email to the member to confirm they have completed the questionnaire and attached the necessary evidence, this can be used by them as a form of evidence that they have done what is required of them if there is an issue.

• This process is all automated.

Exerp advise that such a process means no queues at reception on clubs’ reopening, member can start booking their favourite classes before the club re-opening date and that it removes the need to have a staff member physically interact with members to check vaccine status on reopening.

Exerp go on to advise “our API stack caters to our clients’ needs to create a simple web page for members to log in, fill in a brief questionnaire of their own design, upload a document onto their profile which will give them access to the club.

“It is just one example of the flexibility Exerp provides to clients while maintaining best practices at the core of the system.”

In May, this year Technogym sold its controlling stake in Exerp, acquired in 2016, to US-based Clubessential Holdings.