The Rochester Athletic Club is a large multi-purpose health club in Rochester, Minnesota.
With just about everything a member could want in a health club, the leadership staff needed club software that could handle everything from court scheduling, program registration, separate kids area check-ins, point of sale, inventory solutions and a robust billing system.
Brent Frueh, the general manager of the club, said they researched several companies during the IHRSA Trade Show and had the finalists come to the club to present to the entire management team. After each manager had input, Jonas Fitness was the clear winner.
“The one advantage Jonas Fitness had over the other companies was their program registration and member facing portal,” said Frueh. “Members can register for programs, book a massage or rent a court right from their phones. These two things were very important to us, and their entire product was a good fit for our club.”
Here, Frueh and Sarah Stille, the assistant general manager, share more on their partnership, Jonas’ excellent customer service and how the software has eased operations.
How has Jonas Fitness helped your club improve its daily operations?
BF: There are many things we really like about Jonas Fitness. It has made some aspects easier like the back office billing process. Our front desk operations have also improved with Jonas Fitness. Whether it’s member check-in, guest pass sales or point of sale, the system is easy to use.
Like most clubs, we hire a lot of young staff, so you only get them for a short time, so it has to be user friendly. Because of the member facing portal, staff time is saved because the member can register online at their convenience. We offer a lot of programs, classes and camps throughout the year so it was very important to us to have a system that could handle this well.
Why is it so important to have a great CMS partner like Jonas Fitness?
BF: A great CMS partner plays a major role in any gym or health club. Without a great partner, your business will suffer. A great partner will be responsive to your questions and needs. They will return calls and communicate when there are system-wide problems or errors. The Jonas Fitness team has been a great partner. They truly care about their relationship with us and are responsive and open to our feedback. A good CMS operates silently in the background and allows the staff to easily do their jobs without having too many cumbersome workarounds. Jonas Fitness checks that box for us.
How would you describe Jonas Fitness’ customer service?
SS: Jonas Fitness has always provided us excellent customer service. They went out of their way to work with us both prior and during the transition, working to understand our needs and concerns all along the way. Through our experience, we have built an open, honest and positive relationship with Jonas which has resulted in us feeling valued as one of their customers. They have always made themselves available to support any concerns or answer our questions, even on a Saturday night with prompt responses.
Jonas Fitness continues to do what they can, above and beyond our expectations, to make us feel valued. We always feel they listen and respect our team with our questions or requests even if it is a unique feature or issue due to our organization. They take the time to understand our needs, and their actions and solution-driven mindset are extremely beneficial and helpful to move our organization forward.
Why should other club operators consider working with Jonas Fitness?
SS: Based on the introduction to Jonas and what they had to offer, after involving our entire leadership team in the decision making process, it was a unanimous decision to go forward with Jonas Fitness. Jonas Fitness and their entire team have been fabulous to work with and have exceeded our expectations with each interaction.
