In early September 2012, we launched BookMe, a new reservation service that enables smaller service providers to offer their customers a fast and convenient way to make appointments online. Numerous companies have already taken advantage of BookMe. We wanted to find out exactly how our new offer was being received by business, who was using BookMe in their daily work and for what purpose. We will be taking a look behind the scenes in the coming months and will present in our blog different practical examples of BookMe in action. Today is the first of the series: the float center in Zurich.
The company
float Zurich has been offering total relaxation for everyday life since 2007. Visitors experience the feeling of weightlessness by floating on special salt-water in three floating spaces. float Zurich offers a total of 100 floating appointments a week at 90 minutes each (60 minutes floating + 30 minutes resting time) for one to two people. The high season runs from October to April, when booking rates generally reach 90%.
Why BookMe?
float Zurich works with a small team and has no permanent reception staff. As most appointments were previously made by telephone, the staff spent valuable time every day scheduling arrangements instead of taking care of their customers. On Monday mornings, in particular, the phone would ring incessantly, which meant the line was permanently engaged, leading to a loss of customer inquiries.
Sabine Riess and Oscar Trott, managers of float Zurich, searched for a more efficient solution to a problem that was intruding on their work day. They heard of BookMe when it was still in the development phase and decided to test this new method of appointment booking.
The BookMe experience
float Zurich has been using BookMe since November 2012, setting up a license for each of the three floating rooms. With the exception of special offers such as all-day floating, all current appointments can be booked online. The new service has been extremely well received by both staff members and customers: already 30%-50% of all appointments are booked through BookMe.
Noticeably fewer telephone calls have led to a great improvement in daily work and the system has been a real time saver. Oscar Trott estimates that in the short time since BookMe was introduced, the center is spending six to eight hours a week less on the phone. This is a full working day – valuable time that is now invested in providing the best service to customers.
Asked for his feedback on BookMe, Oscar Trott said: “The tool is fantastic! Customers are also thrilled that they can see all available appointments and book outside our opening times. And the automatic appointment confirmation emails sent by BookMe mean we have to do very little ourselves. Less stress, more time, and satisfied customers – what more could you ask for? We believe that our utilized capacity will increase even further with BookMe.”
