Indiana day spa improves customer service with HD surveillance

The Woodhouse Day Spa in Indiana recently replaced its analog video system with an IP video surveillance system consisting of 34 IQinVision megapixel cameras and Exacq Technologies mobile VMS to enhance security and customer experience. The cameras were 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 929 square meters (10,000 square foot facility). No cameras were installed in any treatment rooms. Homeland Technology Group is the integrator for this project.

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,” said Ryan Lindemann. “Unfortunately, that system proved cumbersome, it was difficult to retrieve the video we wanted, and the image quality was bad.”

Lindemann explained that the new IP system is utilized 90 percent of the time for live monitoring and the balance is incident review. Staff can monitor video at the check-in and check-out desks, the employee break room has a monitor. Staff has become good with monitoring. The spa wanted to keep things quiet and restful, with most staff wearing headphones for efficient and quiet communication in locating staff and dispatching staff to guests in need, added Lindemann.

During initial installment of the video surveillance system, most of the staff thought it was used for employee monitoring, but soon learned it could enhance customer experience and help them work more efficiently, said Lindemann. The video system 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. The video system also provides a deterrent against the possibility of employee theft.
 
Lindemann also pointed future additional uses for the IP video surveillance system, which can help the couple spend more quality time with family, when they have their second child. “We can monitor camera views on our iPads and iPhones and on our PCs at home,” said Lindemann. “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.”