The Houston Leisure facility has launched an online booking tool for the fitness centre.
On Sept. 4, the leisure facility announced in a Facebook post, the launch of this new tool to book appointments online for the fitness centre. To be able to book an appointment, members need to have an account with the system that can be created online. Members can then register for their gym spots online.
“We are switching over to online so that it is much more user friendly and people don’t have to phone to contact us so that we are reachable, accessible from anywhere they are instead of having to give us a phone call. So if we are closed during the day or if they want to cancel their appointment, they can do it all online,” said Tasha Kelly, the director of leisure services with the District of Houston.
The same online system is being used by the leisure services for booking of other activities.
This move, according to Kelly, is Covid-related as they can only allow a set number of people at one time in the gym and have to wipe down and sanitize all the equipments in between the gym usages.
“We are only allowed to have so many people at one time in the gym, and so before you could drop in and come anytime but now that we have cleaning requirements, we have to have bookable spots,” said Kelly.
The fitness centre and all the parks and playgrounds in the district opened earlier this year in June. The district had issued a press release informing the public of the fitness centre opening up from June 15. At that time, the district had also mentioned that the pool would remain closed until proper safety protocols were put in place. The pool is now set to open on Sept. 21 according to Kelly.
“The other thing we have actually done with the gym is that we have actually added another booking spot, we have gone from three users in the gym to four users and that is in anticipation of the pool opening and being able to adjust the number of people in the facilities,” she said.
The leisure centre is now providing information brochures or leaflets and links online to teach people how to go online and access the portal, how to cancel appointments and how to book their gym appointments online.
”So far we have had quite a few people access it already,” she said.
Priyanka Ketkar
Multimedia journalist
@PriyankaKetkar
priyanka.ketkar@ldnews.net
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