The Customer

Athelis Club and Spa is a premium fitness and wellbeing facility located in Warrington, UK. Active for 5 years, the club aims to provide a premium space for people to get fit, unwind, and generally maximise their wellbeing.

With state-of-the-art gym equipment, health spa, saunas, pool, outdoor courts and an on-site gourmet restaurant, Athelis aims high.

While the outstanding facilities speak for themselves, a premium health facility such as Athelis must always consider the customer and making their experience as positive as possible.

The club faced challenges common in the leisure industry, particularly with managing membership access and preventing fraud. Due in part to the wide array of services, the club experienced large influxes of people at certain times of the day, with members wanting to access the gym, spa, on-site restaurant or recreational sports areas. As such, maintaining efficient access control for members and visitors was critical.

At peak times of the day, multiple club members would need to access the reception turnstile gates at once, which would cause delays. If a member could not find their card, a queue would form, and customer experience would be negatively impacted.

“Athelis needed a unique system installed where entry to the club would be seamless for members paying a premium rate. Lessons had been learnt from previous clubs with using cards for members. Speed of entry, ease of use, and protection from the sharing of membership details which are always under threat with pin codes, membership cards or even screenshotting of phone QRs. We also wanted it to feel unique and premium too” explains David Southworth, General Manager of Athelis.

To address these issues, they partnered with CCTech and Omega Security to implement a state-of-the-art facial recognition system using high quality video footage captured through i-PRO cameras.
Like many fitness facilities, Athelis was also dealing with membership fraud. Traditional access control methods, such as PIN codes or membership cards, have limitations, including frequent misuse, loss and theft, as well as the spectre of fraudulent activity. Industry-wide, fraud rates for membership access can reach as high as 30% according to internal analysis by the larger operators in the industry although 10% would be an expected norm. This not only results in lost revenue but also creates additional wear and tear on equipment, increases staffing needs, and raises health and safety concerns.

“At a high-end club like Athelis, customer journey and experience is paramount,” said Paul Meehan, Founder & Chief Operating Officer at CCTech. “As such, owners and management are always looking for ways to improve systems and to streamline processes.”

As part of the club’s charter to offer members both premium services and an exceptional experience, Athelis was also particularly focused on speeding up the entry process for legitimate members while ensuring the right people were using their facilities, improving overall customer experience and security. This was a particularly prominent issue at certain times of the day when the club experienced a large influx of visitors within a short period. Between people struggling to locate their physical cards, asking questions at the front desk and chatting in the foyer, access to the facility could sometimes take longer than was ideal.

CCTech, an expert in data collection and facial recognition technology, identified these challenges and worked closely with Athelis to deploy a facial recognition solution using video footage captured by the i-PRO S-Series cameras. The primary goal was to streamline the check-in process, and at the same time enhance security and eliminate fraudulent entries. With the i-PRO cameras’ wide dynamic range (WDR) and ability to adapt to the gym's challenging lighting conditions—ranging from bright neon lights to natural daylight—the system was able to capture high-quality facial images for accurate and reliable recognition, regardless of environmental variables. The cameras were integrated seamlessly into Athelis’ existing infrastructure, including their CRM and access control systems. This allowed the facility to quickly identify individual members and grant fast, seamless access at all times, but also track attendance and ensure compliance with membership rules such as restricted access for student members or limited entry for certain membership tiers.

How i-PRO Cameras Helped with Facial Recognition Deployment

One of the key advantages of the i-PRO S-Series cameras was their ability to function optimally in a gym environment—where lighting is inconsistent, members may wear caps or sweatbands, and faces may be obscured by sweat or heavy makeup.
When combined with the club’s Leisure Management System (LMS) and CCTech developed Facial Recognition solution, the robust WDR capabilities of the i-PRO cameras were able to help Athelis overcome these challenges, ensuring quick and accurate identification. This capability was crucial in a high-traffic environment like Athelis, where the system needed to handle a large volume of entries without downtime or inaccuracies, regardless of the light conditions or time of day.

“We used i-PRO cameras for their WDR, which gives them exceptional definition qualities in difficult lighting conditions. Without that level of detail; the FR system simply wouldn’t work. The fact that they still work perfectly 5 years after installation is a bonus and testament to build quality” explains Meehan. 

AI-driven facial recognition now plays an important role in improving the customer experience. As well as gaining seamless access to their club, members can now enrol in the system from home, ensuring that their facial data is already in the system before arriving at the gym. This reduces entry times significantly, while eliminating the need for PIN codes or membership cards and ensuring that the right members are entering the facility.

Return on Investment

Since the deployment of i-PRO cameras, Athelis has seen several positive outcomes: Fraudulent access has been drastically reduced by 90-95% in the club's estimation, with members unable to share or transfer their access credentials. This has resulted in a more secure facility and an improved member experience. The facilities are less crowded as a result, and with fewer people using equipment now that only financial members are accessing the facility, machines are left in better condition.

David Southworth, General Manager of Athelis stated: “The system works fantastic for us and ensures that only paying members access the club. It is important to appreciate that the system works this well as our staff are trained on how to get the best from the solution and our members have an easy route for self-registration at home. If you were to enroll poor images of the member or false images then they would not gain entry”.

Again, with the correct number of paid members in the gym and spa, wait times for equipment in peak periods are also optimised, which also has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. 
The facial recognition system has significantly sped up the check-in process, reducing queues and improving the overall flow of people entering the gym, especially at peak times.  
Athelis has recouped its investment many times over. The durability of the i-PRO cameras has meant that, five years into the installation, the system continues to perform as well as on day one, without the need for frequent maintenance or replacements. The cameras’ reliability and resilience in a 24/7 environment have proven critical, as downtime would result in revenue losses and security risks.

Data-Driven Insights

As an extension of Athelis’ investment, the club also has the opportunity to enhance business decision-making based on data collated from the security system. Picture quality is paramount when it comes to running accurate and reliable analytics on cameras.
For example, by tracking member usage patterns, Athelis can better understand how different demographics use their facilities, helping them tailor marketing efforts, as well as optimise staffing and even adjust gym layouts based on usage patterns. This has the potential to enrich the member experience further and provide valuable insights for optimising the business and planning for future expansion.

“Knowing who are active in our live client base has historically been a real challenge for digital marketing and promotion. Attendance levels; times of attendance; how many times a member visits per day or per week are just some of the critical data feeds which help plan an efficient operation. The ability to plan staffing; activities; see usage trends; product lifespan and facility capacity and to judge industry direction are all beholden to the quality of data received – data driven results/insights. This ultimately leads to customer satisfaction and business excellence” commented David Southworth, General Manager, Athelis.

“There are simply no limits to the number of ways that data can enhance operations in a facility like Athelis. The system is able to capture information for the key purpose of access control, but from there it can be used to strengthen knowledge right across the decision-making spectrum from membership to design, marketing, purchasing and more” said Meehan.

The partnership between i-PRO, Athelis Health Club, CCTech, and Omega Security has resulted in a cutting-edge access control solution that not only improves security but also enhances the overall customer experience. Through the deployment of i-PRO cameras and advanced facial recognition, Athelis has positioned itself as a leader in security innovation within the leisure industry, significantly reducing fraud and optimizing operations. The long-term ROI from this deployment continues to exceed expectations, proving that investing in high-quality technology pays off in both operational efficiency and member satisfaction.