How a Yoga Studio Saved $10K by Ditching Traditional Check-in
3 January 2025
Ever wondered how much time your front desk spends just checking people in? One yoga studio did the math - and the numbers were eye-opening.
The "Check-in" Chaos
With three bustling locations, this yoga studio was drowning in manual check-ins. Their front desk staff was spending more time tapping screens than building member relationships.
Sound familiar?
"We were essentially paying skilled staff members to be human scanners," the studio owner recalls. They faced two expensive options:
Keep paying staff for manual check-ins
Invest in costly check-in machines that do only one job
A smarter approach
Instead of throwing money at expensive single-purpose machines, they tried something different: Kenko's QR Code Check-in system using regular iPads.
Here's what they did:
Set up 7 iPads across three locations
Installed Kenko Kiosk for QR scanning
Trained members on the simple scan-and-go process
The best part? These iPads could still be used for other business tasks when needed.
The numbers that matter
Over six months (July-December 2024), the results were staggering:
Processed 6,278 seamless check-ins
Saved 4 minutes per check-in
Freed up 418.5 hours of staff time
Saved $10,044 in staffing costs (at $24/hour)
The investment math
Let's talk about the smart money moves:
Total investment: $2,303 (7 iPads at $329 each)
Total savings: $10,044
Net profit: $7,741 in just six months
That's a 336% return on investment in half a year.
Plus, unlike traditional check-in machines, these iPads retain resale value and serve multiple purposes.
Beyond the numbers
But it's not just about the money. The studio discovered unexpected benefits:
Front desk staff now focus on member experience
Faster check-ins mean less waiting time
Members love the modern, contactless system
iPads serve as backup devices for other business needs
The bigger picture
This isn't just a story about saving money - it's about working smarter. By choosing a versatile solution over a single-purpose one, this studio turned a necessary expense into a profit-generating investment.
As the owner puts it: "We expected to save some time. We didn't expect to save $10,000 and actually improve our member experience in the process."
Sometimes the simplest solutions yield the biggest returns.
Want to implement this at your studio?
