Scape is offering a complimentary 90-minute session to try out their facility on social media, so…read morebecause that opportunity is open to all, I am opting to leave feedback about it here, as it appears that it would be helpful to the business to understand what is and isn't working when inviting in these new potential customers.
I have mixed reviews about the experience, but I feel like it could be greatly improved for others by simply considering a few small tweaks in the early stages. First and foremost, the facility is located in a shopping plaza, so parking is plentiful and the building is easy to access. When you walk in, the music is very zen and everything looks clean and inviting. The desk attendant grabs a Scape branded blanket for you and leads you to a room near the entrance that has a wraparound couch, a tv that is turned off, and the same gentle music is playing. I assumed I was just waiting for someone to tour me around the facility since I was new, and the music had me relaxed and ready for a self-care experience.
All that was great, but then things got...weird. Over the next 15 minutes or so, more people were lead into the room until the couch was full and people started taking up the additional bench seating. We were all just kind of waiting for someone to come back, and when a woman (presumably the manager on duty) finally did, she simply turned on the TV to a YouTube video of the two owners of Scape giving their elevator pitch of the facility, except the pitch was about 15 minutes or so and it felt entirely like we had unexpectedly found ourselves in a time share meeting (just the information was about Scape instead). A few of us in the room discussed how odd this all was, and a few people even smirked and laughed at the strange experience.
When the video ended, the attendant/manager came back in the room and asked everyone, "So what did you think?" Considering that this is a new business and it sounded like they were looking for feedback, I candidly shared that I found the experience weird and that a tour of the facility would have made more sense, but tried to give helpful feedback about the experience. The woman was instantly defensive but remained relatively professional, but the exchange had me kind of considering just leaving at that point. It all felt very awkward.
I stuck it out and they actually did do a tour of the facility next. They take you into the locker room where everyone puts on socks (they have some there if you don't have any) and puts belongings in lockers, and then they brought us around to learn about the different sections we could use during our 90-minute session, with equipment like infrared therapy chairs, zero gravity massage chairs (these were my favorite), red light therapy rooms, reflexology foot machines, and even a salt room. By the time we began our actual use of the facility though, it had been about 45+ minutes since I had arrived for my appointment time.
I liked the variety of equipment available, and there was plenty of each, so there was never something I wanted to try but couldn't. It ended up being very relaxing and I was able to figure out the use of the equipment fairly easily, and I think I could have stayed in that massage chair for another hour. The whole place felt like a big gym, but instead of different workout sections, there were different ways to experience more relaxation and self-care. Very cool idea overall.
Unfortunately, the weird experience at the beginning makes me hesitant to tell my friends and family about this business, as I don't want them to have to go through the time-share-vibe video experience, too. I think more communication around what to expect when you arrive for your first experience, and a huge reduction in the amount of things (and time) you sit through watching and listening to before ever touring the facility, would do wonders for getting people interested in coming back. The issues are all in the marketing experience, as the facility itself is a cool idea.
