How Horizon Leisure Put Retention Alongside Sales
And reduced around 30 hours of operational admin every week
Alexandra Pinhorn | Horizon Leisure
“TRP helped us move from being reactive to proactive.”
The Challenge
“We needed to take retention seriously.”
Horizon Leisure is a charitable trust based in Hampshire, operating leisure centres, pools, gyms, sports halls, gymnastics, soft play, and a growing wellbeing offering across the South of England.
For many years, Horizon operated two leisure centres and focused primarily on maintaining day-to-day operations. But following COVID, a new leadership direction and plans for expansion changed the conversation.
Retention and customer experience suddenly needed much more focus.
In recent years, Horizon expanded to include a third site, Horizon Guildford, alongside a wellbeing hub designed to support local communities in a more accessible, high-street setting.
As the organisation grew, so did the need for clearer visibility into what customers were actuallyexperiencing.
Before TRP, feedback was coming from everywhere:
Emails
Social Media
Manual Surveys
Internal Comments
Conversations at Reception
“We needed an efficient method that gave us everything in one place.”
Without a structured system:
Trends were
difficult to spot
Feedback was time consuming to manage
Operational issues were harder to identify early
And teams were often reacting after problems had already escalated
“We wanted actual growth, not constantly chasing our tail trying to recover numbers.”
The Turning Point
Bringing customer feedback into one place
Before TRP, feedback data had to be manually pulled together and reviewed across multiple channels.
That means:
By centralising customer feedback into one platform, Horizon Leisure was able to:
Instead of manually trying to build reports or interpret scattered comments, teams could now log in and quickly understand what customers were saying.
“We can see the clusters now. We can spot patterns and understand what’s happening at different times of the year.”
Visibility, Patterns & Decision-Making
Better visibility. Better operational decisions.
With TRP in place, Horizon could finally see the bigger picture. The team can now identify recurring issues around:
That visibility has helped operational teams respond earlier and make decisions with greater confidence.
“It’s much easier to make decisions because we now have the justification behind them.”
The data also helps leadership teams explain operational decisions internally and at board level.
Rather than relying on assumptions, Horizon can now back decisions with real customer insight
and measurable patterns.
Retention Became Part of the Operation From reactive fire fighting to proactive retention
One of the biggest shifts wasn’t just technological. It was organisational.
• Retention sits alongside sales as a business priority
• General Managers are directly involved in feedback loops
• Dedicated retention responsibilities are in place
• And teams have more time to focus on member experience initiatives.
Instead of constantly reacting to complaints and comments, teams can spend more time improving retention proactively.
“It’s allowed us to focus on retention activities rather than constantly reacting.”
AI That Supports Team Not Replaces Them
Horizon Leisure has also started using TRP’s AI powered tools, including:
AI-generated call scripts
AI-assisted email responses
Smart tagging and categorisation.
For Alexandra and the team, the value of AI isn’t about replacing people.
It’s about creating more time for them.
“The AI features make life so much more efficient and speedier for our managers.”
By reducing repetitive admin tasks, teams can spend more time focusing on members directly.
“AI gives our teams more time to focus on real human interaction.”
The Operational Impact
Around 30 hours of operational admin reduced every week
Between:
Reporting
Feedback handling
Trend analysis
Communication workflows
Horizon estimates that TRP saves the equivalent of roughly:
30 hours of operational time per week
Not by reducing people. By reducing friction.
The Outcome
TRP has helped Horizon Leisure:
Create a structured
retention approach
Improve operational visibility
Respond to members faster
Reduce reactive workload
And make more confident, data-backed decisions.
Most importantly, customer feedback no longer disappears into the background.
Customers can see:
That feedback is
being listened to
That teams respond
And that changes are
actually being made.