Customer Satisfaction Survey – R2 Results
Moonee Valley City Council is committed to creating welcoming, supportive and health spaces for our community.
We recognise that some community members face greater barriers to participation, which can affect health, wellbeing and social connection.
Encouraging usage by sectors of the community that are not traditional users, and/or community sectors and individuals that are in need of improved health and wellbeing opportunities is an important focus for the leisure centres.
In November 2025, the MOVE Moonee Valley leisure facilities distributed the Customer Satisfaction Survey to facility members, learn to swim members and multi visit pass patrons to ask about their experience with the Council’s leisure services, and seek feedback on their experience.
We asked patrons to list the issues they most wanted Council to address at the Ascot Vale Leisure Centre and the Keilor East Leisure Centre. We also asked questions about patrons’ perceptions of diversity and inclusion efforts, as well as patrons’ broader feelings of connection to the MOVE leisure facilities.
The Customer Satisfaction Survey was conducted using survey methodology. Patrons could provide feedback in written format via a survey link; and/or verbal format via an audio recording tool called Speak Pipe.
A translation tool was available on the survey to translate the text to languages other than English.
Thank you to the more than 1,000 patrons who took part in the survey – your feedback is already helping us focus on the issues that matter most to you!
What we learned
The good!
In total, user satisfaction rated 7.8/10 at the leisure facilities.
- The user satisfaction for member arrangements rated 7.9/10, communications rated 7.8/10, facilities rated 7.7/10, staff services rated 8.2/10, and involvement rated 7.6/10.
- 65% of members indicated that they will continue to be members for the next 3 months, and 56% of members indicated that they will almost certainly continue to be members for the next 12 months.
- Members who indicated that they are likely to continue to be a member in 3 months, reported an average user satisfaction of 8.87/10.
- Members who indicated that they are likely to continue to be a member in 12 months, reported an average user satisfaction of 8.47/10.
- The likelihood that a member would recommend the centre to others was 8.12/10.
- 93% of respondents with a disability believe the leisure facilities are accessible.
- Nearly half of respondents have attended for longer than 2 years (47%) and typically engage for about 30 – 60 minutes (46%).
- We learned that high satisfaction members are more likely to make contact in person, with similar communication preferences across high and low satisfaction for other channels.
- 56% or respondents have had service interactions. And 84% of those who had contact with a MOVE employee in the last three months had their query resolved as a result of their communication.
Survey results from Learn to Swim indicated that overall satisfaction was 7.69/10.
- 91% of respondents indicated that they are likely or very likely to return program for term 1.
- The likelihood of respondents to recommend the program was 7.9/10.
- Child rating of program (smile rating scale) rated 4.56/5.
When completing the survey, patrons were asked questions about their background. The customer satisfaction survey results indicated:
- 11% of respondents identified as being from a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) community.
- 57% of respondents who identified as CALD speak English at home as their primary language.
- Survey respondents who identified as CALD scored the centre slightly lower in overall communications and staff services, and higher in overall facilities.
- 8% of respondents identified as having a disability. 93% of respondents with a disability believe the facilities are accessible.
- Survey respondents who identified as having a disability scored the centre slightly lower in overall communications, facilities and staff services.
- 0.7% identified as non-binary and 0.2% as transgender.
- 1% of respondents identified as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Person.
The customer satisfaction survey measured attituded toward MOVE facilities and services in relation to diversity, equity and inclusion.
- Patrons recorded a score of 6.14/7 when rating the MOVE facility as being authentic when engaging with diversity, equity and inclusion.
The research findings indicated particularly strong scores reported by members with respect to the leisure centres staff awareness, efforts, attitudes and support towards diversity, equity and inclusion.
When benchmarked against comparable facilities, the research findings for the leisure centres scored higher for each outcome across subjective wellbeing, social connection and diversity, equity and inclusion perspectives.
What this means
Satisfaction is driven first by the quality and breadth of the physical environment. A second major driver is the variety and quality of programs, especially group fitness classes. Accessibility, convenience and value underpin overall satisfaction.
Collectively, comments suggest facilities that remain highly valued for location and amenity scope, but where operational discipline, reliability, cleanliness standards and communication practice are critical areas requiring immediate focus. Addressing these will increase perceived value, improve trust and strengthen likelihood to recommend.
Things to work on
There was a strong desire for improvements in cleanliness, class accessibility, pricing flexibility, staff engagement, equipment availability and facility upgrades.
Some patrons expressed dissatisfaction with the cleanliness of bathrooms, showers, saunas and pool. There was a strong perception that cleanliness standards were not maintained consistently or adequately, particularly in high-traffic areas.
There were reports of intimidating behaviour and inappropriate patron conduct in saunas. Customers feel uncomfortable when guidelines are not enforced, and some groups – particularly women and older adults feel vulnerable at times.
Patrons praised the variety of classes, but were frustrated by limited availability, especially for popular sessions like pilates, aqua aerobics and yoga. Members want clearer, proactive communication on group fitness classes, including real-time updates.
Several responses emphasised frustration with gym users congregating on equipment, often while distracted by mobile phones which impact patron’s ability to access equipment.
Across the dataset, parents value swimming lessons and want their children to progress. Many respondents praised specific instructors for their skill, encouragement, rapport building and ability to progress children effectively.
Learn to swim respondents are seeking a more engaging and skilled teaching staff, improved teacher consistency, smaller and better-organised classes, clearer communication about their child’s progress and more flexible scheduling options.
How we can improve
You told us the most important things we can do to improve our performance are:
- Improve cleanliness of change space during peak times and pool.
- Improve booking systems for group fitness, including real-time updates on class status.
- Timely and consistent responses to feedback.
- Improved response to setting expectations on patron mobile phone usage in the gym.
- Some patrons described discomfort or intimidation, especially in saunas and group classes. Some patrons called for more visible support to monitor patron behaviour in these areas, in order to create safer more welcoming spaces for women and older adults.
- More experienced and engaged teachers and clearer communication regarding class progression and scheduling.
What we’ll do next
MOVE Moonee Valley Leisure facilities will continue to use findings from the survey to guide service planning and delivery, improve engagement and continue building a more inclusive, connected and responsive leisure services.
You can explore the report on the website, and learn more about the Moonee Valley City Councils MV2040 strategy here.
