The days of manually managing your 24/7 gym’s admin are over, thanks to the arrival of smart security and automated access control. Monitoring attendance, individual check-ins upon entry, and buzzing in customers at the door are time-consuming tasks that, as your business grows, become harder to manage on your own.

For a 24/7 gym, there’s simply not enough time in the day to get it all done and offer a premium experience to your members. But if you start automating these tasks and more, growing your business, keeping your members happy, and securing your facility will become seamless.

Your gym’s new best friend

Access control is a 24/7 gym’s best friend. Through advanced smart security technology, not only is managing the security of your facility painless, but it also opens the door to new opportunities for your gym or studio.

By implementing access control with the help of your gym software and smart security system, such as TeamUp and Kisi, you can provide your members with a better customer experience, keep your facility more secure than ever, and manage access whenever from wherever – you don’t even have to be on site.

To fully grasp how easy and straightforward automated smart security and access control really are, here are some of the top benefits you can begin experiencing at your gym today.

Better security for your facility

A prime benefit of access control right out the gate is better security for your facility. With automatic security checkpoints at your entrances and in various areas in your gym, there’s no worry that your members, staff, or someone not affiliated with your gym will be able to access on their own.

Leaving your gym without personnel or staff to stand guard becomes a non-issue when the only way to gain entry is by using one of your approved keys, fobs, or the Kisi app.

You can rest assured that your facility, staff, and members will enjoy a safe and secure experience from within the confines of your space and get alerted if your attention or presence is required on-site.

Leave the heavy-duty smart locks to be the gatekeepers of your gym and get back to addressing the other areas of your business that could use your attention and time.

More time spent with clients and less on admin

With heavier security physically built into the walls of your gym, you can reduce the number of staff monitoring your reception and check-in areas, not to mention the amount of staff you have on hand at all times.

Less time spent securing the area means more time spent on checking in with customers during their workouts, finding things to improve in the gym, and better preparing for classes and sessions.

Because your staff won’t need to mind the door before a class, they can get straight into starting on time, and late members can let themselves in when they arrive. You’ll both love the lack of disruptions to your schedule, how smoothly everything will flow, and your members’ own accountability for being on time.

Total control over access and memberships

With access control integrated into your gym software, you have the ability to select access times and duration, allowing you more opportunities to customize your membership offering. Whether you strictly offer open gym or also offer classes, you can design your memberships exactly how you’d like them and base access on what your memberships include.

This gives you more flexibility to get creative, upgrade and upsell memberships with more access, and distinguish your offering between packages.

You will also be able to prevent access to members who have limited permissions or have not renewed their memberships, ensuring only paying customers are able to take advantage of your gym.

Wider hours of operation

For gym members who work with an unconventional schedule, finding time to make it to the gym if it’s only open for a certain period during the day is a challenge. Stand out in your local community by offering 24/7 availability that allows everyone to get their workout in no matter what time of day.

By using your new access control function in your 24/7 gym, your members will be able to enter and exit when they please, so long as their permissions are set to do so.

An easier entrance experience

Members also don’t have to wait in line to enter or get buzzed in. Scanning their fob or mobile device at the door means that from the moment they arrive, they can get in and get going. No long lines around the corner, no filling out forms or waivers at the door, and no need to check-in with a member of your staff and show identification. If they have their access device, they can get down to what they came to do.

Cutting down queuing time and making the most of automated access for your customers also makes life a lot easier for you and your team. Access control means that you and your staff can spend a lot less time behind the reception desk checking people in and making sure that people are arriving at the right times.

Expand your business and offering

Beyond your memberships, having an automated 24/7 gym is an opportunity to expand your offering, including new classes, a more diverse schedule, and even adding additions to your facility, including amenities that your members can enjoy. Many gyms will include a locker room, and by including access control for your specific spaces and facilities within your facility, you can ensure that members who need access to those spaces get it while preventing members who don’t have access from entering and using those facilities.

Better insight on attendance and customer usage

In your schedule, you can specify which hours are for open gym and even encourage your members to sign up online in advance so that you can gauge who will be attending during those times even when a class isn’t on. But with access control, you can take that a layer deeper and see which of your members are attending the gym at which times, how often, and for how long. Because they are required to enter with their access device, you’ll get immediate data that gives you the information you need.

If you see a member has entered, you can engage with them, go and say hello, and ask them how their progress is going. If you see a member is always coming to the gym at a certain time, you can make suggestions, have something prepared for them, and encourage them to check out a class going on at that time.

The more insight you have, the better the experience you’re able to create.

Prevent non-paying customers from sneaking in

With a larger gym facility, it becomes harder to keep track of whether or not members who haven’t paid their fees are coming and going to your gym. Having a system in place that only allows customers who have paid before using your facility will keep space free in an open gym and helps to make sure your classes are only full of paying members.

Access control removes that possibility from ever becoming a reality. When you set up access control, you can set it so that if a member hasn't paid, they don't get to come and enjoy using your facility and all its amenities.

It also gives a level of transparency to your customers. Yes, you want them to come and make the most of everything you offer, but it’s only fair that their payments are up to date. You and your team work hard to offer a great customer experience, so it’s only right that your members are paying for the service provided.

Unlock your business’s potential with access control

Access control is the key to helping you automate a number of repetitive admin tasks while still ensuring that you have complete control over who comes and goes to your gym. A solution such as Kisi and TeamUp means that you can enable certain memberships to allow your customers entry whenever they want, while other memberships can be restricted to a specific time or class.

This, in turn, means that you and your instructors are doing a lot less admin. No more checking people in for each and every class, and you won’t have to be concerned about people entering your fitness facility outside of their allotted times or without first paying their fees.

The fact that access control means more transparent security isn’t just going to give you peace of mind. It’ll make your customers feel more at ease as well. They want to know that no one who shouldn’t be at your facility has let themselves in, especially those who go to a 24/7 open gym and workout at night.

If you want stronger security for your gym, deeper insight on attendance and customer usage, and to offer your community a better experience at your facility, rely on TeamUp and Kisi’s access control integration. To learn more about getting started with access control for your gym, sign up for a free 45-day trial of TeamUp and get your quote for Kisi readers here.