Firehall Fitness, Livingston, Montana
Gyms in premier destination locations often struggle to keep and retain staff. Frequently located in the world’s most beautiful — and expensive towns — it can be a challenge to staff a fitness center from early morning until evening. Now, Gym Insight’s digital keytags provide a simpler, more secure way to run a 24/7-access gym with fewer employees.
Since their introduction in 2022, gym owners have used digital key tags to successfully cut members’ unauthorized entries while increasing gym owners’ control over their time and businesses. Now it’s nearly impossible for members to “share” a key or slip in extra guests without any consequences.
Yet, it is the unexpected wins that differentiate good technology from great.
Turns out, digital keytags also help destination gym owners solve major business problems.
Firehall Fitness – Digital Keytags Case Study
Charles and Jodi Hubbell co-own Firehall Fitness in Livingston, Montana. They opened their first location The Firehall in 2015 and Railyard second in 2018. In 2016, they installed Gym Insight into Firehall and immediately became vocal and active supporters. Hubbell says he encounters many other gym owners curious about his club software when they come in to exercise while on vacation. “They are flabbergasted at what I’m doing with this software,” he reports.
What challenges are faced by gyms in destination locations?
Firehall Fitness and the Railyard are located in one of the world’s most beautiful locales. Livingston sits at the entryway of Yellowstone National Park. Every summer thousands of tourists flock to town on their way to visit the nation’s first national park. Not surprisingly, Paradise Valley — as it is known locally — also shelters a community of ultra-wealthy year-round residents.
Unfortunately, this combination of heavy tourism traffic and wealthy neighbors eliminates the lower-to-middle pool of service sector employees. It’s just too expensive for the average person to live nearby and work a regular job.
As a result, Hubbell struggles to fill staff positions and lost business. In addition, the cost of living has “skyrocketed,” he says, making it very difficult to find and retain employees.
This “revolving door” ended after installing Digital Keytags.
How online sign-ups for guest passes solves that 5 a.m. staffing problem
Hubbell is sure he was losing a “ton of guest passes” between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m., the most difficult, yet strategically critical, shifts to fill.
To counter this lag in employees, he turned to Gym Insight’s digital keytags. With this technology, Individuals simply sign up on Hubbell’s website for a guest pass or a membership. They automatically receive a link on their mobile device that allows them to download the Member App and access the digital keytag. They can then enter the gym immediately by scanning the access code to open the gym door or check in at the front desk.
Every time they open their Member App, a new and unique digital keytag is refreshed on their screen. The constant refresh makes sharing gym access nearly impossible, eliminating unauthorized visits.
“Daily passes have exploded 200-to-300 percent above what it was” prior to digital keytags, Hubbell says. The surge in guest passes significantly improved his business sales, even as he’s cut back on employees and increased salaries.
“It’s turned us into a 24-hour business… All of a sudden, we are making money all 24-hours,” he concluded.
Charles Hubbell, FirehallFitness.com
Automated digital door-access frees gym owners’ time.
In 2019, the Hubbell’s were ready to hire a manager in order to pursue starting another gym. The pandemic’s arrival quashed that idea. Now that digital keytags are up and running — and promoted by a front page slider on his gyms’ website — he and his wife have hired a manager to take over day-to-day operations.
Gym Insight
Founded in 2008 by a couple of gym owners frustrated with existing gym management software, Gym Insight has grown into a champion of gym owners, with software designed to automate and streamline business processes. Unlike any other gym management software on the market, Gym Insight’s easy-on-the-eyes user interface and carefully coordinated software tools provide fully transparent insight into your gym’s financials, employees, customer interactions, and day-to-day management for a reasonable, flat monthly charge. For more information, call 1-800-FOR-GYMS and ask for Anthony or Natalia, or visit our website and social media pages.