This month I'm writing about the benefit of having 24/7 access for our members, and how it came to be. 24/7 access for BHC started on June 1st, 2016. Prior to that, the club was only accessible during the front desk hours of 5:30am to 10pm each weekday and 8am to 8pm on weekends.

I remember discussing the idea of having 24 hour access with the prior owner of the club before I became the new owner back in 2014. He pointed out that it would certainly create quite a bit more management and facility work - perhaps more than what I would want to do.

The only another club in Ballard that offered any 24 hour access (5 days a week) and had many floors and areas to keep tabs on, making surveillance challenging. I felt that BHC was well suited for 24/7 use since the majority of the equipment our members engage with is out on our main gym floor, making it easier to keep an eye on things.  

I felt that the main obstacle we would have to overcome would be to avoid having to charge any additional ongoing monthly or yearly fee for 24/7 access. This would mean avoiding significantly increasing costs, especially labor costs.

With all that said, it did initially seem like an insurmountable challenge to make 24/7 happen for BHC.

But then, things started coming together.

• In 2015 we expanded into what we now call Studio Y which also gave us the possibility of another breezeway access. This way we could avoid having people come through the front desk / lobby area after hours.
   
• My son Andrew's interest in electronics opened up the possibility that we could create our own check-in system that controls opening the door with an RFID key fob. Any other electronic method of accomplishing this would have probably been far too expensive to consider.
   
• The idea that we would not need to have a staff person to monitor each check-in in real time if we had each member who requested after hours access sign an agreement to not allow others in when they enter or exit the club after hours.
   
• Prior to being open 24/7, BHC contracted with a janitorial company to clean the club every night. We had the idea that we could replace the external cleaning crew and hire our own BHC Overnight Crew (ON Crew) that would not only clean the club, but also keep an eye on the club during after hours while doing so.  

In addition to having an ON crew person in the club at all times after hours, we also review the video of after hours breezeway traffic each day. I am happy to say that our members have been very good about not allowing others entry to the gym, and do a great job of helping us keep the club safe.

Now that it has been a year and half of providing the 24/7 benefit for our members, I can say it has been a resounding success for everyone involved.