It is a problem that has plagued new gyms and old gyms, largely clubs, multinational chains and small independent gyms alike. It is a term many in the fitness industry are all too familiar with.
That’s right, today we are going to be talking about Pass-Sharing, sometimes otherwise known as ‘Pin-Sharing’ depending on the system of verification used by the fitness facility.
Here at Ashbourne Membership Management, we have over twenty five years of experience helping independent gyms and fitness clubs crackdown on these behaviours. We know that our duty to our partner gyms and clubs doesn’t end with their collecting direct debits and generating BI reports.
As a business very well versed in both sides of access control, we thought we would compile our insights into how Pass-Sharing/Pin-Sharing can become a problem for new gyms and old gyms alike, how to identify it as a problem and most importantly, what the solutions are.
What will we cover in this article?
(you can also click to skip ahead!)
Why is Pass Sharing A Problem?
How does pass-sharing/pin-sharing occur?
While Pass-Sharing/Pin-Sharing is a well-known problem within the fitness industry, it is useful to introduce the subject both to make this accessible for those who require clarification and so that we can refer back to our definition as we go through this article.
Pass-Sharing and Pin-Sharing is when the members that attend a given gym or fitness club share their personalised ‘pin’ or ‘pass in order to give other non-members the ability to access the facility.
A common example of this is our theoretical members giving their access pin/pass such as a membership card, key fob or QR code for example to a friend or colleague.
This allows the friend or colleague to access the gym or fitness club without being a paying member.
This obviously represents a violation of the membership terms of nearly every gym or fitness club we are aware of. It represents not only a loss of revenue for the gym in question but also a loss of security.
It represents a loss of control over the ability for a gym or fitness club to determine who it allows to enter and who it does not.
So why does Pass-Sharing and Pin-Sharing occur?
As with any suitably prevalent problem within an industry, the answer is multi-faceted. It can occur within two different gyms for two essentially different reasons. In our experience, it is a problem we have assisted with across countless gyms and the answer is always slightly different.
With that being said, we have broken it down into a few categories to cover the ‘main’ reasons.
Pass Sharing In A New Gym or Fitness Club
We aren’t a membership management company that just helps other gyms and fitness clubs from afar, our dedication to the fitness industry means we have also got hands on over the years.
This means we know what we are talking about when we say that starting up a new gym can be a full-on endeavour. There are hundreds of moving parts that need to be accounted for and sometimes access controls and membership access tools are neglected in this process.
It is understandable, management and staff of a new independent gym have a lot to think about. From brand identity and marketing through to equipment, staff and training. As such, we have noticed that there will sometimes be a moment when a relatively new gym or fitness club starts to realise that despite the success they have enjoyed, there might be a Pass-Sharing or Pin-Sharing problem to address.
It isn’t always easy to identify (we will get to that later) but one of the vital time periods where a culture/problem of Pass-Sharing might develop is during the initial setup stage.
Pass Sharing In Unmanned & 24 Hour Facilities
A very common environment within an independent gym or fitness club that allows for Pass-Sharing/Pin-Sharing to occur is when a facility attempts to go either unmanned, 24 hours or both without the necessary infrastructure in place.
With the rise of the corporate mega-chain budget gyms, the temptation to go to either an unmanned and/or 24/7 system has been very strong for a lot of independent gyms and fitness clubs.
We have written several articles, especially in the wake of the 2022 energy crisis regarding the wisdom of this move but it is undeniable that for some independent gyms in the correct area and with the right clients that it can be a very prudent and profitable move.
However, even the best business decision can be disastrous for a gym if it is taken at the wrong time or without the correct infrastructure.
To borrow an old adage, you shouldn’t run before you can walk.
And this can be the danger for any independent gym that tries to make the jump to unmanned and/or 24/7s without the right system.
With one of the aforementioned membership access devices such as a key fob or membership card, adopting an unmanned system can be a leap of faith that might not be rewarded. Members will quickly notice if the gym or fitness club that they are going to has no discernable way to track who is using the card or fob to access the gym.
Unmanned does not always necessarily mean unmonitored of course, but the monitoring of an unmanned system can also be time intensive, to say nothing of the follow-up procedures once it has been discovered that a member is pass-sharing/pin-sharing.
How Lacking or Neglected Systems Effect Pass Sharing
While it is luckily not a prevalent cause when it comes to pass-sharing, one of the most noticeable signs of an independent gym suffering from decline or neglect is a rise of Pass-Sharing/Pin-Sharing.
Members are often able to tell when morale is low and standards are slipping at an independent gym or fitness club.
And when this occurs, their desire to respect the rules and regulations of the club may well drop.
While it can be hard to reverse this negative momentum, we have seen many independent gyms and fitness clubs turn it around with the right attitude and the right help.
Identification & Solutions To Implement
So now that we’ve addressed the nature of our problem, as well as a few of the main causes, we will now look at both identification and solution.
The two are intertwined and in our experience one of the largest barriers that independent gyms and fitness clubs have to overcome is identifying that they have the problem at all. Many, especially when starting out and not supported by a membership management service, don’t have the right data, tools or software to address the issue.
For the purpose of this article we will not be covering staff identification/discovery of pass-sharing and pin-sharing. While this is a very effective way to identify it, we are focusing on how to identify this process for an unmanned access control system and on a more systemic level.
So this section will focus on how independent gyms can identify Pass-Sharing and how the right tools can help gyms and fitness clubs gain eyes in areas where they previously had none, intermixed with the solutions that can be deployed against this common issue.
Solution #1: Data Tracking: Software, BI Reports and Data Driven Insight
Perhaps the most important tools that an independent gym or fitness club has when it comes to identifying Pass-Sharing and Pin-Sharing is data. How an independent gym is able to utilise their data can be a deciding factor for success in many different areas and this aspect of membership security is no exception.
So often we have found that independent gyms are leaving a significant amount of potential income on the table purely due to poor analytical and insight capabilities.
It is understandable. Setting up a gym can be a challenging venture, and every problem needs to be dealt with when it arises.
So when an independent gym believes they might have a Pass-Sharing or Pin-Sharing problem. Their first port of call should be to review the data side of their operation. At Ashbourne, we have helped countless independent gym’s identify potential harmful trends to their business through the proper application of membership management software.
It isn’t enough to have a piece of software that can process memberships, the software must also be able to identify positive and negative trends within the data it is collecting and processing.
Without the ability to capture this data, independent gym’s risk being left in the dark when it comes to identifying positive and negative trends.
Pass-Sharing is an impactful example of how the correct suite of data tools and software can identify a problem. By understanding which individual members are using the facility the most, it is possible to track irregularities in member behaviour. This could include more time using the facility than one person could reasonably accomplish, or multiple consecutive entries to the facility close together.
When combined with monitoring tools such as CCTV, it can become very easy for even a relatively low-tech gym to track and then deter Pass-Sharing by their members.
Solution #2: Implement Alternate Access Control
Data and business insight isn’t the only area where an independent gym can upgrade their systems in order to prevent Pass-Sharing.
While it requires some investment, a solution that we have often viewed as a ‘silver bullet solution’ is Fingerprint Scanners.
Unlike the various forms of access control, Fingerprint Scanners being introduced into an unmanned independent gym or fitness club have routinely seen a massive drop in Pass-Sharing and Pin-Sharing.
The reason behind this is fairly apparent. It is much more difficult for two or more people to ‘share’ a fingerprint than it is a pincode or an access pass. Unless they are willing to engage in some truly extraordinary lengths, it is an incredibly effective deterrent.
A lot of low-level corruption (such as Pass-Sharing) is usually only done because it is deemed to be easy and harmless. By putting a significant barrier in the way (such as two people, the member and the person they are trying to get in) to be present, you are creating an uncomfortable situation many members will not want to engage with.
Solution #3: Responsive Membership Management Software
As we said above, two of the main reasons Pass-Sharing occurs are if it is perceived as ‘easy’ and if it is perceived as ‘harmless’. In the latter case, we mean whether or not the member believes they will get away with the breach of contract and trust that Pass-Sharing represents.
This atmosphere can be cultivated in an independent gym or fitness club for a variety of reasons. A sense of neglect or decline, as we talked about previously, can be a big one. As can a general sense of being unobserved.
But in our experience, when a gym’s management goes from reactive to proactive, the shift in culture is very apparent. Whether it is chasing debtors, clamping down on Pass-Sharers or addressing anti-social and contract-breaking behaviour. It doesn’t take much for members to realise that the gym is looking out for their members best interests and trying to weed out those members (and non-members) and the effect on gym morale and profits this can have is potentially huge.
Our Key Takeaways On Pass-Sharing
While Pass-Sharing and Pin-Sharing might be a fairly common problem, that means the solution is well known.
As you might be able to tell from our article, we have helped independent gym’s address these problems many times over our twenty five years in the fitness industry.
By providing advanced versions of the software and BI tools we talked about above, as well as state-of-the-art access control systems, we have helped countless gyms put an end to Pass-Sharing and other revenue-impacting behaviours. All while improving security for the facility, management and membership.
If you are here because the gym you own or help manage is having similar problems, or if you are just interested in taking your fitness club’s operation to the next level, please do not hesitate to reach out to our demonstration team today. Simply click here and click ‘request a demo’ and within days you can be talking to our trained and professional team.
We have navigated countless independent gym’s through the process, whether you need to switch providers, or are engaging the services of a membership management company for the first time.
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Get your club in shape.
Want to discover how? Let us show you.
Simply select your preferred timeslot and we’ll be in touch to have a chat about your health club,
the goals you want to achieve, and how our system can help you.
the goals you want to achieve, and how our system can help you.
Get your club in shape.
Want to discover how? Let us show you.
Simply select your preferred timeslot and we’ll be in touch to have a chat about your health club, the goals you want to achieve, and how our system can help you.
Get your club in shape.
Want to discover how? Let us show you.
Simply select your preferred timeslot and we’ll be in touch to have a chat about your health club, the goals you want to achieve, and how our system can help you.
