Why many spas and salons are turning towards mobile access control systems

How salons and spas work, manage, and market has been transformed in the last few years, as many businesses have in this new normal. The new trend? Chair and suite rentals. 

Businesses in beauty and wellness now act more like a coworking space than a traditional salon with employees or independent contractors on a commission model. With this shift, many spa and salon owners need to find creative ways to bring in stylists to rent these spaces and maximize potential revenue, whether its education, marketing strategies, affordable rental tiers, or any other niche to draw tenants in. Managing access with keys for short-term rentals, or flexible schedules becomes impossible, and takes time away from focusing on marketing and providing value to new tenants.

Issues spas and salons face with managing access with keys

Odds are, if you’re reading this, you already know every pain point with keys. Keys are expensive and difficult to manage when trying to keep the business as secure as possible. Rekeying and calling the locksmith out can really start adding up costs. Keys can be easily copied and not returned, leaving these spas and salons in a very vulnerable position.

Most salons, whether hair, nails, or skin, find out that with renting out chairs or suites, managing access with keys is just impossible. You may have a tenant on a long-term lease, short-term, maybe even renting the chair by the hour. Having to monitor who has access to what becomes an operational nightmare.

Many may resort to just keeping the door open. Not having the ability to remotely unlock or lock the building means owners are spending an unprecedented amount of time at the business making sure everything is running smoothly during the vastly different schedules for each tenant.

Lastly, the world is heading towards automation. Being able to automatically share access with either clientele or staff through existing workflows like booking an appointment online is just not possible with keys or any other physical credential. 

Why beauty and wellness businesses are turning towards mobile access control systems

Mobile access control is becoming increasingly popular with many businesses, and this is very true for beauty and wellness. In Nexkey’s latest Access Control Trends Review, office workers told us the smartphone was the #1 choice among users, and had an increase of 64% in usage compared to last year. 

Nexkey's 2021 Access Control Trends Review

There are many benefits of mobile access control, simplifying operations and providing additional value to these businesses who can make better decisions in the long run.

Simplified management

The top value for hair salons, nail salons, spas, or any beauty and wellness business is simplifying access. Sharing and revoking keys is immediate and even can be automated. 

Tiered permissions with Groups allow tenants to manage access to their salon suites. This hands off approach for owners gives tenants more freedom and flexibility without releasing full control. Tenants are able to share and revoke keys efficiently and owners still have visibility to who has access and when. 

“I (used) to micromanage the front door. With Nexkey, it was one of those things where it was able to run and operate on its own efficiently. You can do everything through Nexkey.”

-Kristal King, Owner of Glam Room Salon Suites

Remote Unlock

One of the favorite features of keyless entry systems is to be able to unlock the business from wherever you are. This is especially helpful when cleaning crews, maintenance, or contractors need temporary access when you’re not there. Simply tap remote unlock on the app, or log in to the portal to remotely unlock from your browser. Some of Nexkey’s customers will even use remote unlock for clients as they arrive at their appointment. 

“The biggest value of Nexkey is the convenience and the immediacy of it. I can very quickly just go right through my phone, give somebody access to my spa or deny them access. I can be anywhere, in the United States, in the world, wherever I may be.”

“I can have full control of who's coming and who's going. And I can also see a log, which is also important to me of when people are coming in and when they're going.”

-Michael Mirabella, Owner of Hand and Stone Spa

Audit log

As the owner, you may not always be there with your tenants having very different schedules and availability. Many spas and salons find it very useful to have a real-time audit log right on their phone or in the browser so they can know what is going on (and not going on) in their business without even having to be there. 

With a mobile access control system, you can set up notifications if anyone tries to enter the spa or salon at an unusual time. With the credential linked back to a name and unique phone number, internal theft is minimized. When any incident occurs, you can look back to see who was there.

Security

One of the biggest values of mobile access control systems is higher security. As a spa and salon, privacy and exclusivity is of utmost importance. Using a smartphone as your key is way more secure than metal keys. Many phones today are protected with a fingerprint or facial scanner, at the least a pin code, and can never be borrowed or shared. 

“I looked for anything that would eliminate some of the most basic and boring administrative tasks like having to call a locksmith every time. Having to depend on people outside our business every time we needed to get into a locked space sounded horrible. Eventually we went with Nexkey, which feels secure and cutting edge.”

-Pam Wolf, Founder of The Parlor

Scheduling access for members or clients

Depending on your business model, sometimes access is given to only those working at the salon, and sometimes extended to members or clients. If you do want to grant access to spa members or clients coming to salon appointments, you can share access on a schedule depending on the membership they signed up for or when they booked their appointment.

Automation

Nexkey mobile access control is integrated with Zapier which connects Nexkey to any app that also has an integration with Zapier. This brings in the element of automating tasks within your access control software like sharing or revoking access. 

Popular apps that have Zapier integration:

Trafft is for business owners who need to streamline their booking experience both for their staff and their clients.

Calendly is a modern scheduling platform for small businesses to easily share their calendar with clients to book an appointment. 

Acuity Scheduling is an online assistant for small business owners to schedule appointments, organize client information, and complete intake forms online. 

Talk to us today to see if these integrations will fit your needs for how you want your business to run.

Conclusion

There is so much value in adopting a mobile access control system for your spa or salon, and replacing every key with your smartphone. Hear from our customer Kristal King, Owner of Glam Room Salon Suites, on why she loves Nexkey.