Modern amenities are quickly becoming a staple of every locker room. With solid partitioned showers and changing areas, complimentary ironing boards and hair drying stations, and even full laundry service, it’s easy to forget that the mainstay of all locker room services are the lockers.
The type of lock used on a locker can dramatically affect a guest’s experience. Traditional keyed and combination locks often waste valuable time staff could spend on more critical areas of the business. A keyed locker system requires management or a front desk employee to hand out keys and corresponding locker numbers. Guests then have to find or be shown where their locker is while retaining their key on their person throughout the duration of their stay. This often leads to lost keys and mix-ups; creating a burden for staff and managers. Built-in combination locks can have the same impact due to forgotten combinations. With user supplied padlocks guests can “hijack” lockers by leaving their locks in place, which requires the facility to cut off the lock to prevent a shortage of locker space during peak club hours.
With shared-use locks the user can approach any locker that is not being used, create their own numeric combination for their locker, and secure their belongings quickly and easily. When finished with their workout, racquet match, or golf round, they open the locker with the same combination they assigned and the locker automatically resets for the next guest.
Shared-use locks are available for all styles and types of lockers and present an intuitive, cost effective, user friendly solution for lockers in a recreation setting. The locks are available in mechanical, electronic keypad or RFID versions designed for access via user cards. This greatly reduces the staff’s need to manage lockers due to lost keys and forgotten combinations. Supervisory keys and cards allow managers quick and easy access to clear out the locker and make it available to the next paying guest. Electronic versions can be custom programmed to a facility’s specific needs. Electronic locks offer the flexibility to be programmed for either single use in shared locker settings or permanent programming for assigned lockers.
In addition to maximizing locker space and increasing efficiency, these locks fit aesthetically with the premium locker styles, benches and décor of a modern locker room. In a setting where some of the simplest details are not obvious, it’s encouraging to be able to make such a sweeping enhancement to your locker room by simply adding or upgrading the locker lock.
Doug Greene is the general manager at Zephyr Lock. He can be reached at dgreene@zephyrlock.com or visit zephyrlock.com for more information.
