You can avoid upsetting or angering members by establishing well-managed locker allocation guidelines.

By Mike James

One of the most important selling features for any health club is the locker room. Clear, concise locker room guidelines are essential for a well-managed facility. If you don't have clear, succinct guidelines, there are bound to be headaches. Your guidelines should cover procedures for record keeping, locker leases, waiting lists for lockers and dealing with illegal locker holders. Following is a discussion of each of these procedures, along with some of the pitfalls that can occur if they are not managed carefully.

Are leasing procedures necessary?

Kevin McGuire is in charge of front desk operations at the World Bank Fitness Center in Washington, D.C., a large corporate fitness center with more than 4,000 members. Prior to his hiring five years ago, the center operated with few, if any, locker leasing guidelines. The fitness center now leases approximately 500 lockers annually.

"It was chaos," McGuire says. "Locks were placed randomly on lockers, and we had very bad recording procedures. We had to overhaul the whole system, establish order, cut illegal locks and pacify members. Being a corporate facility, some people would just lock their valuables in a locker and simply forget they had left their items there. Sometimes we would cut the wrong person's lock and there would be another mess to sort out. All of this while running a very busy center."

Even if you don't have these problems to solve, you still have to decide on your lease-to-daily-use ratio. If you have too many leased lockers, you will not have enough for members at peak attendance times. You will also need to decide who actually gets to lease a locker.

Your lease-to-daily-use ratio will depend on your peak attendance. If you are starting a new facility, make an estimate of daily usage and peak attendance patterns. You might want to refrain from leasing permanent lockers for a few months so you can better assess the daily usage patterns and member requests for permanent lockers. Most centers opt for something like a 40-percent daily use to 50-percent permanent lease ratio.

Alternatively, you can solve the leasing problem easily by adhering to a no leasing policy. If your membership is predominately young, single and transient in nature, there may not be a great demand for leased lockers. Darrel Gregory, manager of Gold's Gym in Clarendon, Va., says, "Because we have around 5,000 members, there are simply not enough lockers. Also, many of our members are students at local universities who typically don't stay in the area that long, and who don't want to spend money on [leasing] a locker."

Accurate record keeping

Accurate record keeping for locker leasing is essential. You can use a manual or computer-generated system to record lease details and track payments. Make sure you update it regularly to ensure accuracy.

While key staff members should know how the system operates, be aware that "too many cooks spoil the broth." Your front desk staff, preferably only one person per shift, should be responsible for the system. Too many people with access to the system can result in communication problems and inaccurate record keeping. It is not a good situation when a member has been promised a locker when there isn't one available, or when lockers are incorrectly assigned.

Your tracking system should be able to quickly cross-reference membership cancellations. This will allow you to know when a locker becomes vacant and available for re-lease.

Locker allocation and waiting lists

In a commercial fitness facility, deciding who gets to lease a locker can be as simple as setting the cost and lease terms, and allocating them on a first-come, first-served basis. A waiting list can be established for members who don't get a locker. When a locker becomes available, lease it to the first person on the list.

Some clubs that cater to an upscale clientele often decide to set aside a separate area of their locker room for VIP members. A certain proportion of the lockers are held and offered as an added benefit upon joining.

In corporate facilities, locker allocation can be a more complex matter, as the locker rooms are often seen as an extension of the workplace or as a benefit to employment. Members can be demanding when it comes to having their own locker, particularly if they bicycle to work. How you determine who gets a locker can be difficult. To avoid claims of bias or favoritism, some centers use annual lotteries to determine who gets a locker. But this also has its problems.

"Some people would say that they never knew about the lottery, or were away traveling," McGuire of the World Bank Fitness Center says. "Also, once people were used to having a locker, it was hard to get them to move out once the year was up. Having to track them down and ask them again and sometimes even cut their lock and remove items was a real hassle."

The World Bank Fitness Center decided to stop using a lottery system three years ago. "Locker holders are given the opportunity to re-lease their locker for another year. We also raised the annual charge to discourage locker holders who are sporadic users from re-Leasing," McGuire says. "Also, because our waiting list is so long, we decided to offer lockers to the most frequent users, rather than people at the top of the list who may or may not attend. Members view this as a fair system. It rewards our most frequent attendees and also encourages people to swipe their cards on entry into the facility."

Leasing terms and conditions

The locker lease's terms and conditions need to be clear from the outset. If you are leasing lockers for a year, decide whether you will offer partial refunds if members cancel their membership. If the lease fees are nonrefundable, this needs to be spelled out in the locker lease form and membership handbook.

A simple and effective way to minimize problems is to issue a formal lease with terms and conditions, signed by both the member and the front desk person. The member takes a copy and you keep one on file. This way, there are no surprises.

Rather than trying to keep track of individual leases, collect fees at the same time each year. Develop a group email and postal mailing list to notify members that their locker lease is due. If lockers become available during the year, the front desk person should have a chart listing pro-rated fees to keep the new lease on the same payment schedule. 

Illegal locker holders

Dealing with illegal locker holders is the most difficult aspect of managing a locker system. There will always be people who mistakenly or intentionally occupy lockers not assigned to them. There are a number of precautions you can take to minimize this problem.

No matter which system you use, your front desk staff should have the following items close by: bolt cutters, white garbage bags, indelible markers for storage and labeling, and plastic gloves for staff who are removing the items. Your pro shop should also sell combination and key locks for members who forget to bring a lock, and also for your front desk staff, in case they make a mistake and cut the wrong lock.

These are just some ways to manage a locker system in an exercise facility. Pre-planning, concise guidelines and excellent front desk support are essential for a well-managed locker room. Speak with other fitness professionals, managers and club owners for more ways to manage your locker systems, and for some interesting stories. 

Mike James is manager of the World Bank Fitness Center in Washington, D. C.