Flexing Facility Management for Fitness Centers: How Operational Efficiency Drives Member Satisfaction

Ever walked into a gym and felt energized to conquer your workout? Or maybe you’ve experienced the exact opposite — a stuffy, cluttered space that completely zapped your motivation. The difference? Facilities management. It truly is the unsung hero behind every great fitness experience, ensuring a safe, clean, and well-maintained environment. This attention to detail is not only vital for enhancing member satisfaction and ensuring long-term member loyalty, but also the key to strengthening a fitness business.

Using automation and data-driven maintenance helps fitness facilities operate efficiently, cut costs, and focus on providing a top-notch experience. And in a highly competitive industry, where every fitness center is vying for members’ attention, effective facilities management is a serious game-changer.

Specialized Equipment Requires Specialized Care

Just as members need the right coach to perfect their regimen and form, fitness centers require specialized providers to care for their unique equipment (i.e., assets). From pools and saunas to treadmills and stationary bikes, each machine and wellness amenity brings its own set of unique maintenance challenges. Sandy floors, malfunctioning steam rooms, and broken cardio equipment are more than just inconveniences, they can negatively impact the member experience and membership retention — and your bottom line.

Automation: The Spotter Every Fitness Center Needs

Managing a fitness facility is no small feat. With a non-stop flow of members streaming in, your equipment is working overtime, and so is your staff. But when personnel can’t keep up, automation can be the spotter your team needs to handle the workload efficiently and effectively.

Automation in facilities management refers to the use of technology and systems to perform tasks and processes with minimal human interaction. It can include things like automated lighting, HVAC systems, and security systems — all of which improves efficiency, reduces costs, and enhances the overall management of facilities. Automation also helps streamline work order submissions, track maintenance, and ensure preventive repairs happen on time — and before equipment breaks down. This is especially crucial when fitness centers are expanding rapidly but don’t have the workforce to match their growth​​. Just think of automation like the personal trainer for your facility — it keeps everything tuned up and on schedule, working smarter rather than harder.

Leading fitness center operators are experiencing the transformative impact of automation firsthand. Case in point: Planet Fitness. The fitness center operator has significantly improved their work order efficiency by automating part of their ticketing process. By using Decision Trees,* they reduced unnecessary Work Orders (WOs) and were able to focus on more critical repairs, all while cutting costs and boosting efficiency​. Their team discovered that excessive, unnecessary WOs were leading to inflated repair costs for fitness equipment and general facility repairs. These WOs were often submitted for minor fixes that could have been deferred or handled by in-house staff. By streamlining their process using a set of 38 Decision Tree questions and reporting tools, Planet Fitness saved $9,585 on fitness equipment repairs alone in 2023. Across all trades, this approach helped them avoid more than $16K in unnecessary costs​. It’s just one example of how targeted strategies can trim operational “fat” while improving facility upkeep.

Data-Driven Decisions for Peak Performance

Just like athletes rely on metrics like heart rate and workout stats to hit their health and wellness goals, fitness centers can use historical data and trend insights to keep their facilities running at peak performance. Moving from reactive to predictive maintenance ensures that issues are identified before they turn into bigger problems, keeping equipment downtime to a minimum.

With data-driven decision-making, facilities managers can track everything from equipment usage to repair frequency, allowing them to predict when machinery is most likely to need repairs. For example, treadmills in high-traffic areas may need service more often than those located in quieter parts of the gym​. Using these insights, fitness centers can keep their assets in top condition.

Facilities Management is Key to Member Satisfaction

For fitness centers, first impressions are lasting impressions. Members expect a clean, safe, and functional environment from the moment they walk through the door to the moment they wrap up their workout. A broken treadmill or a dirty locker room can be just as off-putting as finding the gym closed — it creates a negative experience and encourages members to look elsewhere for a fitness center that prioritizes their needs.

That’s where facilities management comes in. It’s the behind-the-scenes work that ensures every visit to the gym is a positive one. From spotless facilities and working equipment to comfortable temperatures and fresh air, effective facilities management prevents accidents, enhances member comfort, and ultimately, keeps them coming back for more.

Asset Management for Long-Term Gains

Effective facilities management isn’t just about fixing problems as they come up; it’s about taking proactive steps to keep everything running smoothly, much like sticking to a good fitness routine. A key component of this proactive approach is asset management. In fitness centers, this means keeping track of warranties, preventive maintenance schedules, and certification requirements. But without a structured system to manage these assets, fitness centers risk voiding equipment warranties or, worse, inviting potential accidents due to neglected repairs​​.

With Planet Fitness, the introduction of Decision Trees helped their team better manage work orders for general repairs, reducing costly mistakes. In addition, using data to track repair history and preventive maintenance ensured that their equipment warranties stayed intact while minimizing repair downtime. Fitness centers that adopt a similar approach can expect not only fewer equipment breakdowns but also longer-lasting assets and better cost management.

Strengthen Your Facility. Strengthen Your Bottom Line.

By prioritizing preventive maintenance, leveraging automation, and partnering with the right providers, fitness centers can better meet the demands of this competitive industry. These strategies not only keep members happy and equipment in top shape but also save time and money, ensuring a more efficient and cost-effective operation — without even breaking a sweat.

Ready to learn how ServiceChannel can transform your fitness center’s facilities management for peak performance? Schedule a demo today!

* A Decision Tree on the ServiceChannel platform is a tool that guides users through a series of questions or conditions to help them make informed decisions. It simplifies complex processes into manageable steps, ensuring consistency and efficiency. This benefits customers by improving decision-making, reducing errors, and saving time.