What access control is
Access control is the system that governs who can enter a facility, or a specific area within it, and when. In a leisure or fitness setting that usually means tying entry hardware, such as gates, turnstiles or door readers, to the membership and booking records that say whether a person is entitled to be there.
The point of access control is to make entry match the rules an operator has set: a current member gets in, a lapsed or unpaid member is stopped, a casual visitor pays at the point of sale first, and a booked class participant is admitted for their session. When access is connected to the same record that holds memberships and payments, the front desk does not have to check entitlements by hand.
For multi-site operators, access control needs to behave consistently across venues and read from the same member record, so a membership works the way it should wherever the member turns up.
Access control in the Cohiva platform
Cohiva Complex is management software for aquatic and leisure facilities that includes access control connected to memberships, bookings and point of sale. Entry, the front desk and casual sales all run off one record of your members and your venues.
Complex is built for operators running several venues or brands rather than a single site. To see how access control fits, explore Complex.