How does an open-all-day-and-night club make its tanning beds turn a profit? These two Alabama clubs make it work with high-quality equipment and smart technology.
Club Name: 24/7 Health Club
Location: Huntsville, AL and Harvest, AL
Website Address: GetFit24-7.net
Person Interviewed: Karrah Hunt, General Manager
Number of members: Huntsville – 2663 Harvest – 1692
24/7 Inc. opened their first facility in Huntsville, Alabama in December 2003. It was approximately 15,000 square feet and offered an extensive group exercise program, gym, sauna and a Kidz Zone area for the children while parents work out, as well as a full service tanning salon with eight tanning beds and two stand up booths. The facility is a true 24-hour operation that provides round the clock access to the members via a fingerprint access system and video surveillance.
In 2006, the management of 24/7 Health Club made the decision to expand the operation by opening an 18,000 square foot facility in the nearby community of Harvest, Alabama. In anticipation of the opening of this new facility, they ordered about $40,000 worth of tanning equipment from a company they had dealt with in the past. The order was paid for in advance with the expectation that production and delivery of the beds would be postponed until the building was completed.
As they neared completion of the new building on October of 2006, they called the company to schedule delivery of the beds. They scheduled delivery dates on multiple occasions but the company failed to deliver the beds. They would call back, reschedule and still no beds ever arrived. By December 2006, with an opening date of January 1, 2007, 24/7 Health Club had no beds, the company they had ordered the beds from would not call them back and ended up going out of business and taking the money with them.
Needless to say, 24/7 Health Club was left with quite a dilemma. They had a brand new Health Club & Tanning Salon that boasted about its spacious tanning rooms with beds that always had hot bulbs, but in truth they had no beds. Being a 24-hour facility that gives members access to the beds around the clock (even when staff is not present), they needed strong, durable beds that were true workhorses and would give their members the great tans they were accustomed to. In addition to that they had a cash shortage since they had not budgeted for the additional purchase of beds and now needed beds that were not only exceptional but also economical.
“After much research and consulting numerous tanning salon owners, we determined that Efficient Lighting had just the line of beds we were looking for,” said Karrah Hunt, General Manager. I was put in touch with Rick of Efficient Lighting and he educated me on the SunSource 4000 XP, which fit our specifications perfectly. He assured me that this particular bed would run non-stop with virtually no problems and would give our members the beautiful tan they expected from our beds in even less time. He gave me the beds at a very fair price, he worked with me to get the beds delivered in an expedient manner and has been servicing us for lamps every since.”
24/7 Health Club’s members were thrilled with their new beds. In fact, they later added a couple of the SunSource beds in their first facility, and report they are by far the favorite beds in that location, as well.
“Tanning is a large part of our business. We have numerous members who never step foot in our gym area but love to tan in our salon because they have 24-hour access to a salon that provides some of the best tanning beds around. Then we have other members love to work out and then jump in the beds quickly and know that they will come out with a great tan every time,” said Karrah.
24/7 Health Club’s members love the tanning salon because they feel like they are getting something extra with their memberships. All of their members have access to the tanning as part of their membership package. They love the beds because 24/7 Health Club keeps hot bulbs in the beds (changing them a good 150 to 200 hours before the manufactures suggest) and they have a large supply of beds at both locations. Karrah commented, “I would say that 25% of our revenue is generated from the tanning salon and sales of tanning products.”
Their salon is unique due to the fact that members can access the beds 24 hours a day. They accomplish this by securing the t-max timers behind a Plexiglas door in the tanning lobby. The members have to scan their fingerprint for the door to open, thus providing a record of each member’s daily access. They restrict them to accessing the beds to once per calendar day. They are then able to set the timer and enter the room any time they feel the need to tan. This allows members to be able to tan on their way in to work in the mornings or running to the gym and tanning after they put the kids to bed. This makes it easy for them to fit tanning into their busy schedules. The stand up booths are a particular favorite with out members who work out. They are 10-minute booths and allow members to jump in and tan quickly after a strenuous workout and scoot on out the door.
During tanning season they have a large volume of activity in the tanning side of the business. However, due to their large selection of beds, members rarely have to wait long. They have opted for 15-minutes beds from Efficient Lighting so that they can keep the flow moving and are still able to give members a great tan. There are cheaper salons in the area, but people love their salon because of the quality of the tan they are able to achieve and because you can’t beat the convenience. If they come during the right time of the day, they have a fantastic Kidz Zone (including playground area) where the kids can play while the parents tan. And if they ultimately decide that “tanned” buns look even better if they are “toned” buns, they can simply mosey on into the gym area and pump up the muscle. People love knowing that they have options. They pay for one thing but get lots of “extras.”
“Efficient Lighting certainly saved us from a potential disaster and enabled us to keep providing a valuable to service to all of our members,” remarked Karrah.
