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Team Rees Gym

We were overwhelmed by the advice and professionalism that Ashbourne provided.

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Success Stories

Team Rees Gym

We were overwhelmed by the advice and professionalism that Ashbourne provided.

Request a Demo

How Team Rees Gym went from PT to Mega-Gym with Ashbourne.

It is hard to believe when you look at Team Rees Gym in Caerphily that one of the UK’s largest fitness facilities, at over 35,000 square feet, began with such humble origins. We sat down with Founder and Director Richard Rees, talking about his journey in the fitness industry, from his first day to signing up with Ashbourne Membership Management to the present and future.

“I started the whole business with a skipping rope and a pair of dumbbells, would you believe?” – Richard Rees, Team Rees Director

Four years into building and expanding a successful personal training business, Richard took the leap into gym ownership. It was a leapt of faith that was well rewarded, with his new gym enjoying growth, not least due to his established PT business.

But with growth came new challenges, particularly in membership management and access control. As is often the case, a manual system that works for a few hundred people will often start to buckle when an independent gym or fitness club starts experiencing sustained and significant growth.

“When we first opened the gym, we didn’t have the fingerprint scanner and we didn’t have the turnstile”.

“Our processes used to be really time consuming, we had paper based applications. They had to be filled in and if they weren’t filled in or were only partially completed it caused all types of delays and time”. – Richard Rees, Team Rees Director

With membership numbers climbing to 300 to 400, manual sign-ins and sign-ups were quickly becoming an unsustainable way of managing both the current membership and bringing in new members, leading to the worrying prospect of security risks and revenue losses for the fledgling independent gym.

“We found lots of people were walking into the gym without signing in. This meant health and safety risks and revenue losses.” – Richard Rees, Team Rees Director

Enter Ashbourne - A Secure, Automated and Scalable Solution

“We went to Ashbourne to seek some advice. We invested in some turnstiles and it was probably one of the best things we ever did”. - Richard Rees, Team Rees Director

Seeking a solution, Richard contacted us here at Ashbourne Membership Management for our expert advice. His initial methodology has helped launch a thriving and successful gym, but now he wanted more sophisticated, automated and secure procedures in place as his independent gym continued to grow.

The installation of turnstiles and fingerprint scanners provided immediate benefits:

Enhanced security: Knowing exactly who was in the gym improved fire safety and member tracking.

Reduced front-desk pressure: Staff could focus on member experience rather than policing access and constantly monitoring the entrance to the facility.

Revenue protection: Eliminating unauthorised entry safeguarded income.

From there, we had control of the front and control of the gym floor. It allowed us all to focus on other areas rather than policing the front desk.
- Richard Rees, Team Rees Director

The difference was complete and immediate, freeing up countless hours to help Team Rees compound their reputation for excellence, bringing an atmosphere of dedication and community-focus that continues to endure to this day.

Streamlining Membership with Digital Automation

Inspired by a visit to Fit Club Redditch, an Ashbourne-managed gym, Richard implemented further automation.

We think this highlights a key strength of our service here at Ashbourne Membership Management. When Team Rees wanted to innovate, they were able to contact us here at Ashbourne and talk to actual gym owners before visiting one of our gyms. This allowed Team Rees to see how we implement and utilise the services within our ecosystem to great effect.

So after that visit to Fit Club Redditch, gone were the days of paper-based sign-ups. Team Rees began to emphasise their digital membership system, especially focusing on sign-ups:

  • iPad sign-up stations: Quick, seamless onboarding.
  • Discount/Referral codes: Boosting engagement and incentivising referrals.
  • Real-time BI dashboards:Tracking member footfall and business performance.

“We’ve gone from paper sign-ups to a couple of super-sleek iPads in the gym with a ‘hit-it, sign-up now’ button”.

– Richard Rees, Team Rees Director

We were overwhelmed by the setup they have there and the advice and professionalism that Ashbourne provided. It gave us the confidence to make some fundamental changes.
- Richard Rees, Team Rees Director

The data provided by Ashbourne’s versatile BI Dashboards revealed an impressive 850+ unique daily member check-ins, a statistic that became a powerful marketing tool to attract not only more partners, but also draw additional businesses to the gym with the guarantee of regular footfall.

One additional benefit of online sign-up was the ability to implement referral and discount codes. This has always proved to be a powerful tool for both retention and growth for many of our independent gyms and fitness club partners. Team Rees immediately went to work utilising these codes to fantastic effect.

And the data collected via the BI dashboard became an instant marketing hit. By advertising their check-in statistics, this attracted multiple businesses to set up within Team Rees Gym, turning it into a “hive of activity”, including:

  • Hair Salon

  • Beauty Salon

  • Nail technician

  • Barbershop

  • Sunbed and heat therapy facilities

Team Rees Gym was able to draw in all of these businesses because he could point at the data that Ashbourne Membership Management was able to provide him with and say with confidence to the individuals interested in setting up these businesses that a certain level of footfall was guaranteed.

This is the sort of confidence and momentum that having a full understanding of your fitness business can bring to an independent Gym or Fitness Club.

“One of the things that has worked fantastically well for us is the discount codes. So we put out promo codes that create excitement. Taking advice from Ashbourne we incentivised our employees, giving them discount codes to hand out. It has massively helped with membership engagement”

– Richard Rees, Team Rees Director

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A Partnership Defined by Communication, Growth and Results

Our relationship with Ashbourne has been absolutely fantastic. Regular conversations on the phone, emails. Super happy.
- Richard Rees, Team Rees Director

Richard is happy to credit Ashbourne’s ongoing support as a key factor in Team Rees’ success.

With reliable technology and expert guidance, Ashbourne has played a part in Team Rees becoming the thriving, 35,000 feet behemoth of a facility it is today.

And while other membership management companies have approached Team Rees over the years, our partnership remains strong.

“For me, Ashbourne is a tried and tested company. We’ve been approached by people who say they could do it cheaper. For me, I’m always after premium, reliable and consistent. And that’s exactly what we’ve got”.

– Richard Rees, Team Rees Director

Advice for Gym Owners, from a Gym Owner

There was only ever one way to end our talk with Richard about his twelve year odyssey through being a PT, to opening an independent gym to the thriving ‘hive’ (his words!) that he has today. We asked him plain and simple, would you recommend Ashbourne to other independent gym and fitness club owners?

Richard’s message to his fellow fitness entrepreneurs was clear and concise.

Highly recommend Ashbourne to other gym owners. All I’d say to any other gym owner is pick the phone up. There is help available that WILL improve your business .
- Richard Rees, Team Rees Director

Ready to Transform Your Gym’s Management?

Are you interested in embarking on your own version of the journey Team Rees has been on? If you are an independent gym or fitness club owner or manager, Ashbourne Membership Management might be what your facility needs to streamline operations, grow your membership and thrive.

Ashbourne Membership Management provides the hardware, software and support to help gyms scale efficiently. From the turnstiles and fingerprint scanners that helped transform Team Rees Gym to online admin-lite membership systems, Ashbourne delivers premium, reliable solutions for independent and multi-facility fitness businesses of all sizes.

So if you think there is a chance that Ashbourne can deliver the transformative service that Team Rees and countless others have received over our 25 years in the fitness industry, follow this link and book a demonstration today so our in-house teams can start to understand how we can help take your facility to the next level.

Let Us Help Drive Your Business Forward...

Book your free demo slot and let us show you how
we can help take your gym to the next level.

If you are a member of a gym, contact us here instead

Let Us Help Drive Your Business Forward...

Book your free demo slot and let us show you how
we can help take your gym to the next level.

If you are a member of a gym, contact us here instead