Nexkey’s mobile access allowed this spa to focus on the client, not access

Picture a client at the front desk of a spa ready to get a Swedish massage, and there’s a knock at the back door. The sales associate who is helping the client needs to leave to let the massage therapist into the building. Not only is this situation a huge inconvenience for everyone, but it directly disrupts the customer’s experience. 

Michael Mirabella, Owner of an Hand and Stone Spa in New York City, knew he needed a more seamless solution. He wanted to instantly give access to everyone in the most secure way possible, and also make sure his business ran smoothly even when he wasn’t there. Another franchise recommended Nexkey.

For a business in the beauty and wellness space, the customer experience is everything. Making sure staff is present and on time, and that they are able to have their full attention on the client is essential. Find out how Nexkey made that happen for Michael, becoming effortlessly integrated in the spa’s day to day. 

Tell me a little bit about your business and how you got started.

Hand and Stone is a franchise massage and facial spa. When we got in, it was a little over 200 spas. Now there are about 450 of these locations nationwide. We're located in New York and Long Island. We've been in the business now for a little over four years. Actually I heard about Nexkey from another owner in California. 

We have a client base of 600 right now; it's a membership driven model. We lost quite a few clients last year at this time because of COVID. We're still on the uptick, we've got a lot of people with more confidence and they're starting to come in. 

We keep up-to-date as far as any new technologies or any new kind of services that we can offer. For the most part massages are across the board, standard Swedish massages, which all massages are based on. We also do dermal infusion, which is basically a machine that infuses a serum into the scanner while also giving a dermabrasion, slightly exfoliating the skin. We evaluate the client and then the estheticians make a judgment call on what they think would be best for their skin type. 

We have approximately 20 employees right now. They all have access to Nexkey.

What did you use prior to Nexkey to access the building?

We had just a standard of lock and key, on the back door and the front door. We only have two entrances. 

The service providers, the massage therapists and the estheticians, enter and exit through the back. That's where I really needed Nexkey for, because I didn't want to have too many people carrying keys.

Every time someone needed to come in, they would have to phone the front desk, where all associates were doing all the sales and actually processing all the clients. They'd have to stop whatever they're doing, go to the back and let them in. So it was an inconvenience obviously.

So I was looking for a solution for how I could give them easier access without them having to constantly keep calling the front desk when they come in. And Nexkey obviously solved that problem. So I reached out to the owner in California that was already using it, and he seemed to really like the product.

Nexkey affords a lot more convenience.

What other challenges did you face with keys? 

In general, in any business, you don't want too many people having too many keys, it's just not a good business practice, because now you have too many people with unsecured access. 

You don't know when they're coming or going from the building. There's really no way of knowing unless the alarm was set, because they have to turn it off. But otherwise I really can't keep track. 

Nexkey is another way I can track my employees. So when they're clocking in, I can look at Nexkey to see when they came in. 

Why was it important to have mobile access control over any other solutions like key cards?

I looked at Nexkey and it seemed pretty easy to use. The Installation seemed quick. So once again, it was really a matter of convenience. And then I already had somebody that was using it in the franchise and recommended it. So I thought it would make sense. 

I was looking at possibly doing another solution for the back door as far as one of those mechanical key systems. I think the expense was about the same, but Nexkey was just a more seamless option. It just seemed like it'd be quicker to do it this way.  

Who uses Nexkey today and how do they like it? 

Well, everybody in this spa is using it and we like it. It's very convenient. 

I think it's a good product. I like it. If I had to fire somebody (unfortunately) I can immediately revoke their key. So now they don't have access to my spa. It gives me peace of mind.

If late at night, I had to let them go, or if I wasn't there, and the manager had to let them go, I don't want that person still having access to my spa. But now I can revoke them immediately. 

There’s also the possibility somebody needs to get in, and I am not there. It could be anybody, the police, a fire department, or it could be somebody there to fix something. If I'm not going to be there, and it's outside of hours, I can give them temporary access. 

So there are a lot of good options, as far as that's concerned. 

What are the biggest advantages of using Nexkey?

The biggest advantage is the convenience and the immediacy of it. I can very quickly just go right through my phone, give somebody access to my spa or deny them access. 

I think that's probably one of the biggest selling points, is that I can do that and I can be anywhere, in the United States, in the world, wherever I may be.

I can have full control of who's coming and who's going. And I can also see a log, which is also important to me of when people are coming in and when they're going.

The log will correlate to what they’re telling me when they say, “Oh, my hours were this day, I came in.” I can just look at the log to see if that does or doesn't correspond to what they said.

Why should you feel that other spas or beauty and wellness companies should use Nexkey?

Well, it's an evolution of how we do things living in this century, I think it's just a smart choice.

It gives them a lot more options than they would normally have with just a regular key, to go out and constantly not have to go make a key, which is a hassle every time. 

I had to worry about a key coming back to me. Did you get the keys from the person? If it's their last day, whether if they quit or because they were fired, or whatever the case may be. It's just one less thing I have to worry about. 

I don't have that time to invest. The time I invested in managing keys before, I'm glad I don't have to anymore. If I have any kind of situation, I can call Nexkey and they immediately will help, whatever the situation is.

And they're quick to remedy whatever the problem is. It's convenient, and it's just being able to, as a business, keep better track of who's coming and going in my business.

We're enjoying it.