How Facilikey Made Lena Zerbinopoulos's Independent Pilates Studio Possible

Lena Zerbinopoulos saw a hole in the Pilates market: a place where both Pilates enthusiasts and instructors could rent space as needed.

“I had just moved and I needed a studio where I could do Pilates independently,” she said. “I wanted to create a place with less overhead for me but that was accessible to anyone who wants to do Pilates.”

That was the idea behind what is now My Pilates Studio in Manchester, New Hampshire, a facility where people book a room for their own session and instructors host classes on their own schedule.

“You can do independent practice here, or you can connect with a certified instructor,” explained Lena, who works full-time as an accountant.

Along the way she hit a stumbling block: how to grant access to the people who booked time slots without having to be there herself.

After some trial and error with another company, Lena found Facilikey, which lets a small-business owner trade physical keys and shared passcodes for unlocking doors through an app.

After two months in operation, Facilikey made the process simple at My Pilates Studio, Lena said. It lets individuals and instructors reserve one of the three rooms in her 800-square-foot facility 24/7, then gives them keyless access during their specific time slot.

“They pay the drop-in fee on my website and book the room or a class, and then they get an email from Facilikey that lets them download a digital door key,” she explained.

Facilikey also built in the ability for Lena to check people in, so she knows exactly who is in her facility and when.

“It’s working really well so far. Turns out there are a lot of people who like independent Pilates practice, more than I realized. We have new people coming in and reserving time slots every week, and we have an iPad in there so they can look up exercises or follow along with an instructor,” she said.

“I had low expectations for the first two months, but it has been better than I expected.”