Have you been here before? It’s a hot Saturday afternoon and the pool is open. You invited your friend over so you can catch up poolside. You grab one of your plastic guest passes for your friend, and head over.
But as you approach the aqua-blue water, your other senses are assaulted by the smell of warm beer and loud music. The pool is packed; it is obvious that the capacity limit has been exceeded, and multiple owners have brought multiple guests. You have to shout just to be heard.
There are also glass bottles on the pool deck, and kids are playing nearby. It’s a hazard for sure, and hopefully, no one gets hurt.
There’s no way you’re going to enjoy an afternoon here. You and your friend are disappointed, but not surprised. This happens all of the time, and nothing seems to change.
Table of contents
- Traditional guest pass management can be complicated and ineffective
- Digital guest pass management: The better solution for condos and HOA pools
- How a digital guest pass system helps everyone
- Will this solve all of our pool problems?
Traditional guest pass management can be complicated and ineffective
It is precisely because of scenarios like the one described above that drive condominiums and HOAs to implement guest pass systems for pool access.
The intent is for owners and residents to apply for guest passes to regulate capacity limits and document who is visiting the community. If an incident occurs, staff should be able to identify the people involved and take appropriate actions to prevent similar activities from happening again.
However, traditional guest pass management generally involves tedious steps, and as a result, some owners ignore the requirement altogether.
Every community is different, but owners may have to obtain pool passes by filling out paper forms and/or making cash payments. Guests are asked to sign waivers in person, and log arrival and departure times.
Staff also have to do a lot of manual work. Admins are required to collect the money, keep records, and issue the correct passes. Whether they are stickers, cards, paper, or other physical items, these types of passes can get lost or be duplicated.
If guards or pool supervisors are in the picture, they must divide their attention and validate passes while trying to maintain a safe environment.
Traditional pool pass management is burdensome for staff, and an inconvenient experience for owners and guests.
Fortunately, Condo Control has a solution that can make pool pass management more efficient and profitable.
Digital guest pass management: The better solution for condos and HOA pools
Condo Control already offers comprehensive guest and visitor management solutions. And now, its guest pass management feature will complete the collection.
The digital system provides a secure, convenient, and trackable solution – no more manual forms or cash handling.
Owners can obtain pool passes through Condo Control, pay through Condo Control, and save passes on the Condo Control mobile app. They can even send pool passes to guests before they arrive, making the verification process quick and seamless.
And that’s just the start.
How a digital guest pass system helps everyone
Our digital guest pass system helps to improve security, streamline cumbersome admin processes, and support a better resident experience. It will address some of your biggest pool problems too.
Improved regulatory compliance
This is a big one. It can be a real challenge for condos and HOAs to enforce pool capacity limits, especially on weekends and holidays. Nonetheless, those limits must be respected as they are established by law for health and safety purposes.
Condo Control’s guest pass system enables admins to create limits on the number of passes or transactions available for owners. They can also create expiration dates for guest passes to ensure owners can’t “stock up.”
These features help to reduce overcrowding during peak pool season.
Condos and HOAs can also reduce incidents, violations, and liability concerns associated with pool usage by educating owners and guests ahead of time.
Digital waivers allow pool-goers to review rules and expectations before they arrive. By signing waivers electronically, condos and HOAs maintain a secure, time-stamped record of each guest’s acknowledgment of community rules as well as liability waivers.
Enhanced security and pool access control
By digitizing pool passes, owners or guests present a unique QR code or barcode to security or a lifeguard. A quick scan is all it takes to validate the pass.
Furthermore, each guest transaction is automatically documented in Condo Control, creating comprehensive records of who used the pool, when, and for how long.
It’s easy to verify who should and shouldn’t be in the pool area using a digital pass system, and guests can’t say that they lost the pass or already handed it to an employee.
Hassle-free payment processing
We have the ability to pay for almost everything online, so shouldn’t those same conveniences be extended to condo and HOA residents?
The harder it is to pay for something, the less popular it becomes. When it comes to paid amenities, communities could be missing out on revenue opportunities because owners won’t support tedious payment processes.
With Condo Control, fee-based passes can be purchased through the platform using a variety of payment options. The entire process takes a minute or two, and owners can do it all without ever having to leave their homes.
At the same time, admins effectively minimize security risks and the administrative burden of collecting cash on-site.
More enjoyable resident experience
Yes, this digital system reduces workloads and headaches for community staff, but the convenience and flexibility it provides to owners and residents is what really counts.
Pool passes can be purchased in minutes and shared with guests using their computers (and soon, mobile devices). This eliminates all the annoying back-and-forth that comes along with in-person sign-ups.
Residents also know exactly how much each pool pass costs, and how many passes they can get, so that there are no unpleasant surprises.
The entire pool pass system also works to ensure people don’t arrive at the pool only to find it is overcrowded and inaccessible.
Meaningful operational efficiencies
Finally, lifeguards or security don’t have to do so much multitasking. Instead of counting passes or arguing about whether someone has permission to enter to pool area, they can focus their energy on keeping people safe.
The data automatically generated through the pool pass scans can also assist decision-makers with future capacity planning and policy-making.
Will this solve all of our pool problems?
Condo Control’s guest pass management solution will alleviate a lot of the headaches and challenges associated with regulating access to the community pool.
But it can’t solve all of your pool problems. Condos and HOAs must still be willing to enforce rules and take action when rules are broken. 99% of the time, owners and guests will respect the rules and the other people using the people, but there is always someone who will ignore or defy the rules.
Even the best communities need an enforcement process, and a team to carry out enforcement obligations, when things don’t go according to plan.
So plan ahead, use a digital system to issue and track pool passes, and avoid the pool pass nightmare this summer.
