Fitness News

By Tom Walker

09 Sep 2023

Members of Crunch Fitness gyms can now enter their club using the Amazon One palm recognition service.

The franchised fitness operator has become the first gym chain to utilise Amazon One at its locations.

Members who use Amazon One will no longer need their Crunch membership tags or mobile app to enter – they can simply hover their palm over an Amazon One device to enter the fitness facility.

Amazon One is currently being piloted at nine Crunch clubs across the US, including five in San Francisco, three in the New York City, and one in the Los Angeles area, with more locations rolling out the technology in the coming months.

Crunch has been piloting Amazon One for the last four months.

At participating gyms, 80 per cent of members now use Amazon One for entry and adoption is expected to grow as awareness increases and the programme continues to expand to more locations across the US.

Molly Long, chief experience officer at Crunch Fitness, said: "Implementing Amazon One at Crunch gyms has been a win-win for our members and for our Crunch team.

"The feedback from our members has been positive – they appreciate the ability to enter the gym swiftly and efficiently without the need to remember to bring their membership key tag or open the mobile app."

Crunch members can enroll at the Amazon One kiosk inside participating Crunch clubs, or pre-enroll online by visiting the dedicated Amazon One website.

Amazon One is a palm-based biometric identity and payment service that uses artificial intelligence and deep learning techniques, including generative AI to establish a person's identity.

It is currently being rolled out by a number of retail store and travel operators, as well as sports and entertainment venues.

Crunch has around 440 locations in seven countries under the Crunch Fitness and Crunch Signature (premium) brands, in addition to a partnership with footballer Cristiano Ronaldo for the CR7 Fitness brand.

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