A returning member should get through the clubhouse door on a credential the system already recognizes — a key fob, mobile credential, or PIN tied to their own profile — not on a doorman flipping through a printed list. The access platform (SALTO or UniFi Access, depending on the property) checks that credential against a live roster, records the entry, and can be set to stop working the moment dues lapse. The member list itself lives in the access software's database rather than a shared spreadsheet, with role-based screens that limit who can see it.
How does a member get recognized at the door without a list?
Each member is set up once as a user in the access system, tied to a credential — an RFID key fob, a mobile digital key, or a PIN — rather than to a name a doorman has to visually match. In SALTO Space, a user record holds identification details, key options, and an expiration date, and the user "can revalidate their card when required," meaning normal members don't need staff intervention at every visit, per Users in Salto Space. UniFi Access readers work the same way at the hardware layer: they "support cards and fobs with all 13.56Mhz NFC protocols including ISO 14443A, ISO 14443 B, and ISO 15693," plus phone-based unlocking through its Endpoint app, according to Door Access Overview - Ubiquiti. Either way, the door reads the credential and checks it against the system — the doorman's list disappears because the system already knows who holds a valid key.
How are guests signed in and tracked separately from members?
Guests are a distinct cardholder type from members in SALTO Space, deliberately separated so that occasional visitors don't dilute the member roster. The platform's visitor documentation notes that "visitors should not be confused with guests: guests are applicable to hotel installations only" in the non-hotel context, and defines a parallel "visitors" workflow for non-hotel sites like clubs: an operator checks a visitor in with a start and expiry time, assigns them a visitor access level that limits which doors and zones they can reach, and can mark a "Host responsible" field linking that guest to the member who brought them in, per How to manage visitors in Salto Space. That host-linkage is what makes a per-member guest count enforceable in reporting, and the "Visits history" report lets staff pull every visitor tied to a given member. Expired visitor entries can be deleted to keep the active list current, and the system can optionally send a canceled visitor key to a denylist rather than simply dropping it.
How does front-desk staff see arrivals in real time?
Both platforms generate an event-level audit trail as credentials are presented, which is what a front desk actually watches rather than a paper sign-in sheet. SALTO's user configuration lets an operator enable "Audit openings in the key," which writes an audit trail of a cardholder's door activity, and the system's "Entries" view for a given user shows their access history. On the UniFi side, access rights and events sync continuously to the console that manages the door hubs, so staff-facing dashboards reflect arrivals as they happen rather than on a delay — ask your access vendor how the specific real-time arrival feed is surfaced to a front-desk screen, since that reporting layer can vary by deployment.
How does a lapsed-dues member get switched off automatically?
SALTO's model separates two different member-off states that a club should plan for deliberately. A key can be given a long-term "User expiration" date and a shorter "Update period" that forces periodic revalidation — if a club ties dues renewal to that revalidation cycle, a lapsed member's credential simply stops auto-renewing. Separately, SALTO supports an explicit "Ban user" action: an operator can "ban a user from accessing any part of your Space installation by invalidating their key," and unbanning later "restores their original access data to their key," per Users in Salto Space. That ban/unban pair is a cleaner tool for a dues suspension than deleting the member outright, since deleting a user also cancels their key permanently. Ask your integrator which of these two mechanisms — expiration-driven lapse or an explicit ban — fits your club's dues cycle and reinstatement process.
What happens at the door during a network or power outage?
UniFi Access is explicit that it "can remain operational during a power outage," provided the hub and readers sit on battery-backed power such as a UPS or a mission-critical switch, and that "if the UniFi Console goes down, door access will remain" because access rights are already synchronized to the local Access Hub, per Door Access Overview - Ubiquiti. Locks themselves can be configured fail-safe (unlocked on power loss) or fail-secure (locked on power loss), and a club should decide that door by door with its contractor rather than leave it as a hardware default. SALTO's wireless locks behave similarly offline: KS documentation describes "Offline Access" that keeps authorized credentials working locally even when a lock loses its connection to the IQ hub, guaranteeing access for "up to 360 credentials for BLUEnet locks and 39 credentials for RFnet locks," per Managing access in Salto KS. Either platform's offline behavior should be tested at commissioning, not assumed.
How is the member list itself kept private?
Both platforms put access management behind role-based accounts rather than an exported file anyone can open. SALTO KS defines four distinct roles — Site Owner, Site Admin, Site Super User, and Site User — with the most basic role limited to "only require access to unlock doors," meaning most members never see the roster at all, per Managing access in Salto KS. SALTO Space supports partitions that further divide cardholder visibility by license, and PIN codes and digital keys are issued per user rather than shared. A club replacing a shared spreadsheet with either platform should ask its integrator to configure roles so that front-desk staff see only the fields they need — arrival status and photo, for instance — rather than full billing or contact data.
Cave Group designs access control for private clubs as part of a broader hospitality technology scope that also covers guest-room and member-facing AV, networking, and lighting, and it services and takes over existing club access deployments on either platform. A related breakdown of how SALTO maps credentials from a reservation through to a door is in SALTO Access Architecture: Reservation to Door, Mapped, and the broader platform-selection question is covered in Private Club Technology: One Platform, Many Rooms.
Frequently asked questions
Can a club avoid a doorman checking names entirely?
Yes, in practice — once each member is issued a credential (fob, mobile key, or PIN) tied to their own user record, the reader checks that credential against the system directly, so staff no longer need to visually match a name against a printed list.
Are guests treated the same as members in the system?
No. SALTO Space treats guests/visitors as a separate cardholder type from members, with their own access level, a check-in/check-out window, and an optional "Host responsible" link back to the member who brought them, which is what makes per-member guest tracking possible.
What stops a member with unpaid dues from getting in?
A club can use SALTO's periodic key revalidation tied to dues renewal, or use the explicit "Ban user" function, which invalidates a member's key immediately and can be reversed later without reissuing a new credential.
Does the door still work if the internet goes down?
Yes, with the right configuration. UniFi Access keeps working locally as long as the Access Hub and readers have battery-backed power, since access rights are already synced to the hub; SALTO's offline locks similarly store authorized credentials locally for a set number of users.
Who can actually see the member roster?
Role-based accounts limit visibility — SALTO KS's basic "Site User" role, for example, can only unlock doors and has no access to the member database, so a club can configure front-desk staff to see arrival status without exposing full member records.