Success story: Oberena

In the competitive and fast-changing world of health and wellness, partnerships that drive innovation and growth are essential. Oberena, a leading club in Spain, is an outstanding example of how combining tradition and technology can enhance the member experience. With more than 80 years of history, this sports, cultural, and social club has nearly 7,000 members and 35,000 square meters of facilities that are continuously being renovated.
Since its creation, Oberena has sought to “create among its members a family-friendly, welcoming, and educational environment, especially through sports, the arts, and leisure.” To fulfill this mission, Oberena offers 15 sports sections and academies, with around 900 federated members. Its extensive facilities include outdoor and indoor pools, a spa area, a football field, an indoor sports hall, a multi-sport venue, a fronton court, racket courts, a gym, and other amenities such as a social building and a children’s playground.
Beyond sports, Oberena is also known for its vibrant social life, with activities such as talks, card tournaments, and book presentations, making it a truly all-in-one community space. However, managing such an active club comes with significant challenges, especially in terms of accessibility and efficiency. To keep its service promise and improve the member experience, Oberena found a strategic partner in Resasports. To learn how this collaboration has been key in Oberena’s evolution, we spoke with its manager, Joaquín Echenique.

The challenge:

Committed to providing a comfortable and enjoyable experience, Oberena faced several operational challenges:

1.  Access control: The main challenge was the reliance on a physical membership card to access the club’s facilities. Members who forgot their card had to identify themselves at reception, causing delays. In addition, searching for the card in a sports bag when arriving at the entrance gates created bottlenecks, especially during peak hours. Once inside, having to carry the card to all areas with access control (indoor pool, spa, saunas, and gym) became a constant inconvenience.

2.  Planning and managing special activities for children and youth: As an active, family-oriented club, Oberena regularly organizes children’s and youth events, such as birthday parties, theater performances, and games, as well as multiple sports camps during summer and Easter. Planning and organizing these events required stronger capacity control and a proper distribution of reservations by age group to avoid overcrowding and improve the experience for members and their families. In addition, maintaining clear and smooth communication between instructors and parents was a constant challenge.

The solution with Resasports

To address these challenges, Oberena and Resasports implemented several key solutions:

1. Access control with facial recognition technology:

   The installation of facial recognition readers has transformed the way members access the club. This technology not only eliminated the need for a physical card, but also made access much faster and more convenient. Both members and staff have highlighted this improvement as a major success, streamlining entry and reducing bottlenecks during the busiest hours.

2. Booking and event management:

   To optimize the organization of children’s and youth activities, Oberena began managing them with Resasports. The platform enables efficient control of bookings, capacity, and age-based distribution for events such as costume activities, theater, and games. For summer and Easter camps, it also helps instructors access registration information and send reminders to parents about required materials and schedule changes.

3. Improved booking management:

   Resasports not only improved access control, but also modernized the booking system for classes, courses, and facilities through its app, far surpassing the capabilities of previous programs. This has helped members organize their time at the club and has optimized the occupancy of spaces.

Results and benefits

Implementing Resasports has transformed operations at Oberena, delivering multiple benefits:

Despite Oberena’s initial concerns about migrating data from such a large sports club, implementing Resasports as its management software has been a complete success. Thanks to a customer support team committed to making the process successful, the transition to Resasports was smooth and satisfying, overcoming initial concerns and consolidating the software as an essential tool for day-to-day operations — improving the experience for all users.

If you are a sports center like Oberena, with many activities, facilities, and events, Resasports is the software you need. With more than 4,500 features and growing, our software adapts to your club so you can keep everything under control.