Format Forth Worth

Format Fort Worth’s front door sits at street level on a busy road, while the lobby and studios are two floors up. That means the one door anyone on the sidewalk can reach is also the one furthest from the people inside, and there are a lot of people inside.

Since opening in February 2025, Format has become home to more than 900 members on monthly recurring memberships. Every week, the multi-modality studio, co-founded by Sarah Taylor, hosts more than 190 group fitness classes across three studio rooms: one reformer studio and two heated mat studios for yoga, sculpt, mat Pilates, strength and dance-based classes. Based in the city’s Near Southside, it also runs a med spa and streams classes for members on the go.

Most of those members are women, and for Sarah, that makes it clear what has to come first.

Format has never run a single day without that setup. Kisi was on the door before the studio opened, already connected to Momence, the app members use to book their classes. Here’s how a studio running more than 190 classes a week keeps its street door locked to everyone except the people who are booked in.

Format picked Momence to run its bookings before door access was even on its radar, and Kisi only came into the picture once Momence pointed out that the two could work together.

The timing worked out, because the integration was in place before the first class.

Format hired a technician recommended by Kisi, and the access control went in at the same time as the rest of the studio’s network, rather than as a separate project later on.

A key that shows up 30 minutes early

Members don’t get door codes or a separate lock app, because their access lives inside the Momence app they already use to book.

When a member books a class or appointment, they get a Kisi key that switches on 30 minutes before the start time and expires five minutes after it. Within that window, they can open the front door from their phone, and outside it, the door stays shut to them.

How it works at Format

1. A member books a class or appointment in the Momence app.
2. Their Kisi key activates 30 minutes before the start time.
3. At the street-level front door, they unlock it from the Momence app.
4. Five minutes after the class or appointment starts, the key expires.

New guests get a heads-up before their first visit, with texts and emails explaining how to open the door. Even so, many first-timers ring the doorbell instead, and the Client Experience Team then shows them how to use the lock in their app on that first visit. As Sarah puts it, “some people follow the instructions while others prefer to ring the doorbell and have us show them the process.”

Keep your fitness space secure and operational 24/7

Enhance security, reduce operational costs, and discover new revenue streams with cloud-based access control.

The front desk is free to do front desk work

At a studio this busy, letting people in by hand would mean having one person who can never step away from the desk. Format’s Client Experience Team can’t be that person.

Four things to borrow from Format’s setup

• Connect access to bookings from day one. Format set up Kisi and Momence before it opened, so the door never had to be run by hand.
• Tie access to the schedule. A window that opens 30 minutes before class and closes five minutes after it starts keeps the street door shut to anyone who isn’t booked.
• Prepare first-timers before they arrive. Texts and emails cover most guests. The doorbell and a quick walkthrough cover the rest.
• Use a Kisi-recommended installer. Format’s technician installed the system alongside the rest of the network, and setup and training were painless.

Keep your front door secure, without a doorkeeper

Down on the street, Format’s front door stays locked until 30 minutes before class, when it opens for the people who booked, and five minutes after the start, it closes again. Most members will never give it a second thought, which is exactly the point.

Format’s setup does one job well: it lets the right people in at the right time, and nobody else. Kisi’s cloud-based access control makes that automatic. Members unlock from the booking app they already use, access follows their bookings and memberships, and owners can see and manage every door remotely.

Kisi connects with the studio software you already run, including Momence, bsport, Mindbody and Glofox. And when it’s time to install, Kisi can point you to a recommended technician, just as it did for Format.

Securing a street-level entrance, a multi-floor studio or a packed class schedule? Talk to our team for a tailored demo, or see how the Momence integration works.