Ms. Olsen

Spas, Health & Fitness

Dealing with the Difficult Spa Guest

By Casey Olsen, Owner, Spa Sources

The health spa philosophy began a few thousand of years ago by the Egyptian, Roman and Grecian societies. As the years have passed we find ourselves still believing in the value derived from water and treatment therapies. The American spas have taken these ancient modalities and fine tuned them to relate to our modern lives. Today's guest arrives to a spa facility anticipating relaxation, pampering and a respite from our over stressed lives. That being said, there are those few guests that arrive at your spa doorstep with possibly alternative motives to relaxation in mind.

We have all encountered that difficult to please guest. They arrive complaining even as they check in to the hotel, and they forge on through all the areas of the property, feeling put upon and dissatisfied. Having begun my spa career in the days that the majority of the people enjoying the spa experience were the very wealthy old moneyed rich, the majority of our guests were considered difficult to please. No matter what we did, they were unhappy.

In the years that I was the Spa Director, there was only one time that I had to ask a guest to leave the spa facility due to attitude, and I must add here, that this one had a major attitude. She hailed from the North East and arrived at our Reception Desk announcing that she expected to be catered to every minute that she was in our spa. My staff had been called from the hotel's front desk staff and given a "head's up" regarding her temperament, so we thought we were prepared to handle this unhappy lady.

Not even close! She entered the spa in a rage demanding immediate attention in our extremely busy locker room. We had staff working in our locker area attending to guests, which is only one of the service procedures that set us apart from all other spas. Yes, the staffing of this area cost us a bit more, but with a 47% net profit coming from the spa, we felt that the gain we enjoyed from guest service far out weighted the nominal payroll addition.

When this guest arrived at the spa, I was in a meeting but when I returned I was surrounded by staff expounding about this lady and her complaining. I heard about how she snapped her fingers at the staff and spoke rudely to them. It was my philosophy that my staff is there to be sweet and attentive to our guests, but should never endure rude or condescending behavior. That was my job. So I set off to locate this disgruntled guest.

This particular spa was over 65,000 square feet and we were always extremely busy. It was the norm to have over 300 guests pass thru the spa facility in just one day and our attrition rate was off the charts. The staff was used to all sorts of behavior, but this lady seemed to surpass all the rest. When I located the guest in question, she was in a treatment room having a service, so I returned to my office noting what time her treatment would be finished. I located the therapist and asked her how the lady acted during the treatment and the therapist said that the guest gave her curt instructions throughout the entire 50 minute treatment. The therapist said "This one's a doosey!" Finally, I located our lady in question, nicely introduced myself as the Spa Director and asked her to accompany me to my office.

I welcomed her to our spa and asked if there was anything that we can do for her. She started on a litany of complaints and comments, listing her expectations and disappointments. I positioned the look on my face to show concern and attention, as I had well practiced, but was thinking that this poor lady must have a miserable life to be this unhappy. I then told her that I, personally, will attend to her during her time in the spa, and for her to speak to no one but me. She agreed, and off we went. Very long story short, she demanded constant attention in a rude manner thru most of the day. At the end of that day, I asked her back into my office for a review.

I began by stating that I stayed by her side all day, to which she agreed. I then recapped her behavior and her methods of delivery. I did so in a very gentle way, but when she heard the long list of demeaning comments, she became extremely quiet. I then made my stand in saying, "Mrs. Smith, our mission at this spa is to make our guests extremely happy, and I have done everything in my power to accomplish that for you today. It seems that we must not be the spa for you and we want you to be happy so maybe it's best that you not return again, because we want you to be happy." There was this long silence and then she burst into tears. Through her tears and sobbing she began to talk about her family and her children. Again, cutting to the chase, she had enormous emotional issues which were surfacing through her anger. A full 2 hours passed and by the end of that time, she was hugging me and thanking me profusely for listening. Before she left, she asked me if she could please come back tomorrow and promised me that she would be much nicer and not cause me or my staff any further challenges. Of course I said that it was our pleasure to welcome her any time.

Keeping a service oriented staff is a Manager's biggest challenge and what I have found to be most effective in accomplishing this is not allowing the staff to be mistreated in any way. I have always told them that they work hard and do not deserve even a small amount of rudeness and that they are to contact me so I can intervene and hopefully manage an unhappy individual. This really shows the staff that you care and are on their side, thus motivating them to go the extra mile that is expected of them.

Another type of challenging guest is the one that has the intention to complain so they can get their money back for the services that they had in the spa facility. I have the most fun with this type of guest.

They always come looking for me and have a definite style to their initial approach. As they begin to build their case for a credit to their bill I listen intently and with concern. Following their complaint my immediate reaction is normally something like this, "Thank you so very much Mr. Smith, for taking the time to share your comments with me (admitting to nothing). I am surprised at what you have described to me, however, because I have received nothing but wonderful remarks from guests that have had your particular therapist for many years. I will follow up with you after I speak with the person you are complaining about and get back to you." There response is always "I want a credit on my bill." Well, of course they do. No big surprise.

I then speak to the staff member that had the encounter with this guest and almost 100% of the time they say that the guest raved about their service. The staff member is really stunned at the guests' complaint at which time I alleviate their concern by letting them know that this guest is looking for a credit.

So, I contact Mr. Smith and explain that I spoke to the staff member and relay comments that he had made to the therapist. You see, I require a procedure from the staff that entails the asking of questions like "How does this feel, can I do anything differently to make you feel better." 99.9% of the guest will respond with their direction that will be followed up by the therapist saying, "How's that, is that better?" The guest will then reply normally with "Yes, that feels much better."

What is actually happening here is that the guest is feeling like they are getting a more personally tailored therapy and at the same time, if the guest is difficult, we are attempting to accommodate them until they state that they are pleased. With this dialogue, we then can nicely challenge the complaining Mr. Smith parroting back his favorable comments he made to the therapist. At this point his request for a credit is nicely denied since he truly did enjoy the therapy, as he said himself.

There are many spa manager's that subscribe to the get a complaint - give a credit immediately philosophy. Sure, it's much easier on the manager to do this so they think they make the guest happy, but incorporating the technique mentioned previously, will work on so many levels. Of course, if an employee has indeed goofed up and made a guest unhappy, then no question as to a credit and even a comp upon their return, but short of that, giving a guest an easy credit only promotes this behavior in other areas of the property.

There is no question that with our busy schedules we find ourselves being wound tight and sometimes irritable. Going to a spa is a wonderful relief from stress and it is our job as spa staff to accommodate but never at the cost of the dignity of your staff. I have found that half of the battle is listening to your guest, determining their motivation for the complaint, legitimate or contrived for a credit, then offering your own personal attention to the matter. This works in any service industry arena because people mostly just want to be heard!

Casey Olsen is the principal owner of Spa Sources, a comprehensive health spa consulting firm. With 23 years of Spa Design and Review, Management, Staffing, Marketing, Budgets and Forecasts, Complete Spa Operation Set-up, Liability Guidance, Accounting, Equipment and Product Identification, Spa Sources provides comprehensive assistance in the creation of new, and the renewal of existing spa facilities. As one of the industry's foremost health spa consultants, Ms. Olsen provides invaluable guidance to developers planning their luxury resorts that include a health spa facility. Ms. Olsen can be contacted at 760 341-3311 or spasources@earthlink.net Extended Bio...

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