Mr. Henkin

Spas, Health & Fitness

The Critical Path for a Successful Spa Operation

By Gary Henkin, President & Founder, WTS International

Our previous installments focused on factors requisite to the planning, design and launch of a spa. These included an understanding of your market and customer base, local and regional competition, creation of a viable space program and a thorough financial analysis. The development of a critical path and timeline are also vital to the successful opening of any spa and should be incorporated into the pre-opening process. As mentioned, it is always best to develop a plan which can then serve as a "roadmap" to opening for the best chance to achieve both operational and financial success; this can be accomplished, in part, through the development of a feasibility or needs analysis study. Thus, if a game plan for success isn't put into place well prior to the grand opening date, it is likely that you will experience numerous pitfalls that could have otherwise been avoided once the spa opens for business.

Aside the careful planning for launch in the pre-opening phase, there are any number of factors to be considered in setting a critical path for a successful spa operation. These include, among others, the following: know your guest and non-guest population; staff selection and training; creation of standard operating procedures; develop a strong customer service ethic; creative promotions and marketing plan; budget development and expense management; set up retail and merchandising procedures to maximize sales opportunities; develop viable maintenance procedures; and communicate with your audience even after they leave the premises.

Know Your Customers

Almost every hotel/resort and destination spa should cater not only to the hotel guest populace, but also to the local external market. An understanding of the hotel guest profile is important, particularly in the effective development of an internal marketing and promotion strategy designed to attract this audience. Knowing what your targeted "capture rate" is with regard to your internal guests and how best to maximize this is crucial to the financial viability of the spa. In addition, it is equally important to know the surrounding market in order to effectively entice a non-guest consumer base. The more you understand about the internal and external client profile, the better the opportunity to devise a plan which maximizes the opportunity to stimulate their potential involvement. Don't ever neglect the importance of targeting both the hotel guest as well as the local population if you want your spa to have a positive return on investment.

Select and Train Staff for Success

One shouldn't take lightly what is certainly one of the most important decisions that influence the operational and financial success of a spa. In choosing your Spa Director, Assistant Director, receptionists, service providers, attendants and other personnel, make sure that you order your priorities correctly. Don't make the mistake of assuming that you should hire primarily based on a candidate's resume and practical experience. While this is clearly an important factor, it is by no means the end all to success. Experience has led us to believe that one should hire staff, in large part, based on "core qualities" which are those personal attributes that will produce a truly memorable guest experience. These include a warm and outgoing personality, a penchant for the delivery of customer service, excellent oral (and written) communication skills, organizational and business acumen and a strong work ethic. If a problem occurs with the regard to staff, it will rarely be described by an owner in terms of the individual's "lack of experience or know-how" in the spa industry; rather, it is likely that there will be an issue in one ore more of the areas described above. Thus, when interviewing prospective applicants for the Spa Director and other key positions, take into account first and foremost the aforementioned core qualities and check references thoroughly.

Once the spa staff has been selected, pay as much attention to their training procedures as you do the selection process itself. This area is often given short shrift, and a focused training process for all service providers and support staff isn't put into place. Break down the spa operation into the various departments and train each of these groups individually (e.g. receptionists, locker room attendants, therapists and estheticians, maintenance, sales staff, upper management staff, etc.). It is also crucial, once you have provided the initial training regimen, to offer continuous input, staff support, educational resources and additional training. A mistake made by many Spa Directors is to "assume" that their staff are doing the job and effectively carrying out their roles and responsibilities. A training program which is consistently implemented will always pay off in producing a more qualified staff and one which is able to produce a better customer and guest experience.

Develop a Marketing & Sales Plan

All too often, spas are launched without a viable and promotion marketing plan in place. In addition, very little effort is expended in the area of public relations which can be a far more effective way to get the word out to the local population of spa goers. Take the time to develop a thoughtful marketing approach and consider engaging a qualified public relations firm to place articles about the spa in area publications, develop press releases, etc. A focused approach in the implementation of an ad campaign, media placement and direct mail can pay significant dividends in driving non-guest business. This is particularly important for spas located in venues other than in destination locales or resorts. In an urban setting, if the spa is to be profitable, it is almost always necessary to drive non-guest use and not just rely on revenue from the hotel population. Make sure that your marketing plan contains not only an approach to drive treatment/services income but also includes a targeted approach to the sale of spa product. Receptionists and service providers alike need to be trained to "upsell" products in every instance in which there is an opportunity to do so. Training needs to be continuous throughout the year and those spas which don't provide this will ultimately suffer including loss of profit potential and diminution of the overall guest experience.

Standard Operating Procedures

In many instances, a spa opening won't include the development and implementation of a set of standards for the day to day operation of the facility. Each spa should have its own SOP which is tailored specifically to that property. Without this document to serve as a road map for each department of the spa, training and accountability become infinitely more difficult to process and monitor. Every area of the spa's operation should be detailed in the SOP manual for the Spa Director to implement. Take the time to create this document or engage a consultant to do so as this will save the spa from numerous headaches and bumps in the road going forward. A well written and finely standard operating procedures text will ultimately help to ensure that the spa is operated with consistency, that the staff understands their role and are held accountable for performance.

Don't Forget About Retail

In many instances, Spa Directors and owners neglect to place enough emphasis on retail sales and how important this area is to the financial health of their spa. For every dollar generated by the spa through the delivery of a skin care treatment or service, there should be a significant amount of product sales as a percentage of the service revenue. Thus, approximately 40-50% of skin treatment total revenue should be added from product sales, and there are select spas which produce a far greater percentage, upwards of 100% of product sales compared to service revenue. Once again, it is crucial to consider how to implement a viable product promotion and sales plan and how best to train the service providers and receptionists to execute. Gifts with purchase (GWP), cross promotions, up-selling techniques, internet sales and others should be part of this campaign. If you don't truly emphasize the importance of this objective to your staff and train them to implement, you will leave significant income on the table.

Promote & Maintain a Customer Service Ethic

One significant way to delineate spa is through the development and implementation of a high end customer service ethic. Customer service means different things to different people, but at the end of the day, you must instill a standard in this area for your staff and guests which is consistent with that of the overall property. In today's highly competitive marketplace, the items that can truly delineate one spa from another aren't necessarily tied to how the spa is designed, what the treatment menu is or how the facility is promoted. All of these areas are certainly important, but perhaps the most critical single factor is in the quality, standards and consistency of customer service. This can be something as small as how staff answers the phone and whether they stand to greet a guest as he/she enters the spa. Small touches applied in the locker room accoutrements, presentation of robes/slippers, towels and treatment rooms and retail display all have an impact on guest perception. But of all the variables in the customer service category, the single most important consideration is the consideration demonstrated by the staff. A friendly, courteous and attentive staff can do more to create a memorable spa experience then almost anything else. Thus, one should continuously stress this area and train your staff to listen to and react immediately to customer concerns. Some of the world's best spas deliver a wonderful experience to guests not because they are larger in size or have a more diverse menu of services; rather, they focus on the execution of a customer service ethic across all boundaries of the operation which creates a guest's desire return to the spa again and again.

Communicate With Your Patrons

So often, hotel and resort spas miss a golden opportunity to create more sales and perceived value for their customers. This can be achieved with little effort through the development of a communication channel with each spa consumer who has visited your site. Offer an inducement to retrieve vital information from the guest such as name and email address (if possible); let them know that the purpose will be to communicate unique packages, product purchasing opportunities, getaway specials, etc. Create a "spa bulletin" which you can then send to your patrons quarterly or semi-annually as you wish. Target holidays and other times of the year such as Mother's Day, Valentines Day, Christmas and others and allow your customers to purchase items such as gift certificates, retail product, robes, logo merchandise, etc. over the internet. Additionally, this is a great way to magnetize patrons to return to the spa for a getaway weekend and to bring their friends. The mistake made by too many spas is to ignore their own customers without further communication once they depart the hotel.

Integrate the Spa

In our experience, this is one of the most crucial items that will lead to a hotel or resort spa's success. All too many times, when a developer/owner decides to include a spa into the site, there is a failure to realize the importance of integrating the spa into the fabric and culture of the entire property. It is not uncommon for a spa to be developed with a premise that "if I build it, they will come." Nothing is further from the truth. Spas should be as much a part of how the hotel is positioned and marketed as any other element such as the restaurant(s), lobby, bar(s), rooms and other areas. Unfortunately, many hotels do not actively integrate the spa into the property through exposure in marketing materials and brochures, through the in-room television channel, at the reception and concierge desks, in elevators, etc. Further, they will often make little attempt to have their sales and marketing departments participate in the sale of spa packages or pre-bookings for groups. Unless this is a significant part of the hotel's overall marketing plan, it will never happen and your spa will suffer from a financial perspective. Every attempt should be made to consistently train the hotel's staff (marketing and sales, reception, restaurant staff, concierge, and others); it is absolutely critical that the spa be mentioned to each and every guest or group. Further, the Spa Director should reach out to groups well in advance of their coming to the property to pre-book treatments at the spa. A hotel or resort spa shouldn't be deemed to be a separate entity from the other parts of the property. Instead, there needs to be "buy in" from each of the various departments that the spa is a vital piece of the puzzle in the hotel's potential for operational and financial success.

Inspect What You Expect:

If you do decide to add or expand a spa (or fitness facility) at your site, it is important to make the commitment to "inspect what you expect" if you want it to be successful. Those hotel General Managers who do this on a consistent basis by walking through the spa regularly and meeting with the Spa Director formally (at least monthly) are sending a strong signal to the staff that the spa and its success matters.

These are but a few of the important considerations once you have officially opened the doors of your spa. If attention is paid to the aforementioned areas, the chance that your spa will achieve operational success will be significantly heightened.

President and Founder of WTS International, Gary Henkin has 30 years in the planning, design and management of health clubs, spas and athletic facilities. He has developed feasibility and needs assessment studies for spa and/or health club properties. WTS has become one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing leisure consulting and operating firms. The firm has about 1,000 employees worldwide and provides services to hotels, resorts, luxury residential properties, exclusive golf and country clubs, day spas and real estate developments throughout the United States and overseas. Mr. Henkin can be contacted at 301-622-7800 or ghenkin@wtsinternational.com Extended Bio...

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