Ms. Bulls Dixon

Spas, Health & Fitness

Hotel and Resorts Find Travelers Are Demanding Full-Service Spa Amenities

By Gayle Bulls Dixon, Owner/Founder, Breathe Spa Management Company

Consumers are adding spa treatments to their discipline of health conscious regimens, along with exercise and a balanced diet. In the not-so-distant past, resort spas were an added bonus for those few guests interested in soothing mind and body. What used to be considered indulgent pampering was, for the most part, limited to manicures, pedicures and facials. Now spa visits are considered a critical regimen for many who want to keep their bodies relaxed, centered and detoxified of the stressors that accumulate as a result of day-to-day living.

Today, however, the spa is often a leading driver for many guests as they make hotel/resort selections. In fact, consumers seek out a spa experience they feel they can trust for high quality and value. Hotels/resorts can expect an increase in average daily rate (ADR), average length of stay, food & beverage revenues, as well as in the sale of other amenities offered by the property, if the leadership and staff understand how to utilize the draw of the spa to its consumers.

Many in the hospitality industry have not experienced spas as profit centers. As a matter of fact, they were often a loss leader. This is because spas have unique operational needs that do not match the needs of the other traditional hotel/resort departments. We have found that, when managed closely and diligently, spas are genuine profit generators. How times have changed! The sooner that hoteliers recognize this trend and treat their spas like an important business driver, managed specifically to perform as a profit center, the quicker they will experience success.

In fact, many resorts are renovating or expanding their current spas to make them more competitive and enabling them to offer the latest state of the art treatments. Still other resorts are constructing new spas from the ground up. Resort managers are still questioning how to manage to profitability with this specialized service.

Whatever the case may be, here are some simple guidelines to help you start and stay on the right track of spa profitability:

• Consider Branding Your Spa - Like so many other "brands," we use each day, a spa brand, like Breathe Spa, indicates your commitment to a standard. Far from being cookie cutter, branding provides consistency, trust and an expected level of service throughout various destinations. While each individual spa may add local ingredients and ambience, the brand's offerings, service levels and standards permeate throughout, ensuring that patrons know what to expect and will not be disappointed. Brands also offer an additional marketing resource and may even offer services such as a nationwide reservations center. Expect other benefits, such as design and construction management and discounts on equipment, furniture and fixtures, etc., as the hotelier is building a new spa location or creating a new spa image within an existing facility.

• Property Level Leadership Support - Guarantee that the leadership team that is managing your hotel/resort location is in absolute agreement that the spa is valuable to the property's business and profitability plan. No exceptions. Without this support your spa team will not be able to succeed to the level you will require in order to facilitate the ROI you desire. With this support your spa will prove to be a strong leader of revenues.

• Revenue Generation - It is in the treatment rooms and the retail areas that your revenue is generated. Don't be too quick to commit to the expense of a 40,000 square foot spa, if you are not designing the majority of that space as treatment rooms. A ten-treatment-room, 10,000 square foot spa will generate close to the same revenues and profits as a ten-treatment-room, 6,000 square foot spa. Effective designation of resources to the training of and treatment options provided by the staff is a critical step often missed by traditional hotel/resort management teams.

• Close and Detailed Operational Controls - The Spa Director must be a strong business manager. As a member of Executive Committee of the hotel/resort he/she must have a full understanding and buy-in to the resort's business and profitability plan and understand how the spa supports this. The Spa Director also must have strong skills within the budgeting process, especially with regard to forecasting, expense controls, and threshold management. For example, a Breathe Spa Director provides a rolling 90 day forecast that is closely connected to the hotel forecast. He/she is compensated based on the accuracy of these forecasts, no different from the other members of the Executive Committee.
• Choosing a Brand - There are many things to consider when choosing a spa brand. Ask for the standards associated with the brand. If the standards the spa represents do not match the standards of your hotel, you may encounter difficulties in the relationship. For instance, if the spa brand is a 4-5 star brand, and your hotel is a 2-3 star property, you will be expected to support the needs of the spa at a 4-5 star level. This can be very upsetting to the hotel/resort leadership and set up the scenario for the spa to be considered as being treated better than the other departments. This can be managed if all parties are fully honest and aware of the differences. Include the leadership team in the spa brand decision so that everyone is working together for the same goal.

If the spa brand has not been in existence for three years or longer, make sure that the leaders of the brand company have been in the spa industry as a leader at least that period of time.

If the spa company has no representation on its leadership team specific to the hotel industry, you will want to somehow guarantee that the spa company fully understands the hotel industry. The relationship between spa and hotel is symbiotic and it is critical to establish a strong level of hotel management understanding.

Ask the spa brand company to show you the budget planning and forecasting tools that the Spa Director will be expected to fulfill. If the company cannot provide these to you it probably indicates a weakness in the financial responsibility and leadership of the brand company.

Look for a company that provides consistent and scheduled communication and feedback to your hotel leadership team. Include the local hotel leadership in the spa brand choice. It will provide a much-needed jumpstart to a successful, profitable relationship.

Remember that you are asking the spa brand company to become a part of your hotel family. Be honest and open about concerns and expectations and fully articulate these in the contract with the spa brand company.

As a former Fortune 100 executive, leadership consultant and entrepreneur, Gayle Bulls Dixon’s business acumen and wellness philosophy find an uncommon melding in the Breathe Spa concept, which she created in 2002. Already a partner in Dixon Entities, which owns and manages real estate investments including the Daufuskie Island Resort & Breathe Spa off the coast of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, Ms. Dixon was perplexed to find a lack of qualified spa management companies that satisfied her requirements for service, partnership, vision and profitability. Ms. Bulls Dixon can be contacted at 415-789-5224 or gayledixon@dixonentities.com Extended Bio...

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