By Gina Kellogg

The football widow is a well-known symbol of sympathy among women during the NFL and college football seasons. (I can relate, having previously suffered as one myself before hearing the call of the grid iron and developing my own appreciation for the sport.)

But these sad spouses no longer have to wallow in their despair alone. Nowadays, they can comfort themselves with friends whose husbands spend fall and winter weekends in the woods sighting woodland creatures through their rifle scopes. Hunting season is upon us!

And while these ladies could linger at home, waiting longingly for their other halves to finally return from their campfire adventures? They're most definitely not. Instead, today's take-charge females are hitting the road to "comfort" one another with spa treatments, luxurious accommodations, fanciful cocktails and indulgent meals at resorts catering specifically toward their feminine desires.

More and more more hospitality providers have taken note of the opportunities for catering toward these ladies with special weekend getaway offerings. This week, in fact, the Grand Traverse Resort and Lodge in Acme, Mich., is offering a "Deer Widow Spa Package."

Available Nov. 5 to Dec. 30 for groups of eight or more, pricing starts at $249 per person, quad occupancy. Amenities include

• 2 nights accommodations
• $99 spa treatment (gratuity included)
• Wine tour and private transportation (gratuity and tasting fees included)
• 20 percent off shopping pass to Gallery of Shops
• $10 casino voucher to nearby Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel

These types of attractive offers have gotten me thinking...

My husband has us booked for a weekend in December at a Texas resort at which he and the men in his family will be spending hours in guided fishing trips. (Somehow, I'm the only female making the trip.) He's insisted that I'll "have fun" sitting in a boat on a windy lake in temperatures that—at best—might reach 50 degrees (if I'm lucky). But what if I, instead, "hunkered down" back at the resort? Under the hands of a talented masseuse? Dirty martini as a standing order at the bar? Chick flicks and chick lit at the ready back in our room?

The perfect ingredients for my own personal "Fishing Widow Weekend"? Ahhhh!

 

Gina Kellogg is Director of Content for RandRBizPro.com and Editor of RESORT AND RECREATION magazine. Contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

First-time guests of mountain resorts and other high-altitude properties can fall victim to sun- and windburn while climbing to new heights. Usually unfamiliar with an arid climate, common in most mountainous regions, most visitors fail to take necessary precautions to combat the thinner air at higher elevations and increased UV radiation.

Why not cater to these poor souls and drive up spa revenue by incorporating some high-altitude treatments into your menu?

Exclusive to The Estes Park Resort, Riverspointe Spa offers two massage treatments for post-climbing relief and adjustment-induced headaches. A rehydrating facial soothes skin ravaged by the wind and sun.

• Hot Poultice Massage - In one treatment, heated poultices filled with natural herbs including eucalyptus, lemongrass, rosemary, and clove are placed intermittently with the massage to relieve headaches and ease muscle tension. Known to have a powerful sedating effect on the mind and body, lavender is incorporated into nearly every aspect of the second treatment, starting with a light exfoliation. In the following massage, Soft lavender massage crème is complimented by steamed poultices filled with French lavender and sea salts.

• Deep Hydration Facial – The process starts with gentle exfoliation to remove any damaged skin. Extracts of brown algae are combined with a replenishing compound of amino acids and trace minerals in two targeted masks to restore and strengthen the skin’s natural hydration process.

Read more about The Estes Park Resort by clicking here

 

Spotlight Your Spa

Intentional spa marketing can boost revenue year-round

 

In spite of the economic downturn, demand increased for the spa industry – the majority of U.S. spas reported an increase in visits and revenue, according to the 2011 U.S. Spa Industry Study.

With potentially perilous times still ahead for the U.S. economy, managers need a survival plan.

Focusing on spa marketing can help your facility weather the storm by boosting revenue and attracting guests. Help can be found in the following tips:

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is generally an affordable option, allowing you to capture relevant customer data and maintain communications.
• In-house marketing is the most logical option, if you have the staffing and resources.
• A consultant specializing in spa marketing could also provide help and support.
• Spa management companies can take the hassles of management off your hands, including marketing.

 

Regardless of which marketing option you choose, here are some general tips for creating a successful marketing plan for your spa:

Create a cohesive strategy

Decide which markets you are going to target and what you're going to offer; some examples include spa treatments (local customers and residents), spa retail, spa days, spa breaks, spa memberships and gift vouchers, to name a few. Decide how you are going to target direct business and create a strategy for working with the third parties and voucher sites.

Keep packaging simple!

Most customers want a massage, facial, manicure or pedicure. Include hourly treatments in your packages and price them competitively.

Train your staff to sell

Spa teams should have good product knowledge of the various treatments and packages you offer so that they can sell a treatment and upsell products. If you're a resort property, create a "one stop shop" so customers can book accommodations and spa treatments at the same time.

Get to know third-party websites

While third-party websites often require a 20% commission, MyResortLife.com is a new website that generates direct bookings for members of EHospa, the organization for Exceptional Hospitality.

Use GroupOn and Living Social to fill gaps

Make sure you structure your "deals" so you'll still make a profit while bringing in new business; set a limit on the number of orders.

Build a database

Capture email addresses from all your customers and "look-in" broswers.

Make sure the spa section of your website is easy to find and well optimized

Your packages and prices should be clear to understand and book (ideally on line), although you should always display your telephone number.

Invest in the quality, lifestyle photography

Captivating imagery shows off your spa at its best, giving prospects a vision of what their experience will be. Make it a good one.

Make friends with the press

Aim to raise the profile of you spa across all media. Encourage reviews, run competitions, hold fund-raising and other events which will attract attention from the press.

Click here to read this article in R+R Magazine

Guest Feedback – It Starts With Staff

The impact of guest/staff interaction on your guests’ overall spa experience cannot be overemphasized. While beautiful facilities and delineative design features have their place in the equation, if guests do not have consistently positive interactions with the staff, the impression they take away from their experience will likely be a negative one.

Always remember that negative experiences are not easily forgotten, are often shared with ardent adamancy, and will eventually cost you business.

 

Whether in shared conversation or in online reviews, spa guests typically will comment about the facility in broad, general terms.  For example, we often hear that the spa was “beautifully designed” or “I loved the colors.”  The experience itself is often described as “relaxing” or “my skin feels wonderful,” comments which tend to be positive, short and rather vague. However, when spas receive comments pertaining to staff, guests tend to be far more specific and they tend to critique personnel (including key managers) in detail.

Fortunately, the opposite is also true.  When guests have positive staff interactions, they tend to tell their friends, and are more likely to return to the spa regularly. When you receive positive guest feedback of any kind, capitalize on it by encouraging spa patrons to tell their friends and to share their experiences on your spa’s Facebook page or website.

 

<<Read Creating Spa Success: Part 2

Customer Service – Cornerstone of Excellence in Hospitality

Given the number of customer service seminars, training manuals, scripts and programs that promise to improve customer service in the hospitality industry, it is a formidable task to choose just one that will work for you and your company. Sadly, many of us in the spa industry spend more time educating ourselves and implementing programs than the tenure of our staff members.

When guests visit our spas, they demand, expect and deserve impeccable service; spa treatment prices reflect that. Leaders in one of the most service-intense sectors of the hospitality industry know that customer service levels are as important as standards and expectations for facility operations.  Thus, customer service is the cornerstone of our business.

Guest feedback is crucial to advancing and perfecting the spa experience. Guests and other spa patrons see and often remember your spa’s areas of weakness. It’s critical to collect and evaluate guest feedback, as comments and suggestions help the Spa Director to improve and ultimately enhance customer satisfaction. Happy customers = happy revenue streams.

 

<<Read Creating Spa Success: Part 1

Read Creating Spa Success: Part 3>>

Assembling a team of professionals who excel in their position is key to the success of any spa. But the trick is finding those excellent staffing candidates. For many of our guest service positions, recruiting staff is fairly easy as we find that our current employees tend to refer their friends. This can be great, as well as challenging.

The Benefits of Employee Referrals

An employee who enjoys their job often refers others. This makes a work environment that is naturally friendly and typically a close knit team tends to work well together.

The Challenge

The challenge behind referrals is that a manager must continually monitor the situation to ensure that friends don’t become too casual and forget the job at hand: taking care of the guests.

For our reception positions, we look for candidates with the following traits:

• Strong guest service skills
• The ability to make quick decisions
• Extroversion

If a candidate has a friendly personality, and presents well, teaching them about spa is much easier than teaching about etiquette.

In management/supervisory positions, we like to ask candidates what systems or processes they have changed. This helps us determine if a candidate is able to see things from a different perspective and if they can effectively impact processes for better efficiency. Ultimately, this is what we want in our leadership.

Overall the best resource for recruiting quality staff is referrals. Share open positions with your current staff as well as other department managers and their staff. They are your best resources. Reaching out to local schools, attending their job fairs and posting on alumni websites has also proved to be successful. Most importantly, work with your current staff to keep them trained and motivated to reduce turnover.

 

The importance of reigning in the man in the mirror

The business of offering spa services continues to hold promise for aspiring hospitality developers and operators. In particular, spas have retained their popularity and consumer appeal in hotels, resorts and in luxury real estate developments throughout the world. Though the growth rate has slowed in the U.S. over the past few years, numerous opportunities continue to present themselves outside U.S. borders. At WTS International, we are in the thick of it with spa consulting, pre-opening and management services for properties in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The spa business remains roughly the fourth largest leisure industry segment in the U.S. with hotel and resort spas leading the way, followed by club and destination spas.

Today, spas are generating revenue not only from more traditional services but also from local membership fees, body and skin care products, health and wellness products, specialty retail merchandise and clothing sales. Among the various spa expenses, labor costs and how they are managed remain the key factor in any spa’s potential for financial success. This puts a significant premium on efficiencies related to the scheduling of the service provider’s time. Higher profit margins at resort spas continue to suggest that a spa that is well promoted and managed can drive top line and bottom line proceeds while impacting both hotel occupancy levels and ADR (Average Daily Rate).

The increased focus on spa development in recent years has led some owners and developers to overreach in consummating their vision regarding the size and sophistication of their spas, what delineative features they should have and how they should be designed and managed. A subtle danger lurks in “dreaming too big”, which can produce a built-in trap that can stand in the way of a spa’s ultimate financial success.

While having an achievable vision for a spa is necessary, we have seen owners and operators move forward imprudently with the thought that, “if I build it, they will come.” In other words, if the spa is developed, the market will automatically support it to a point of profitability. This is a flawed assumption in today’s extremely competitive marketplace where the options for guests and spa-goers are numerous and where perceived value (both in price and in customer service) is crucial.

Making the assumption that if an aesthetically appealing spa is built, it will generate a viable return on investment is one of the more critical mistakes that can be made. Thus, it is essential to effectively reconcile the developer’s vision to the practical realities of adding a spa to a hotel/resort, club or mixed-use real estate project. A feasibility study can go a long way in making a determination as to whether or not to proceed and, if so, how large and complex the spa should be.

Ask yourself some pertinent questions before developing a spa:

1.  Will the addition of a spa impact consumer perception and lead to a more satisfying guest experience?

2.  Can a spa attract business from the surrounding local community, and if so, to what degree?

3.  Will my spa contribute to increased guest spending and a higher yield?

4.  Could a spa positively impact the frequency of guest stays over time?

5.  Is my vision for a spa going to allow for a practical approach to design, operations and marketing of the facility, or will it impede these areas in any way?

6.  Am I best served by commissioning a needs analysis study to assist in the determination of the most appropriate size and scope for the spa prior to commencing the design process?

7.  What type of concept for the spa might be most appropriate and can it be delineative?

8.  How important is it to have a brand associated with the spa that has consumer recognition and appeal?

9.  Should I contract with a spa consultant to work with the project team?

These are but a few of the many questions that should be posed prior to beginning development of a spa that may dramatically impact your bottom line – for good or ill.

 

---

 

 

 

About The Author

Gary Henkin is President of WTS International (Rockville, Maryland), one of the world’s foremost spa and fitness facility consulting and management firms.

The Importance of Spa Design

 

A spa is qualitatively different from any other resort amenity. Although real dollars will be spent and earned by a successful spa, in the end, what is being sold to the consumer is more than a simple service – it is an “experience.” As such, design aesthetics play an all-important role in the performance of the spa and in its ultimate success. This reality has several implications for design and construction.

It is important to include an experienced spa consultant or operator in the planning process right from the beginning. Remember that a successful spa appeals to the senses first and foremost. In addition, each property will have to consider potential construction challenges, such as upper floor sites, remote locations with difficult access, or the effect of snow or tropical climates. Each property should take into account the cost differentials for union labor, availability of exotic materials, fit out costs, etc.

Key design elements include:

• Treatment rooms
• Salon services
• Locker rooms
• Fitness centers

 

An aesthetically pleasing spa that delivers a relaxing, memorable experience can attract a loyal, high-end clientele while offering the developer an opportunity to delineate the property from competitors. In addition, if a spa is staffed appropriately and is marketed and operated effectively, it should provide the owner with yet another profit center for the hotel or resort.

What does a "qualified" spa therapist look like?

It is important to first sit down and identify what key qualities you are looking for before hiring a therapist(s) as not all businesses are the same.  Are you looking for a leader? A person who you can mold or someone who has multiple certifications so they are able to provide greater coverage for your operation?

Education is of course a cornerstone but passion is also a key quality in looking for good therapists. If someone is fresh out of school and has the passion and determination to become an excellent practitioner you may want to hire them over someone who has a lot of experience but not such a great attitude and may have a sense of entitlement.

There are many great and not so great schools out there so being very thorough in your interview process is key.  With any candidate, experienced or otherwise, being very clear on what your business goals are, what the expectations are going to be and also learning what their career goals will help you learn more about them.

Some of the most desirable traits are definitely the certifications needed to perform the types of services you offer, a positive attitude is equally important, a thorough understanding about customer service, a continued desire to learn and grow, and some additional certifications in different modalities are also attractive.  If you can find therapists who have a business background or a general understanding of it, that is highly desirable as they tend to understand the “why” behind business approaches and decisions and can help communicate this to the rest of the service staff.

Ensure that they can demonstrate a team attitude, are open to constructive feedback and have an ability to be positive and available to work when needed.  You can better learn if they possess these traits by asking open ended questions during your interview.  Don’t be afraid to put a candidate on the spot to ensure they will be the right fit for your business.

The more time you spend during your interviews and hiring process, the less time you will have to spend on HR issues later and have a stronger, more productive (and happy) team!

How does one go about finding these candidates?

Word of mouth will help to bring you qualified candidates by having competitive pay, good employee support via training, recognition and quality products.

Where are the best places to look for candidates?

• Networking with local schools is a great way to find talent
• Craigslist & LeisureJobz.com of course and other industry websites are important places to post ads
• Hold a your own job fair
• Have a recruitment/rewards program for your staff

How do you find a qualified spa therapist? Start by defining "qualified".

It is important to first sit down and identify what key qualities you are looking for before hiring a therapist(s) as not all businesses are the same.  Are you looking for a leader? A person who you can mold or someone who has multiple certifications so they are able to provide greater coverage for your operation?

Education is of course a cornerstone but passion is also a key quality in looking for good therapists. If someone is fresh out of school and has the passion and determination to become an excellent practitioner you may want to hire them over someone who has a lot of experience but not such a great attitude and may have a sense of entitlement.

Word of mouth will help to bring you qualified candidates by having competitive pay, good employee support via training, recognition and quality products. Being very thorough in your interview process is key.  With any candidate, experienced or otherwise, being very clear on what your business goals are, what the expectations are going to be and also learning what their career goals will help you learn more about them.

 

Read more articles about spa management by clicking here