Spas Doing it Right
When you look closer at best practices among spas worldwide,
there’s a clear shift toward “everyday wellness.” Embracing this
shift is not only the right direction to steer your training
program and spa or salon menu, but it can also prove to be a
profitable strategy.
On the grand scale of things, Mia Kyricos, president and
CEO of Kyricos & Associates, LLC and chair of the Wellness
Communities Initiative for the Global Wellness Summit,
highlights in her 2015 white paper, that wellness evidencebased modalities can add up to 25 percent premium to hotel
average daily rates.
Ingo Schweder, CEO and founder of GOCO Hospitality, also
sees a favorable impact on retirement, living and wellness
communities. In 2016, the number of visitors at Glen Ivy Hot
Springs has increased from 160,000 to 168,000 (year over
year). This was achieved through offering healthier cuisine
options using the produce of their next-door organic farm and
developing new wellness activities, like daily yoga, painting
classes, cooking classes, nutrition counseling, water aerobics,
among many others.
Anna Bjurstam, Six Senses Spas & Resorts vice president
spas & wellness, rolled out in 2015 an Integrative Wellness
Program in more than 40 of the resort’s properties. A
wellness screening analyzes key areas of health, including
body composition, metabolism, oxygen distribution, heart
function and circulation. This process is followed by an indepth discussion on the guest’s lifestyle, concerns and
personal goals, allowing wellness experts to customize a
program and achieve optimal results. Guests receives a
personalized schedule, including one spa treatment and a
wellness activity per day, nutritional advice as well as
constant guidance from a Six Senses wellness expert. To date,
more than a thousand screenings have been conducted,
generating US$500,000 revenue from additional treatments
and activities, with longer stays and increased repeat visits.
Dawn Tardif, owner of BodiScience Wellness Center & Spa
located in Massachussets, acknowledges that a lifestyle consultation is a revenue amplifier. The frequency of guest visits
jumped from 5.22 to 7.87 percent per year, with an average
Customize wellness programs in order to help guests achieve optimal results.
service dollars increasing from US$164 to US$170. Individual
productivity of each employee has significantly improved along
with the increase in guest visits to the spa. According to Tardif,
remarkable improvements were also noted in a decrease in sick
days, time-off requests and tardiness. Employees received
monetary bonuses as they improve their individual performance
goals, and increase their average ticket service sales and average
retail sales.
What best practices do you have in place to elevate your
own spa’s wellness programs? It is time we show our guests
the path to a healthy lifestyle. After all, there is no mission
more noble than rekindling the inner light of people around us,
and encouraging them to live a richer and more vibrant life. n
MISSED THE 2016 CONFERENCE & EXPO?
Click here purchase the Professional Development Sessions (PDS)
Recordings which features the educational talk of Gabriac and
many other well-respected experts.
JEAN-GUY DE GABRIAC is founder and CEO of TIP TOUCH, spa/wellness advisor servicing hotels, cosmetic brands and
spas. He specializes in Smart Spa Marketing and designs award-winning signature wellness treatments as well as
provides training in the “How of WOW!”
He se