PULSE POINTS
BY JOSH CORMAN
CONSUMER
CONFIDENCE IN SPA
PULSE HAS RECENTLY FOCUSED ON the spa industry’s
response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it is
planning for the future. Of course, recognizing how spa
owners, managers and resource partners have dealt with
the challenges posed by the pandemic is vital for charting
the industry’s path forward. But charting that path also
requires a solid grasp of the ways in which spa-goers—
and consumers in general—plan to respond as spas
reopen and their lives return to normal.
In April of this year, ISPA conducted a survey in order to
better understand those plans, and the results provide
several notable insights into consumers’ thinking. For
example, more than a quarter (29 percent) of respondents
cited “investing in self-care, i.e. visiting a spa or going to
the gym” as one of their top three priorities following the
COVID-19 crisis. Perhaps even more heartening for the
industry are the expectations consumers have for their
own spending during spa visits. More than 80 percent of
all respondents said they planned to spend as much or
more money on spas following the end of the pandemic,
while nearly 85 percent said they would spend as much or
more on beauty products, suggesting a strong appetite for
spa services and retail offerings in the weeks and months
following spas’ reopening.
High demand is great news for spas and resource
partners alike, but throughout the coronavirus crisis,
uncertainty about when and under what conditions
consumers would feel safe returning to their old habits
has persisted. On that front, results are more mixed. When
asked how nervous they would be about visiting a spa
once the coronavirus situation has improved and businesses
reopen, only 28 percent of respondents said they
22 PULSE ■ JUNE 2020