voices
ISPA Master Vendor Training Sessions :
voices
ISPA Master Vendor Training Sessions :
A Win-Win Opportunity for Spas and Resource Partners
BY FRANK PITSIKALIS
FRANK PITSIKALIS is founder and CEO of ResortSuite , a guest-focused hospitality management system . He has over 20 years of experience in hospitality and has worked at top international consulting firms such as Ernst & Young . He also devotes time serving on the executive committee of the board of ISPA and is part board member of the Leading Spas of Canada .
He was a contributing author of ISPA ’ s resource tools including the Retail Management for Spas , SPA : A Comprehensive Introduction and the latest Financial Management for Spas . He can be reached at frank @ resortsuite . com .
As soon as the ISPA Board came up with the idea to offer Master Vendor Training Sessions at the 2011 ISPA Conference & Expo in Las Vegas , I immediately thought — we are definitely taking advantage of that ! As early as then , I knew it was going to be a win-win opportunity by providing our spa clients with free education , a forum to share experiences with their peers , an opportunity to preview our latest innovations and provide input on future product direction .
Looking back at the investment we ’ ve made , I have to say that it was a great business decision . Although my company , ResortSuite , was already a Platinum Sponsor of this year ’ s Conference , and as always have had a tremendous return on investment , the bang for the buck we received from the Master Vendor Training Session was simply outstanding .
WIN FOR RESOURCE PARTNERS The Master Vendor Training Session , first offered at Conference this year , was conceived as an opportunity where Resource Partners could secure a meeting space on the Sunday prior to the start of Conference where they could hold product previews , training sessions or demonstrations either open to all attendees or by invitation only ( i . e . with their customers or partners ). ISPA ’ s role was to help coordinate the logistics like space , audio visual or food and beverage from Mandalay Bay which made our work easier and gave us the chance to truly focus on more important details , like the content of our training .
48 PULSE ■ January / February 2012