Pulse March 2020 | Page 31

“We make sure to program all of our promotions in our booking system to track results. It’s able to give us all the data we need.” — CECILIA HERCIK, Director of Spa and Wellness, Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at Historic Ka’upulehu – Hualalai Spa spa director to set aside daily operations, emails and other responsibilities to take the time to build a solid marketing plan—especially because any good plan starts with robust analysis. At Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at Historic Ka’upulehu – Hualalai Spa, Director of Spa and Wellness Cecilia Hercik emphasizes the role of historical data analysis on their yearly strategy as a whole, not just their marketing plan. Hercik begins by performing a SWOT (Strengths, Weak- nesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis on her spa, then pulls three years of data on the spa’s key performance in- dicators. From there, she’ll decide what areas most need the help of her marketing dollars. “Our spa facility is exclusive to hotel guests and members,” says Hercik, “making it a little harder to pro- mote our services.” Because of this, Hercik’s spa develops its marketing plan around enticing hotel guests to visit the spa. Additionally, she and her team generate innovative ideas, particularly for promotions, by consulting industry research and trend reports, then brainstorming together. Once the analysis and brainstorming is complete, Her- cik ensures that her spa will be able to track the success of any marketing initiative. “We make sure to program all of our promotions in our booking system to track results,” notes Hercik. “It’s able to give us all the data we need.” Furthermore, her marketing plan is laid out in a simple, roadmap-type format; this makes it easy for staff, spa leadership and hotel leadership to follow its logic. Tracy Harper, director of spa & wellness at The Spa at Sun Valley, agrees with the importance of keeping the plan simple: a good plan is not necessarily a complex one. When assembling her spa’s marketing plan for 2020, Harper “made MARCH 2020 ■ PULSE 27