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How to unleash the profit potential of your spa. Some international operators speak up
Long, long ago, during a time few can remember, hotel spas functioned as a token add-on, attracting few guests and offering hastily-devised beauty treatments. Since then, the hotel spa has developed into a magnet for guests seeking luxury and wellness treatments, and has become a profit centre in its own right.
DESIGN
Many industry experts, however, admit that hoteliers still limit the profit potential of their spa well before they open for business. It may seem obvious, says managing director of spa engineering company Barr+Wray Peter Rietveld, that a hotel spa should have a clear idea of the treatments it plans to offer when it is still in the concept stage. “If you design a restaurant,” he explains, “you have to know what kind of food you’re serving, because if you have Japanese décor and serve Mexican food, it’s going to be a mess.
“Because certain treatments require technical specifications, spas which formulate their treatment menu after construction has been completed often cut themselves off from the revenues different treatments can bring.
Managing director of spa consultants Raison D’Etre Monica Risenius agrees that an incomplete spa concept will have a direct impact on profitability. “You need to be very clear about where you’re going and what you want to deliver. That’s the only way to be sustainable, because once you know that, you can work at marketing and really satisfying your guests.”
In favouring design over functionality, albeit inadvertently, many hotel spas only pay attention to the operational flow of the spa after it has opened. “It’s what happens when people design things they don’t know about,” says Rietveld, giving the example of steam rooms. “People need to think about how quickly they’re going to turn the room around, because if they need half an hour to clean it, they’re going to lose a huge amount of money in the long term.
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“Do they know what they want to do with the steam generator? Do they know what kind of water quality they need to get it working? They know what they want to do, but they don’t know how to do it and how to get there.”
Risenius adds that many hotels should engage spa professionals much earlier than they do. “It’s still very common for the developer to realise at a late stage that he needs a spa consultant. Sometimes the physical foundations on the site are already done, and then we have to work around that,” she says.
OPERATIONAL FLOW
“We’ve experienced this so many times — the concept of the spa will not be complete, which will really impact on the operational flow, affecting the guest experience, the spa team, and, in the end, profitability.”
Despite grand ambitions and even grander investments, there remain many cases where spas have been completed on a ‘build now, think later’ basis, says operations manager of turnkey spa solutions and management company Finex Spas Norma Nasr.
“If architects have never been to a spa, if they’ve never experienced it, they can’t imagine how the operational flow should go.
“I’ve seen spas where the changing area is next to the reception, so that guests have to go past reception in their robes and slippers to get to the treatment room. You also see the relaxation area next to the changing area or reception, so guests have to sit there and listen to the phone going all the time, which doesn’t give any kind of relaxing ambience.
“If you don’t complete the whole experience of the spa,” she continues, “you’re going to lose it, even before its starts.”
The perfect scenario, adds Risenius, is to “do the background and research and create a pre-concept and design before the architects start, because that’s how everything can be tied together.”
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Given the increased competition between operators in the region, hotel spas must go out of their way to make sure their facilities stand out from their competitors’.
Conventional designs and treatments will do little to persuade guests spoilt for spa choice, says spa manager of Al Maha Desert Resort and Spa Claudia Pitsch. “A comfortable design, rather than one that’s just new and posh, really makes a difference. If you have 55 spas all being designed in the same way, there will be no attraction for the guest.”
Hotel operators, continues Rietveld, should thoroughly assess their competition before starting the design on their own spa.
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