OPINION T
here are certainly mo r e o v er - built spas than effective builds,
DAN SHACKLETON-JONES
especially in resorts and hotels where they know cus- tomers have the means to pay for that experience and luxury space. T is is changing though, as overbuilt spas
President/partner Niki Bryan Inc
become a burden on the books. Over the past year, we’ve seen resorts/hotels question- ing the cost of support and upkeep of a spa, or even the need for one going forward. I’m not convinced that larger treatment
rooms command more money – while the novelty of something grandiose may work in the short-term, it’s not a sustainable approach. And imagine telling your guest that, that was the reason why you’re charging more: I doubt it would win them over. In my experience, you can only charge
more money if you offer an exceptional, exclusive or tailored experience. Yet as the majority of what the guest considers the paid- for experience happens in treatment rooms,
if you miss the mark on sizing you stand to miss the mark on aligning with the guest expectation. Brands are commonly articu- lated through a series of expressions and it’s this environment that defi nes the experience and its delivery. Too small is the room that will not enable you to do this. But too big is the room you cannot pay for.
Space has an operating cost and a need to capture revenue to off set this. Do you want a massage room 24 x 24ſt (7 x 7m) averaging us$130 per services hour or two rooms 12 x 12ſt (3.5 x 3.5m) averaging us$260 an hour total? T e cost of the space is almost the same, yet the limit on revenue can be very diff erent for the oversized room. Over 28 years, I’ve found that 12 x 12ſt is ideal for profi tability and our guest brand
Over the past year, we’ve seen resorts/hotels questioning the cost of support and upkeep of a spa, or even the need for one going forward
big bug bear A
of mine is that owner s and operators are
being ill-advised by con- sultants – typically ex spa directors who’ve set up on their own – who have no idea how to design a spa. I’ve picked up at least eight projects recently where the design is a complete mess for this reason. As an industry, we should have some kind of governing body for this. Do I think spas are being overbuilt and
SUSAN HARMSWORTH Founder and CEO, ESPA International
aren’t seeing a good return on investment? Yes is the short answer. But it depends entirely on how the owners are looking at yield – is the spa a complete standalone facility, or is it sharing expenses with the hotel? Do they take into account that the spa can boost hotel revenues at off peak times and out of high season? If not, spas proba- bly won’t achieve the fi gures they want and we’ll be going back to spas with just treat- ment and changing rooms. Do I think spas have too many treat-
ment rooms? T at’s very diffi cult to answer, because I can give examples of where we
might have included too many. On several occasions, clients have requested big spas to cope with group business (sometimes rent- ing out the whole hotel) to boost numbers in the off -peak season – in one case a cli- ent wanted 20 treatment rooms to cope with group business but was prepared to run only 12-14 for the rest of the time. Also, if spas are going to boost occupancy by 20 per cent at the weekend, then they might be able to jus- tify having rooms empty in the week. I’d say that a good size for a single treat-
ment room for massage would be 14-16sq m (151-172sq ſt ), although that is on the lux- ury level because we build in storage for all equipment, products and linen. Anything bigger than that, then the client won’t be comfortable, you’ll be looking at high energy costs and you’ll also need to increase the revenue generated.
28 Read Spa Business online
spabusiness.com / digital
OVERBUILDING
experience in mainstream body and skin services. It’s functional, provides stor- age, has enough room for therapist movement and is intimate enough to make the guest feel comfortable.
What makes it profi table is the ability to consistently book and charge an appropri- ate service rate that will pay for all operating costs associated with the space while pro- tecting the guest experience and ensuring a strong margin. T ere are multiple formulas with varia-
tions on calculating the appropriate number of treatment rooms. And these depend on guest occupancy, average length of stay, number of bedrooms and capture rate. I’d suggest looking at existing properties in the immediate market that provide KPIs for you to consider. And above all, know your guest demographic and what services they demand. T at way you won’t get drawn into off ering fad treatments or services that have little or no demand from your customers.
Approaching 30 years in business, Niki Bryan is a leading US spa consultancy and manage- ment company which has a number of clients, including Disney. Details:
www.relaxedyet.com.
As 60 per cent of our
business globally is mas- sage, we’ve started to reduce the number of multi-func- tional treatment rooms we include due to energy costs and space. Also as the stand-
ard of therapists has decreased, we’ve found they’re no longer able to perform treatments and that they specialise in just one or two services such as massage or facials, or per- sonal grooming/beauty. It’s really important to design a spa with the treatment menu in mind at the start, but you do also need to think about the availability of practitioners. If you can’t fi nd suitably-trained staff for those treat- ments in the region, for example, then that will impact on design too. For operators who already have too many
treatment rooms, they could consider rent- ing some out to high-end specialists – this has worked well for us in the past.
Spa management and skincare company ESPA was founded by Harmsworth over 35 years ago. It has a portfolio of 250-plus spas in 55 coun- tries. Details
www.espaonline.com
SPA BUSINESS 2 2012 ©Cybertrek 2012
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