RESORT SPA
coming on day spa packages costing chf250 (us$273, €208, £169) Monday through Friday and chf380 (us$416, €316, £257) Saturday to Sunday. Only day guests on packages, rather than those booking a one-off treat- ment, have access to the spa facilities to avoid over-crowding. At 30-35 per cent, the capture rate is high:
although that number includes guest just using the facilities as well as having treat- ments. Hess says: “The key to attracting guests is having a large variety of treatments and rituals. Also the hotel’s main reservation department is good at upselling.” A graduate from the Lucerne Hotel School,
Hess joined the Dolder Grand two months aſt er its reopening in 2008 and says one of the biggest learning curves for him was understanding how his team of 25 thera- pists approach the guests. “My background is in food and beverage and that’s a lot faster paced – the waiters and kitchen staff spend only a minimal time with customers. It’s dif- ferent in a spa, the approach has to be soſt er. But what makes it the most challenging is knowing if the therapists execute the treat- ments to our [high] standards or just do them their own way. We’re constantly ask- ing for guest feedback to check.” T ere’s also a strong in-house therapist
training programme – with quarterly evalu- ations carried out by the treatment manager and assistant treatment manager.
Key performance indicators T e spa is viewed as an independent profi t centre at Dolder Grand and the goal is for it to contribute 20 per cent of total revenues. For Hess, one of the most important benchmarks is the average revenue per treat- ment which sits at chf190 (us$208, €158, £128) as well as the retail/treatment reve- nue split which at 25-30 per cent for retail is at the top end of industry per- formance. “We treat retail as another part of the service we off er guests, therapists hand- write recommendations aſt er the treatment and provide extra consultation if necessary. T ey get between 5-15 per cent commission, but we also have standard training in sales, plus tuition from the product houses four times a year.”
■ Spa director Jann Hess oversees 60 staff including 25 therapists
62 AMALA SKINCARE
he Amala skincare line was introduced to the Dolder Grand Spa in November 2011. Its products are certifi ed 100
per cent natural and 70-95 per cent organic by Natrue – which requires at least 75 per cent of products in a range to be organic and natural before granting its seal of approval. T e spa off ers three Amala treatments,
including a signature Nature’s Organic Sea- sonal Facial which is adapted every three months to incorporate ingredients from Dolder Grand’s garden. Used by top spas such as Rancho La
Puerta, Mandarin Oriental and Six Senses spas, Amala is the premium product line of Germany’s Primavera – a masstige skin- care company. Founder Ute Leube has been working with natural ingredients for over 25 years, during which time she’s established
Aſt er four years, Schmid is happy with the with how the spa’s performing. “At the begin- ning we thought 18 treatment rooms might have been too much, but now there are some weekends when we’re fully booked. Also, it’s taken us this time to train enough ther- apists in our high quality treatments to reach this capacity – and over four years we’ve also built up a pool of therapists who we can call on an ad-hoc basis to cope with those big days.”
The simple things
With the resort and spa still relatively new, Schmid says there are no developments in the pipeline. The big- gest challenge he sees, however, is maintaining quality of service. He says: “It’s easy to change design and keep the physical
■ Amala is certifi ed natural and organic (top); founder Ute Leube and advisory board member Mark Wuttke (above)
relationships with 19 fair trade, sustainable, organic farms worldwide. Her philosophy is that the very best natural ingredients can be just as eff ective as high-grade synthetics. Outside of German speaking countries,
the range is overseen by advisory board member Mark Wuttke – a champion of sus- tainable luxury who’s worked with natural medicines for more than 15 years for com- panies such as Jurlique.
off er fresh, so the focus has to be on qual- ity and it’s my role to guide people to make sure they notice the simple things that mat- ter.” An independent hotel, Dolder Grand has a team of four people solely focused on standards and training – “this is quite amaz- ing as we’re not a large chain,” Schmid adds.
“And it really is about noticing every detail – being specifi c about the attitude of staff , teaching them how they could do something better or in a diff erent way.” It’s perhaps not surprising then that
Schmid is driven by people – both guests and staff – and understanding their diff erent needs. For Hess, the motivation is “seeing the spa grow – it’s fantastic to see what’s happened over the last four years and I’m excited about the future.” ● SWISS operates 35 daily fl ights from the
UK to Switzerland and worldwide. Fares start at £89 return, including taxes. Details: +44 (0)845 601 0956,
www.swiss.com/uk.
SPA BUSINESS 2 2012 ©Cybertrek 2012
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