HEALTH CLUB SPA
EMBRACING SPA W
From managing the customer experience through to packaging services in line with your broader philosophy, today’s multi-faceted spas have important lessons to teach health club operators. Liz Holmes shares her thoughts
e know that 12.6 per cent of the population are currently members of health clubs or
publicly owned fitness facilities. We also know that the number of people becoming members of a health and fitness club has increased by 4.5 per cent in the last year. (Source: The Leisure Database Company) But behind these positive fi gures, the
sad truth is that the yield per member across the fi tness industry is suffering, with low-cost operators infl ating membership numbers. So what other health, wellness and beauty services are members spending their hard- earned cash on, and how can health club operators tap into these channels to broaden their own offerings and optimise revenue? While membership yield will continue
to be a key focus for the fi tness industry, I believe the modern health club has many lessons to learn from the spa
sector in terms of driving yield. Spa businesses models of course vary – from the destination spa through to the high street beauty offering – but the thing that defi nes their success is a strong understanding and delivery of the customer experience: not only in terms of each individual customer, but also what each customer expects out of each individual visit. Historically considered the soft and
fl uffy relation of the health and fi tness club, spas are now stepping up to provide multi-faceted services that are able to secure their business success. So what can fi tness operators learn from this example?
SPA TRENDS Three years ago, the Spafinder Trend Report predicted that the spa industry would move its focus from pampering treatments to a broader spectrum of health and wellness treatments previously associated with health clubs
HEALTH CLUB SPA
and complementary health centres. This is reflected in the offering of both day and residential spas, which now include services such as nutritional consultations and inch loss programmes alongside facials and massages. Espa Life at The Corinthia in London
and Gleneagles hotel in Scotland, for example, offer full health assessments with individual wellness programmes, while day spas such as the award-winning Zen Spa in Edinburgh put lifestyle advice, based on the whole person, at the heart of client consultations. Fiona Fowley, Zen Spa’s co-founder,
explains: “While most of our treatments are about improving the appearance of skin, our clients are more aware than ever that their lifestyle plays a huge part in bringing about the changes they want. We’re training our therapists in offering detailed consultations to refl ect this, as well as linking up with other specialists such as personal trainers and nutritionists to complete the picture.”
Fitness and spa can be integrated in wellness packages
68 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital August 2013 © Cybertrek 2013
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