Clients increasingly expect the spa at their health club to be just as good as a destination spa
How do you drive business to the spa? We have regular clients – both members and non-members – who visit us weekly and monthly for their treatments, be it waxing, facials or a massage. Many of these clients have been with us for years – we have a loyalty scheme for clients and in some sites we offer a 10 per cent discount if they book their next treatment on the spot. We also create specifi c promotions to link different
departments within Virgin Active – for example, buy a course of massage and receive a free personal training session – which we tend to manage at a local level. In one of our spas, the general manager has even created sub-teams within the club to encourage departments to work together to promote each other. We haven’t really used companies such as SpaFinder or
lastminute.com in the past, although we are considering this for the future. As these sites charge additional fees for using them, we are careful to analyse the number of packages or treatments we need to sell to make the promotion worthwhile.
What are your most popular treatments? Our most popular treatments are massage and waxing, with skincare treatments coming in a close third. We’re currently developing a range of signature treatments, which we will be launching later this year.
Which product houses do you use? We believe we work with partners who offer the best in their field of expertise: MD Formulations skincare, Australian Body Care waxing system and Jessica Nails to name but a few. We also use ESPA, Lycon wax system and St Tropez tanning. Our equipment and consumable products are supplied by Ellisons.
What percentage of spa revenue comes from members? On average, 7–10 per cent of our total membership uses HeavenV on a monthly basis, and around 70 per cent of our spa clients are members. We have special member exclusive offers that allow us to give our members preferential rates on a selection of services.
What’s the staffing model? Most of the staff are employed by HeavenV, although we do have a few massage therapists who are also personal trainers in the club. None of the freelance therapists are employed.
may 2011 © cybertrek 2011
Use of the spa facilities costs £10 for non-members – free for members – so most of the money spent is on treatments
What do you think are the key trends for health club spas? Clients love the convenience of having their beauty spa under the same roof as their health club. In the past, spas within health clubs have been seen as an add-on department – a ‘nice to have’ service – but we’re finding clients are increasingly demanding high quality treatments and are well educated. They want treatments that give them fast results and have high expectations that the spa at their health club should be just as good as destination and day spa providers and high street salons.
What do health club spas currently do well, and where could they improve? Health club spas currently offer great value for money and the range of treatments on offer is improving all the time. To improve their business, they must drive further member awareness of the treatments on offer, as well as building relationships with other departments to help with promotions. There should also be a proactive approach to external marketing to attract non-members.
healthclub@leisuremedia.com kate cracknell
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 67
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