More Thoughts on the Spa (Skilled) Labor Shortage

By Susie Ellis, SpaFinder Insider

In my last blog entry day I quoted Jacqueline Le Sueur, Managing Director of Creative Health & Training as saying, “Our industry does NOT have a labor shortage. What we have is a shortage of spas willing to invest in training.” In essence we have a skilled labor shortage.

Someone must have forwarded my blog to Jacqueline right after posting because I heard from her right away. I subsequently asked her to share additional insights in the "comment" section of that blog. It's worth a read.

It has always amazed me that spas spend tens of millions of dollars to build gorgeous facilities, and then when it comes to training staff, there is either minimal or no budget. This really does not make a lot of sense since we know that customers rate their spa experience - not so much on the facility - but on the therapist!

Fortunately, there are now quite a few training programs for spa personnel around the world. We just need more people to be trained as therapists, aestheticians, spa managers, etc.

Remember the spectacular opening ceremonies of this year’s Summer Olympics in China where they had 2,000 people performing in unison on ancient drums? It is a good example of not waiting to find skilled performers, but rather hiring 2,000 people and training them to perform - perfectly!

Of course training costs money. Since our industry is not an exceedingly lucrative one (that's another part of the challenge) and relies heavily on some of the perks (like great environment and personal well-being), it is unrealistic to expect staff to share all of the burden. Spas have to invest.

I hear that many hospitality management graduates of famous schools such as Cornell and the Lausanne Hotel Schools don't end up in hospitality management. Why? They are finding jobs in other areas such as finance or banking where they can make more money.

Here is a suggestion...instead of spending, for example, $10 million to build a spa....how about spending $9 million and investing the rest in getting the most talented staff possible for many years to come? No one will miss all that marble, art, or razzle/dazzle tiling.

As Rachel Caldwell, long-time manager of Golden Door in California once said in answer to the question, "What if I train my staff and they leave?" She answered, "What if you don't train them and they stay?"

Bingo.

**
If you wish to be put on a list that automatically sends my blog posts to your email, just let dulcy.gregory@spafinder.com know and she will add you to that list. Thanks so much!

Spa Management Students at the Global Spa Summit - Spa Intensive versus Spa 101

by Susie Ellis

Of all the exciting things I get to work on in preparation for the Global Spa Summit (sometimes I refer to it as Spa Davos - à la World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland) one of my favorites is the plan for 10 lucky spa management students who will be joining us this year.

• Four students from Cornell University's School of Hospitality Administration
• Four students from Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne
• Two from the UCIrvine's Extention Spa and Hospitality Management Program

They will be "Scribes" for the Global Spa Summit sessions. That means they take notes which we later put into a White Paper Presentation. They will also get to meet and mingle with all of the 200 delegates from around the world. And since our industry has a labor shortage due to its rapid expansion, they will also, no doubt, receive a smattering of job offers.

It reminds me of the days I was a student....such an exciting time of promise, looking to the future, having the sense you will one day get a chance to change the world.

My sister, Katrine (she is in graduate school getting her Master's in English Literature), often says..."in school you move 'pretend molecules' and once you are out, you get to move 'real molecules'." It is her way of comparing the difference between reading fiction and discussing case studies at school versus getting out into the world and creating your own stories.

I feel lucky to be moving some real molecules nowadays.

**

If you wish to be put on a list that automatically sends my blog posts to your email, just let dulcy.gregory@spafinder.com know and she will add you to that list. Thanks so much!

Are Spas a Necessary Evil? Impressions of the Monaco Spa Event
By Susie Ellis

Just returned from the Monaco Spa Event. With such a
jam-packed schedule of symposium sessions, meetings and exhibits to see, there was little time for plugging in and writing on my blog. The hotel’s charge of 20 euros ($30.00) for connecting to the Internet each day didn’t help either.

But I am back and happily thinking through some of the highlights. I will elaborate more in the next few posts, but here are a few things that stood out:

• The Director of the Lausanne Hotel School in Switzerland ended his remarks with “Spas are a necessary evil.” YIKES

• Jacques-Olivier Chauvin, CEO of Relais & Chateaux, has a keen understanding of the value of connection in hospitality. I was extremely impressed with his insights.

• The Monaco Spa Event really shone in the arena of spa architecture and design. My feeling is that this could be the foundation of its future.

• The Group Director of the Tschuggen Grand Bergoase in Switzerland (famous for its sail-like features which we featured on the cover of one of our Luxury SpaFinder Magazines) told the story of how that came to be and showed the photo which inspired it all.
  

• A 600 calorie meal prepared by a star spa chef, in an elegant setting such as the L'Hermitage Hotel, can be quite impressive.

• Rasmus Gaupp-Berghausen, Director of the European Research Center Hado Life Europe, in Liechtenstein gave a talk on water (with mixed reviews) yet struck a chord with me, when he suggested that the quality of a spa should be judged by the quality of its water. He also convinced me to drink local water wherever I am.

• Our magazine editor, Gary Walther, gave a presentation on spa architecture around the world - it was a visual feast of “wow’s” and made me proud to be part of the international spa industry.

• Energy medicine was a hot topic.
  

• The medical side of spas in Europe is beginning to soften its strict doctor-knows-best approach. Who would have thought that a European doctor would talk about “transformation” and refer to people suffering from heart disease as “broken hearted?”

***

if you wish to be put on a list that automatically sends my blog posts to your email, just let dulcy.gregory@spafinder.com know and she will add you to that list. Thanks so much!

Had an interesting conversation this evening with Emanuel Berger, managing director for the Victoria-Jungfrau Collection. Several of his properties - all in Switzerland - have outstanding spas. I asked Mr. Berger which hospitality school in the world he would rate number one. He said that he still feels Lausanne Hotel School is best - and confessed to being a bit prejudiced because he is on the school's advisory board.

I did think it interesting to hear him compare Lausanne with Cornell (the school he considers number two). He feels that the emphasis at Cornell is on numbers - marketing, profitability, revenue management, etc. - and that the Swiss school stresses the art of service and management. He did also say that a spa management course is very much needed. At the moment there isn't anything spa-related at the Lausanne Hotel School. I know that Cornell has had a spa course taught by Dr. Mary Tabacchi for quite some time. Both schools, in my opinion, could use more spa management training programs. We need that expertise in our industry.