The Spa Brandwagon
What a stark difference I noticed between two spas I visited recently. Before I tell you which two they were, here is some of what I experienced:
Spa #1: Peter and I walk up to the front desk in a lovely reception area that had amazing views. There were four women working behind the reception desk. We were the only guests there at the time. All receptionists seemed quite busy – looking into their computer screens, etc. One looked up and asked if she could help us. We introduced ourselves, saying we were from SpaFinder, and asked if we might be able to see the spa and perhaps meet the spa manager.
While waiting for the manager we perused the retail product displays in the reception area. There was a huge variety of product brands – at least six. No one came over to help us.
10 minutes went by and eventually I asked for a spa menu. All the girls at the front desk were friendly. I inquired as to who had been here the longest (knowing the spa had been opened about a year ago). To my surprise I learned that only one had been here two months and all the others only one month!
10 more minutes went by. Peter and I decided that we would do a bit of exploring ourselves. We walked toward the pool area where there were towels on the floor all in a row – probably a place where people tend to slip. We noticed the lovely view as we were on a top floor of a high rise, the attractive tiling and a few people by the pool reading.
More time went by. On our way back to the front desk we ran into someone carrying what looked like a staff schedule sheet or retail order form and thought perhaps this was the spa manager. Indeed it was. We introduced ourselves and she walked with us back to the front desk, while answering a few more of my questions, then informed us she was sorry she couldn’t show us anything else because of the privacy of the guests. Visit over.
Spa#2: This spa was brand new, opened perhaps only a couple of weeks. I entered the reception area which was small but brightly lit and was immediately greeted by a very polished woman who seemed to be standing there for the expressed purpose of greeting people. There were two other women behind the reception desk standing tall smiling at guests coming in and another staff member at the retail display explaining a product to a guest. Everyone was smartly dressed with beautiful makeup and hair attractively groomed. I introduced myself and there was an immediate effort made to get in touch with the spa manager who showed up within minutes. The reception area was filled with retail products on display – only two product lines, both were the spa’s own brand.
I was given a spa brochure and made to feel very welcome by each staff member. The manager took me on a tour where I had a chance to see some treatment rooms and some of their unique offerings such as a hammam and thermal suite. Of particular interest to me was the fact that they had a medical doctor on staff that was available to give Botox and filler injections and it appeared as if he was already quite busy. The manager gave me her business card and encouraged me to get in touch if I should have any more questions.
Since those visits – just a week apart, I have thought often about the subtle yet telling differences between the two spas. One seemed like they were “trying to get their act together,” and the other seemed like a “well-oiled machine.” The first spa I described was the Immersion Spa at the Water Club in Atlantic City which I understand is run by the hotel itself. The second spa was the Silver Spirit Spa aboard the Silversea’s new Silver Spirit cruise ship – it is a spa run by powerhouse Steiner Leisure that manages 150 other spas on cruise ships as well as other spa brands including Mandara, Elemis and now Bliss.
Now I know it isn’t fair to judge either of these spas on just one walk-around experience – everyone can have a bad day or a good day for that matter. However my more positive experience in the branded spa jives with my recent experience with another spa brand – ESPA. Having had spa treatments at many ESPA’s around the world now, I can honestly say I have always had superb treatments. That kind of consistency is pretty astonishing for a management company that has spas in over 50 different countries!
Could it be that branded spas managed by one company in general are better managed? More consumer friendly? Have better service? Make a better first impression? Are more profitable? I don’t have a definitive answer; however I am beginning to feel that branded spas seem to be pulling ahead of non branded spas in some significant ways.
The reason?
One answer might be time. When the spa industry was just beginning to explode a couple of decades ago there wasn’t that much difference between how an individual spa was run and how a group of spas that were managed by a management company was run. Everyone was pretty new at the game.
But now that has changed. There has been time to work out bugs. Time to try out new ideas. Time to figure out how many retail product brands to sell (fewer is usually better). Time to set up good training programs. Time to market the brand. Time to listen to consumer feedback. Time to make mistakes. Time to listen to consultants. Time to benchmark against others. Time to figure out profitability. In other words, time to get good – really good – at the spa game.
This seems to hold true for brands that either have critical mass or have been around a long time. ESPA, Mandara, Elemis, Mandarin Oriental, Shangri La, Canyon Ranch, Banyan Tree, Red Door, Champneys and others – even including the new 600 strong discount chain Massage Envy – are enjoying economies of scale and showing expertise in brand management for their target market. Places like Rancho La Puerta, Miraval, Golden Door, Cal-a-Vie, Lanserhof, and Chiva Som, have been successful as single locations yet have expertise because of the length of their existence and, in most cases, longevity of ownership and/or management.
I am seeing the brand advantage in our business as well. SpaFinder has been around for 25 years – our name is well known, we have learned a great deal about the spa consumer, we really understand the gift card business, we know how to attract and service consumers online, and our name attracts readers because we have a history of writing about spas and know what we are talking about. Strong branding has its advantages.
So what does this all mean for the future in our industry? Well, I hope there will always be room for individual operators and newcomers – especially those with unique concepts and superb services that catch the consumer’s imagination like Yelo, the napping spa or Barefoot and Pregnant, the maternity spa – both showing great promise. However I think it also means that the challenge of competing successfully against the advantages of a strong brand is going to increase.
While at many spa conferences in the past the question of brand versus non-brand has been debated, I think the debate may be over.
Fasten your seat belts….it may be time to get on the spa brandwagon.
My twitter address: @susieellis
Hmmm how funny I have had a similar experiences to both of your visits. On the case of the “unresponsive one” which you, by the way mentioned in your 2010 Spa Report, never bothered to return my phone calls or e-mails! The other which i have since ‘awarded’ a Five Hot Stone Review was just the opposite. Interesting!
Yes i concur on your E’SPA assessment. We need an E’SPA property here in Dallas!
Keep up the good work!
@MarktheSpaman
Dallas, TX
Hi Susie,
A unified industry of ‘branded spas’ ? Isn’t this the antithesis of what the Global Spa Summit found?
Your blog from GSS stated how important it is for spas to distinguish themselves and not to be all the same.
Yes, of course, customer service is a key to success but stating that the branding debate is over?
I think the discussion should focus on spas that have created great systems that deliver an outstanding guest experience from the initial call for a spa reservation to spa treatment to check out to the guest follow up.
Do you think your closing statement about branding may hurt the unique and wonderful single day spas who do a very good job with customer service systems and offer a unique and wonderful guest experience?
Hi Alison,
Thank you for your comments. You bring up some excellent points. As you mentioned there was a great deal of discussion – and agreement – at the Global Spa Summit that our industry would be well served to strive for more diversity and uniqueness and not fall into the ‘copy-cat’ mode. Both this year’s keynote speaker, Edie Weiner, and in a past year, Ian Schrager, made that point. I shouldn’t have given the impression that the spa brandwagon is necessarily the best way forward – I meant to say that it is the more likely way forward unless we become much more creative and successful in satisfying the consumer in individual operations. There are truly many wonderful day spas out there (as well as hotel spas for that matter) who offer excellent service and a unique guest experience. Perhaps we can challenge ourselves as an industry to be as creative and innovative as possible and help support individual operations that will help keep the debate alive.
So I believe what Susie meant here (I was with her..husband Pete) is that here is a very upscale hotel property with a nice spa facility and it was obvious the customers coming to the spa knew more than the staff. Many properties have management at the GM level that think the spa is a necessary evil. It helps drive room night sales for bookings but when a customer gets to the hotel then the chase is over for management, they won, you booked a night. We recently talked to a day spa chain that is doing very well, they hire business people to run the spas. However, those business people know that customer service brings them back and so there is a lot of training involved. In the case of this hotel spa, the manager came from F and B and it seemed like she would rather be F and B’ing it. Spa didn’t seem like a job she wanted. Spa staff have to love and know what they are doing as this industry is a nurturing industry. I started to ask qustions about the different product lines they sold…not one of the staff knew a thing about the products offered for sale. I did end up buying about $85 worth of product because I never heard of the brands and wanted to test them out. How do you sell product or spa services unless you understand the benefit they offer? Thus the branded names work that angle in hiring, training and executing. When you are in the spa business with the mindset to get the customer to the hotel, then you are in the hotel business. Thus the divide. I know there are excellent hotels who run their own operations in a terrific manner, they are too few unfortunately and thus this blog post. I love orginality—THAT WORKS!
The advantage that franchise spas have over independent ones is in a management process, spa design, and treatment offering/approach that has been proven to work at least somewhere. Unfortunately, a hotel spa is only as good as the hotel management is and may be an afterthought for them. A well-managed independent spa can respond nimbly and creatively in ways that franchised spas can’t. However, management expenses may be a larger proportion due to scale.
Dear Susie,
I was a Regional Spa Director for the Marriott for 6 years, but owned bya franchise company. While we enjoyed many of the perks of the “Marriott brand” when itcame right down to it, the owners of my company picked and chose what elements (especially when it came to SPA, because that was not the companies focus) they wanted to implement. I felt the frusteration many times when orders were blindly handed down from management to make changes in a department they did not even want to visit!! What I do believe is that even if your brand is in limbo, your customer service should not suffer. That is a direct result from specific spa management, or lack of spa management. My spa was the #1 spa in Marriott for 2 years running, even though we had to fight to be respected in our hotel, get proper web exposure, (I don’t think I even understood the word “brand” back then… I just had and still have a passion for wellness and customer service).
The work I am doing in the industry now, I believe establishing your brand – whether you are big, small, corporate or independant is more important than ever. But, how well you committ to your brand will determine the level of success you are able to achieve.
Thanks for your great insights! I love your blog! I actually just wrote a post about the “Forgotten Spa” for Skin 2 Skin Care’s blog, Beauty at Any Age is Beauty – http://www.beautyatanyageisbeauty.com/?p=692
Peace
Jessica
Very interesting Susie, as a Spa company founded in 1981 to serve the Resorts need for Spa, I would suggest that the
argument for me lies within the development of the Spa company’s roots. Was it brand driven of service driven? which came
first the brand or the service integrity.
What stands out about the list above of notable Spa groups is the majority of them from my knowledge
focused on service and the product delivery before they reached the point of a known Brand or really marketed them selves
as a brand. Spas managed by one company are great providing that company is led by a passion
for the Spa service and not the need to have one because everyone else does, or a focus on Brand as the priority. Our
positions is we are about the guest and client (Resort Brand) first, no brand is sustainable if you can’t provide the service and
product delivery consistently. Better service will be the result of this type of company culture after all it starts at front desk or
reservations, as you so clearly point out.
Guests are quicker than ever to pass on their negative experiences through the www and social spaces about poor service
regardless of Brand or not. form a Resort Spa setting it’s either a poor reflection on your client Brand (resort brand) or poor
reflections on your individual Spa brand.
Are Brands more profitable? If profitable is determined as a free standing Spa business with no buried costs in the resort, my
belief is no, not as a general rule.
While there are examples of Spa brand success, they are few in comparison the those that are service first brand second,
what I would say that there are Spa brands that had as much notoriety as the one listed in your blog that had gone by
the wayside, branding as a priority appears to have been thier down fall. Your list does however include at least one brand
that was purchased by a good service operator about 10 years ago, as a result that brand has been sustainable.
You will suceed with excellence in service and product delivery, question if a brand is what really makes the difference to the
guest….after all are we in the service industry.
Thank you as always,