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Spa Management Workforce & Education: Addressing Market Gaps
Challenges Relating to Current/Future Spa Management Employees
A good spa manager/director must have both a “head” and “heart” for spa; exceptional
people skills; the abilities of an entrepreneur; and must be flexible, adaptable, and mobile.
Spa management requires a huge and challenging range of skills and job responsibilities –
including “hard skills” (e.g., management, finance, etc.) and “soft skills” (e.g.,
communications, teamwork, etc.). Most people require both significant formal
education/training and practical, on-the-job experience in order to build this skill set.
The skill set for spa managers/directors is remarkably consistent around the world (although
cultural awareness is required due to the geographic diversity and cultural roots of spa).
Skills do vary considerably between day spas and hotel/resort spas.
Two typical pathways into spa management are: promoting existing spa employees into
management positions or hiring someone from outside the spa business (and each has
significant pros and cons). Upward career pathways beyond spa management positions are
varied and not well-defined.
Spas rate “experience working in management and in the spa industry” as the most
important background qualifications when hiring spa managers/directors, followed by
“training or experience in the spa modalities.” Formal educational credentials are
considered to be only “moderately important” – probably because formal degrees related to
spa management are still relatively new and relatively rare, 3 and are therefore perceived as
being a bit disconnected from industry needs. The majority of spa industry leaders do feel it
would be beneficial if more people received formal spa management-related degrees.
Hard skills in business and management are considered to be the number one deficiency
among today’s spa managers/directors (see table below).
Training Gaps and Future Training Priorities Identified by both Industry Leaders and Spa
Managers/Directors Are Remarkably Similar
Spa Managers/Directors
Priorities for Future Training
Industry Leaders/Executives
Key Spa Management Training Gaps
1. Strategic planning skills 1. Strategic planning skills
2. IT skills 2. IT skills
3. Public relations/promotional skills 3. Revenue management skills
4. Revenue management skills 4. Legal/regulatory compliance
5. Legal/regulatory compliance 5. Public relations/promotional skills
6. Financial management/accounting skills 6. Financial management/accounting skills
7. Sales/marketing/retail skills
7. Practical/on-the-job experience; Leadership;
Problem-solving (tie)
3 Note that only 4% of the spa managers/directors surveyed for this study indicted that they hold a formal degree in spa
management, but 56% had received formal training in a spa modality.
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