Spa Business issue 2 2012 - Leisure Opportunities

OPINION OVERBUILDING
T
here are certainly
more overbuilt
spas than
effective builds,
especially in resorts and
hotels where they know customers
have the means to
pay for that experience and luxury space.
Th is is changing though, as overbuilt spas
become a burden on the books. Over the
past year, we’ve seen resorts/hotels questioning
the cost of support and upkeep of a spa,
or even the need for one going forward.
I’m not convinced that larger treatment
rooms command more money – while the
novelty of something grandiose may work
in the short-term, it’s not a sustainable
approach. And imagine telling your guest
that, that was the reason why you’re charging
more: I doubt it would win them over.
In my experience, you can only charge
more money if you offer an exceptional,
exclusive or tailored experience. Yet as the
majority of what the guest considers the paidfor
experience happens in treatment rooms,
big bug bear
of mine is that A owners and
operators are
being ill-advised by consultants
– typically ex spa
directors who’ve set up on
their own – who have no idea how to design
a spa. I’ve picked up at least eight projects
recently where the design is a complete mess
for this reason. As an industry, we should
have some kind of governing body for this.
Do I think spas are being overbuilt and
aren’t seeing a good return on investment?
Yes is the short answer. But it depends
entirely on how the owners are looking at
yield – is the spa a complete standalone
facility, or is it sharing expenses with the
hotel? Do they take into account that the spa
can boost hotel revenues at off peak times
and out of high season? If not, spas probably
won’t achieve the fi gures they want and
we’ll be going back to spas with just treatment
and changing rooms.
Do I think spas have too many treatment
rooms? Th at’s very diffi cult to answer,
because I can give examples of where we
DAN SHACKLETON-JONES
President/partner
Niki Bryan Inc
28 Read Spa Business online spabusiness.com / digital
if you miss the mark on sizing you stand to
miss the mark on aligning with the guest
expectation. Brands are commonly articulated
through a series of expressions and it’s
this environment that defi nes the experience
and its delivery. Too small is the room that
will not enable you to do this.
But too big is the room you cannot pay for.
Space has an operating cost and a need to
capture revenue to off set this. Do you want
a massage room 24 x 24ft (7 x 7m) averaging
us$130 per services hour or two rooms 12 x
12ft (3.5 x 3.5m) averaging us$260 an hour
total? Th e cost of the space is almost the
same, yet the limit on revenue can be very
diff erent for the oversized room.
Over 28 years, I’ve found that 12 x 12ft is
ideal for profi tability and our guest brand
Over the past year, we’ve seen resorts/hotels
questioning the cost of support and upkeep of a spa,
or even the need for one going forward
SUSAN HARMSWORTH
Founder and CEO,
ESPA International
might have included too many. On several
occasions, clients have requested big spas to
cope with group business (sometimes renting
out the whole hotel) to boost numbers
in the off -peak season – in one case a client
wanted 20 treatment rooms to cope with
group business but was prepared to run only
12-14 for the rest of the time. Also, if spas are
going to boost occupancy by 20 per cent at
the weekend, then they might be able to justify
having rooms empty in the week.
I’d say that a good size for a single treatment
room for massage would be 14-16sq
m (151-172sq ft ), although that is on the luxury
level because we build in storage for all
equipment, products and linen. Anything
bigger than that, then the client won’t be
comfortable, you’ll be looking at high energy
costs and you’ll also need to increase the
revenue generated.
experience in mainstream
body and skin services. It’s
functional, provides storage,
has enough room for
therapist movement and is
intimate enough to make
the guest feel comfortable.
What makes it profi table is the ability to
consistently book and charge an appropriate
service rate that will pay for all operating
costs associated with the space while protecting
the guest experience and ensuring
a strong margin.
Th ere are multiple formulas with variations
on calculating the appropriate number
of treatment rooms. And these depend on
guest occupancy, average length of stay,
number of bedrooms and capture rate. I’d
suggest looking at existing properties in the
immediate market that provide KPIs for
you to consider. And above all, know your
guest demographic and what services they
demand. Th at way you won’t get drawn into
off ering fad treatments or services that have
little or no demand from your customers.
Approaching 30 years in business, Niki Bryan
is a leading US spa consultancy and management
company which has a number of
clients, including Disney.
Details: www.relaxedyet.com.
As 60 per cent of our
business globally is massage,
we’ve started to reduce
the number of multi-functional
treatment rooms we
include due to energy costs
and space. Also as the standard
of therapists has decreased, we’ve found
they’re no longer able to perform treatments
and that they specialise in just one or two
services such as massage or facials, or personal
grooming/beauty. It’s really important
to design a spa with the treatment menu in
mind at the start, but you do also need to think
about the availability of practitioners. If you
can’t fi nd suitably-trained staff for those treatments
in the region, for example, then that will
impact on design too.
For operators who already have too many
treatment rooms, they could consider renting
some out to high-end specialists – this
has worked well for us in the past.
Spa management and skincare company ESPA
was founded by Harmsworth over 35 years ago.
It has a portfolio of 250-plus spas in 55 countries.
Details www.espaonline.com
SPA BUSINESS 2 2012 © Cybertrek 2012