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 <strong>Spa</strong> <strong>Business</strong> 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. <strong>Spa</strong>ce 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. <strong>Spa</strong> 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 <strong>2012</strong> © Cybertrek <strong>2012</strong>
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