Spa Operations

Mattison is a world-renowned expert on workforce trends and the generational change we’re currently experiencing in the workforce; his work tracks how shifting demographics will necessitate a new style of leadership. In his book, The War at Work, Mattison details how reimagining leadership and talent management for the 2020s is the key to building stronger, more effective teams.

Maybe you cut someone’s hair uneven or you just couldn’t get the nail color right? It happens every day and to every spa or salon professional. You are not perfect and your day will come when you must re-do a style, cut, or whatever service it is that you offer. In this article, you will learn a process that I have created called the CURL© method. This method is applicable to all industries because it’s simple, easy and it is not rocket science.

THE HOLIDAYS CAN BE AN ABUNDANT TIME FOR THE SPA INDUSTRY, and despite current restrictions, we are confident that with hard work, flexibility and creativity, you’ll navigate the busiest time of year and and—more importantly—increase sales at the spa.

Whether your clients are prepping with a pre-party facial, scheduling a day of self-love or buying gifts for loved ones, this is a great opportunity to bring peace and happiness to your clients during these challenging times. With COVID-19 changing the way things are done this year, we encourage you to diversify your offerings through the spa experience itself, or by bringing the spa to life in a guest’s bathroom—at home or on the road. So, here are a few ideas to generate revenue and cruise through the holiday season.

Spas around the world spent a significant portion of 2020 working to prepare for reopening. Grappling with the always-evolving challenges of the COVID-19 crisis meant implementing new sanitation protocols, rethinking budgets, streamlining the guest experience and, in many instances, simply finding a way to survive. Of course, the goal of all that hard work was to create the kind of safe, relaxing, rejuvenating environments that have led millions of people to make spa visits a core part of their wellness routines.

Broadly speaking, that goal has been achieved. Most spas are open, and guests have returned. Despite limitations on occupancy, many spas are even hiring therapists and service providers to keep up with demand. After lockdown periods ended, avid spa-goers were eager to receive the services and treatments that they had been forced to go without.

But what about the portion of the population that doesn’t already have an established spa-going routine? What about those who are enduring the strain and stress of life during the pandemic but haven’t yet sought relief in the form of a spa visit? Attracting the uninitiated and transforming them into repeat spa-goers may be a critical component of the spa industry’s road to recovery. Thankfully, those first-timers are a group that is never very far from the minds of spa leaders and their marketing teams.

STAFFING HAS LONG BEEN AN ISSUE IN THE SPA INDUSTRY before the pandemic began: for years, data from the ISPA U.S. Spa Industry showed that there were more open positions than there were qualified applicants to fill them.

Once COVID-19 arrived, though, many spas closed and had to furlough or lay off employees, seemingly flooding the job market with spa professionals seeking employment. Despite this, some spas have had continued difficulty filling positions since reopening, indicating that the spa industry’s labor crunch remains, in spite of—or perhaps exacerbated by—COVID-19.

Many people who enter the spa industry see themselves as healers by nature, whether they are working as a practitioner or creating products that are sold in a spa. That strong desire to help and take care of people is often the common thread between spa managers and vendors. When it comes to employees’ mental well-being, however, spa leaders must balance that impulse with a clear understanding of the limits of their role and the ability to recognize when employees may be best served by outside resources.

Finding that balance can be tough in the best of times, and it has been especially challenging in 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic has dragged on, its impact on mental well-being has become clearer. In June, a CDC survey found that 40.9 percent of respondents reported at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition, including symptoms of anxiety disorder or depressive disorder (30.9%), symptoms of a trauma- and stressor-related disorder (TSRD) related to the pandemic (26.3%) and having started or increased substance use to cope with stress or emotions related to COVID-19 (13.3%).

More than half of all spa respondents (52 percent) have partnered with a local business in 2017. This number was more than two-thirds for day spa respondents at 70 percent, compared to just 41 percent of Resort/Hotel Spas. For resource partner respondents, just 39 percent partnered with a local business, while the largest segment (55 percent) partnered with a national non-profit organization.