September 2021 - Spa Executive

Spa Executive
For leaders in the business of wellness
ISSUE # 30: SEPTEMBER 2021
Four Seasons’
Pat Makozak
Software:
Free up front desk time so spa
staff can focus on what matters
CREATIVITY & INTUITIVE
EXPERIENCES
Business:
Personalized guest experience:
the difference between award
winning spas and everyone else
Staffing:
3 reasons spa employees quit
and what to do about them

ISSUE # 30: SEPTEMBER 2021
In this month’s issue:
3
6
Personalized guest experience:
the difference between award
winning spas and everyone else
Contactless check-in, touchless
therapies & new menus. How spas
have changed since 2020
10
14
3 reasons spa employees quit
and what to do about them
Free up front desk time so spa
staff can focus on what matters
17
22
26
Property Feature:
Eden Roc Cap Cana
Four Seasons’ Pat Makozak on
creativity & intuitive experiences
3 tips for optimizing your
retail revenue

Letter from Publisher
Dear readers,
As spas continue to adapt to a new world and find new ways of doing things, getting
creative is a strategy that will prove valuable. People are finding creative ways to
increase revenue, to attract staff, and to improve the guest experience.
Pat Makozak, Spa Director at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, is good at
making smart creative decisions, possibly because of her history working as an
actress before entering the world of wellness. In our Spotlight interview with Ms.
Makozak this month, she shares some examples of the ideas put into action at the
luxury resort where she has worked for 17 years. In one, Ms. Makozak said:
“Many years ago, we tried sending a massage therapist out to the pool to see how
that would go. The area can get crowded and, once the guest gets the chair they
want, they don’t want to move. We thought sending the therapist to the guests
in their lounge chairs might have an appeal. And it certainly did. To this day we
generally have three to four therapists on the pool deck adding an extra bit of relief
and luxury. It’s an $800k a year revenue source for us with absolutely no overhead.”
Sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that are the most brilliant! Anyone who wants to
learn from the best should read this interview.
More insights into best business practises are offered by By Tawnya Wych and
Tracie Weeden, Co-Founders & Owners of TW Squared Retail Services, in their
executive column this month on 3 tips for optimizing your retail revenue.
And Book4Time’s own Krista Foulis shares some insights on how spas can free
up front desk time so spa staff can focus on what matters: the guest experience.
This issue also looks at ISPA’s research into the changes spas have made since
2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which include implementing
contactless check-in, touchless therapies, and new menus. And we break down
the importance of personalization, and why a personalized guest experience is the
difference between award winning spas and everyone else.
Finally, our featured property this month is the stunning Eden Roc Cap Cana, where
private and luxurious accommodations are at the heart of a fundamental promise:
“cherished intimacy for all.”
About
Spa Executive:
Spa Executive is
Book4Time’s magazine
for leaders in the business
of wellness. News, views,
and interviews to help you
attract top talent, increase
customer retention, and
offer the best possible
guest experience.
The Spa
Executive
Team
Publisher
Roger Sholanki
Creative Director
Emily Moxley
Editor
Elizabeth Bromstein
Designer
Andrea Fernández
Hernández
I hope you enjoy reading this month’s articles in Spa Executive and they provide
valuable information to help you achieve success.
Roger Sholanki,
CEO
Book4Time

PERSONALIZED GUEST EXPERIENCE:
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
AWARD WINNING SPAS AND
EVERYONE ELSE
A personalized guest experience is
one of the best ways to grow customer
loyalty and turn new customers into
returning ones.
Personalized guest experience is one
of the biggest factors that sets the
best spas apart from the rest. Here’s
why personalization matters so much.
September 2021 Issue • p. 3

People have come to want and expect personalized experiences all across sectors and from all kinds
of businesses. Research has found that:
• 75% of consumers are more likely to purchase
from a company that knows their name and
purchase history and recommends products
based on their preferences.
• 33% of consumers who ended their relationship
with a company last year did so because the
experience wasn’t personalized enough.
• 72% of customers expect companies to know
their purchase history regardless of what
method of communication they used.
• More than two in five (42%) consumers say
that if a company doesn’t offer a personalized
experience, they’re likely to switch brands.
• Even if a product or service disappoints, 72%
of consumers say they’ll give the company a
second chance if it provides a hyper-personal
customer experience.
• More than half (63%) of consumers expect
personalization as a standard of service.
• 49% of buyers have made impulse purchases
after a more personalized experience.
Personalization is especially important in spa and hospitality, where the guest is truly expecting to feel
that they are heard and that their needs are being taken seriously. It’s nice when someone at a retail
shoe store remembers you. It’s downright insulting when a spa service provider doesn’t.
September 2021 Issue • p. 4

What is a personalized guest experience?
A personalized guest experience is exactly what
it sounds like: applying personalization to the
customer experience.
Personalization is providing products and services
to meet customer’s individual requirements.
It’s often thought of as a marketing tactic that
involves retargeting customers with items related
to those they have already purchased or into which
they have shown interest, but that is a dated and
unsophisticated idea of personalization.
McKinsey states:
“
Personalization, once limited mainly
to targeted offers, now extends to the
entire customer experience. This means
that customers want personalization
throughout their interactions with a retailer
– with multiple, personalized touchpoints
that enable them to allocate their time
and money according to their preferences.
In the best personalized experiences,
retailers make the customer part of the
dialogue and leverage data to create
one-to-one personalization. Customers
receive offers that are targeted not just at
customers like them, with brands targeting
at the segment level with broad-based
offers, but at them as individuals, with
products, offers, and communications
that are uniquely relevant to them.
The reality is that anyone who says they don’t
want a personalized customer experience might
not know what we’re talking about. A lot of people
still think it just means spamming inboxes and
bombarding us with ads for items we’ve already
purchased or aren’t interested in (we’re looking
at you, Google). When properly applied to the
customer experience, however, personalization
makes people feel recognized, remembered, and
valued. And everyone wants to feel those things.
How do you do that? It begins with collecting data
from your customers and storing it, followed by
finding ways to leverage that data in ways that
are exciting and impactful, and that make your
customers say “Wow. These people really get me.”
It’s what separates a five-star spa from the others.
In an interview with Spa Executive about how spas
can achieve a five-star rating, Amanda Frasier,
Forbes Travel Guide’s Senior VP of Ratings, said,
“We look to see what each spa is doing to not only
set itself apart from the competition, but how they
create unique, personalized service moments for
each guest based on their specific needs or guest
profile.”
Centrally managed notes, guest profiling, a
comprehensive reporting dashboard, and
automatic alerts are among the keys to building
customer profiles that make this process easy.
As soon as an appointment is made, a spa should
be using existing information to prepare the
ultimate, personalized, guest experience. And this
should continue throughout the entire customer
journey. It’s not just about purchase history, but
about past conversations and individual customer
preferences.
Every customer is unique. Showing genuine
interest in your guests is what will really
impress them.
September 2021 Issue • p. 5

CONTACTLESS CHECK-IN,
TOUCHLESS THERAPIES &
NEW MENUS. HOW SPAS
HAVE CHANGED SINCE 2020
This year’s ISPA industry study looked
at changes spas have made to stay
operational and keep customers safe.
September 2021 Issue • p. 6

ISPA recently released its latest report, the 2021 ISPA SPA INDUSTRY STUDY. This year’s report, for
which the ISPA Foundation commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), surveyed more than 2,000
U.S. spa professionals about their experiences during the pandemic and placed a focus on learning
how spas have adjusted to the pandemic and the actions they took to mitigate or manage the impact
on their business.
The Industry Studies are released annually and divided into two main parts, one looking at key statistics
per spa establishment, including revenues, visits, and employment, and the second focusing on
operational aspects, including employment and staffing, product offerings, core spa services, retail
revenues, and spa administration and policies.
Spa revenue fell by 35%
Both revenues and spa visits fell by more than
35% in the period studied, and the total number
of U.S. spa employees fell by just over 20%. The
total number of spa locations suffered less, falling
by only about four percent, while revenue per spa
visit fell just two dollars to $97.50.
“As expected, this year’s study reveals the scope
of the challenge spas have faced throughout the
pandemic, but it also illustrates the industry’s
resourcefulness and innovative spirit,” said ISPA
President Lynne McNees. “Spas have worked
tirelessly to continue safely serving guests, and
recent indications of exceptionally high demand
leave us confident in a strong recovery throughout
2021 and beyond.”
Findings highlight the ways spas adapted
to safely serve guests
The findings highlight the ways spas adapted as
they worked to continue operating and safely serve
guests. The most common changes spa made
between spring, 2020, and spring, 2021, include
implementing social distancing protocols for
guests and requiring guests and staff to undergo
temperature checks. These are actions almost
all spas have taken. On top of that, almost three
in four (73%) closed communal areas and 77%
removed shared food and beverage amenities like
water dispensers and buffet-style snacks.
More than half of spas implemented contactless
check-in and another 56% added touchless
treatments and/or treatments and services that
don’t require the presence of a therapist.
September 2021 Issue • p. 7

Some of the changes spas made during the COVID-19 pandemic:
Implementing contactless
58% 34%
check-in/check-out
Adding touchless
treatments
43%
Developing new
spa menus
22%
Addition or expansion
of services that do not
require a therapist
40%
Offering outdoor or
curbside treatments
Employees fear contracting COVID
from guests
It’s not surprising to learn that the industry
continues to struggle with staffing. As of spring,
2021, 53% of spas were actively trying to fill service
provider positions and the number of unfilled
service provider positions was estimated at
36,550, of which 22,060 were full time and 14,490
part-time. Massage therapist roles represented
56% of unfilled service provider positions and
estheticians 25%.
Therapist concerns about close contact with
guests due to COVID-19 was the most frequently
cited issue around recruitment and retention of
massage therapists during 2020, cited by 73%
of spas. This was followed by therapists needing
emergency time off for childcare (53%), and issues
around compensation.
Most spas won’t require proof of
vaccination from staff
Asked if they would require proof of vaccination
for staff members, as of spring, 2021, one in
four spas said they would require proof and 32%
said they would not. Forty-two percent were still
undecided on the question.
“This year’s edition of the study is critical not only
to understanding the pandemic’s effects on the
U.S. spa industry but also to measuring its recovery
as we move forward,” said PwC Global Research
Director Colin McIlheney. “The study’s findings
provide a clear picture of a challenging moment
in time for the industry, but taken in context, they
also suggest that the industry is in a position to
recover well throughout 2021 and into 2022.”
September 2021 Issue • p. 8

DISCOVER THE
WORLD OF SOTHYS
To celebrate its 75th anniversary, the SOTHYS
family is organizing an International Summit on
September 27th and 28th, 2021, accessible and free
to all professionals in the SPA industry.
The origins of the SOTHYS Summit take us to the
United States. SOTHYS, a branch of SOTHYS Paris
Group launched its first Summit back in 2020 and its
second summit at the beginning of the year 2021 to
help and support its partners during the Covid crisis.
The SOTHYS USA Summit gathered more than
1500 professionals online for 2 days of live classes
during which attendees immersed themselves in the
SOTHYS world and improved their training, sales,
and marketing skills.
Strong off its past Summit experiences, SOTHYS
USA joined forces with SOTHYS Paris to organize
and create the first online professional skincare
Summit Worldwide.
THE GOAL?
Share SOTHYS knowledge with the world by
creating one online event with its partners located in
120 countries.
At SOTHYS International Summit, attendees will
have the opportunity to discover, participate and
exchange with spa experts on training, well-being,
business, and marketing topics.
SOTHYS invites all the professionals in the spa
industry to surf with them on this new digital
wellness trend and discover its universe from
another perspective.
Many surprises, fun experiences, exciting new
launches, and success story interviews are planned
during this summit.
To register and download the program, follow
this link:
https://sothys-summit.orbits.live/registration
ABOUT
SOTHYS:
For 75 years, the Sothys brand has been known for its commitment to research
and innovation and is recognized as an expert in avant-garde aesthetics for men
and women. Sothys developed Digi-Esthétique®, an exclusive massage method
which is now poised to turn salon treatments into an unforgettable experience for
the senses, with beauticians playing a key role. The brand owns more than 15,000
salons and spas (including 1,000 salons and 50 hotel spas in France) and has long
been present in the most prestigious hotels in 120 countries across the globe.

3 REASONS
SPA
EMPLOYEES
QUIT AND
WHAT TO DO
ABOUT THEM
Wondering why employees are
leaving? Take a look at these three
common reasons spa employees quit
and what to do about them.
Staffing is an ongoing issue in hospitality and spa,
more so now than ever. People are leaving their
jobs and looking for other lines of work. Or they’re
stepping away to work for themselves and start
their own businesses.
According to the BBC, UK, industry bodies say
one in five workers has left the sector during
the coronavirus pandemic, and separate reports
suggest that hotels and resorts everywhere are
dealing with a similar situation.
Omni Hotels & Resorts President Peter Strebel
reportedly said that, for the first time in his career,
he can’t sell out hotels because there isn’t enough
staff to meet demand. Strebel said Omni has tried
sign-on bonuses, retention bonuses, and more
paid time off to attract and keep employees.
September 2021 Issue • p. 10

In Ottawa, the company raised housekeeper wages
from $14 to $20 per hour – and Strebel said, “We
filled all our positions.”
Obviously, one of the easiest ways to fix this issue
is to pay people more. There are other factors to
consider as well.
Once you manage to hire someone, you want to
keep them. Recruiting and onboarding is expensive
and constant turnover has a negative impact on
operations. While the pandemic has demonstrated
that we can’t predict the future, we can still take
measures to retain team members and safeguard
against employee attrition.
Here are three common reasons spa employees
quit and what you can do about them.
Lack of advancement opportunities
A lack of advancement opportunities consistently
ranks across all industries as the top reason
employees quit their jobs, even before money.
A 2020 CareerAddict survey and a 2017
Gallup survey found that lack of advancement
opportunities was the top reason people quit their
jobs, beating out pay in both cases. Regardless
of job or sector, people get tired of doing the
same thing day in and day out with no future
growth opportunities. No matter how enthusiastic
someone is about the company or job when they
join a team, the novelty will eventually wear off.
They will become demoralized and demotivated,
which negatively impacts their performance and
your success.
In any company, however, there are only so many
management positions. What can you do? Some
options include implementing performancebased
pay incentives (beyond commissions),
and involving your team in the decision making
process.
A Forbes article titled “3 Ways To Keep
Employees Motivated When A Promotion Isn’t
An Option And A Raise Isn’t In The Budget”
suggests empowering employees with exposure
to executive responsibilities:
“Raise the bar by giving them more responsibility
and challenging tasks that are still achievable with
their skillset. Start by giving them more control
over tasks and take a step back allowing them a
chance to derive their own solutions and make
their own decisions.
“While the upper management is the one to
implement processes, the employees are the one
in the trenches feeling the impact of
their decisions.”
This might mean involving people in creating new
treatment menu items and marketing campaigns,
for example.
Burnout
Burnout is a long-standing issue in the spa industry
and it happens when employees are worked
too hard.
In a 2019 interview with Spa Executive , Sonal
Uberoi addressed this issue and said, “[Burnout]
becomes more evident in spas within hotels
and resorts where staff scheduling is heavily
dependent on hotel occupancy. Spa staff suddenly
find that their days off have been pushed back, so
they have to work seven or eight days in a row —
or more! — and management have to be at the
hotel from morning to when the VIP client leaves
his or her treatment at the end of the day, which
can mean a 10-12 hour shift. These small ‘one
offs’ slowly become the norm, which over time
eventually lead to burnout.”
And this may even more of an issue two years
later, in 2021. We recently spoke to Benjamin
Donat at St. Regis Deer Valley, who said he’s been
September 2021 Issue • p. 11

understaffed through the 2021 season. Donat
said, “This affects both the guests and the existing
team; guests because sometimes they need a
wellness or spa experience, and we can’t provide
it at the time they want because we’re overbooked,
and staff because I have to be careful not to
overwork them and cause burnout.”
Combatting burnout can take some doing but it’s
something spa directors should take seriously,
because what might seem profitable in the short
term will cost you in the long term, when employees
are not at their best and when they quit.
Ways of combatting burnout include creating
wellness programs for staff and making staff
wellbeing a priority, which might mean accepting
fewer appointments in a day. Revisiting staff
schedules can also be helpful. There are tools to
help with this, including software to optimize
staff scheduling.
Bad management
A recent survey of workers across sectors
reportedly found that most people are pretty happy
with their managers, but of those who rated their
managers badly, 63% were planning to quit in the
next 12 months and 70% said their team members
were also planning to move out of the team or
company.
It would be easy to argue that employee attrition
comes down to bad management more often than
not, however, because so many other cited reasons
are actually due to bad management, including the
aforementioned burnout.
Gallup found that only 17% of people cite bad
management as a reason for quitting, but also
noted that almost every other reason on the list
was something that management could influence.
Among these factors are company culture, pay
and benefits, flexibility and scheduling, and job
security. These are all things that are governed, at
least in part, by management who should be doing
their best to create great work environments.
How can we be great managers? By constantly
working to do better.
Some things great leaders do include:
• Listening: The ability to listen is what makes
the difference between bad leaders and great
leaders.
• Being supportive: Working in a spa can be
physically taxing and tiring – and repetitive.
A team needs a supportive manager who has
their backs.
• Leading by example: Take responsibility for your
failures as well as your successes, and inspire
your team to go above and beyond the call of
duty by doing so yourself.
• Effectively communicating goals: Set goals,
communicate them to your team, and outline
the tactics for achieving them. When employees
feel that they are instrumental to the success
of an organization, they are more inclined to
work towards achieving it.
• Being open to feedback and suggestions: You
are not infallible and you might sometimes
be wrong, or have ideas that could use
improvement.
Employee retention takes work. But the work is
worth it and will have big benefits.
September 2021 Issue • p. 12

Are you passionate about
spas and love technology?
WE’RE HIRING!
Book4Time is a global leader in spa, wellness and leisure activity management
software for the hospitality market. Our SaaS platform manages the end-to-end
guest experience and back office operations for hotels, resorts, casinos and private
clubs in over 85 countries.
Book4Time is experiencing rapid growth and we’re looking to hire experienced spa
industry professionals in a number of key customer-facing roles including:
Sales (Remote - North America, Europe/Middle East, Asia, LATAM)
Client Success
Training and Onboarding
If you thrive on innovation and are looking for a compelling career opportunity,
view our current openings @ https://book4time.com/careers/

FREE UP FRONT DESK TIME
SO SPA STAFF CAN FOCUS
ON WHAT MATTERS
A guest should feel like the most
important person in the world. Here’s
how to free up front desk time to make
that happen.
In a luxury spa and luxury hotel spa, Forbes Five-Star standards are always top of mind, and the way in
which a guest is welcomed is a big part of those standards. From the moment a guest arrives at the
spa, they should feel like the most important person in the world for whom the spa team has all the
time in the world.
This means feeling taken care of. It means a warm greeting in a calm, tranquil environment from a front
desk team member who knows their name and why they’ve come, creating an emotional connection
from the outset. It means getting a tour of the spa and being escorted to the locker room, and being
offered a beverage and a robe and slippers in their proper size. It means that the guest is engaged in
conversation by a greeter who is relaxed, professional, and not rushed, harried, or distracted.
But this isn’t always easy to achieve, is it?
In order to create that tranquil environment with that relaxed and totally undistracted front desk team,
a lot has to happen behind the scenes. This is where your software system comes in to free up time
for your staff to focus as much as possible on the guest experience while the guests are in the spa.
With cloud software, you can dramatically reduce the time your front desk staff spends taking and
confirming phone appointments, filling out gift cards, recording guest information, tracking inventory,
and more.
September 2021 Issue • p. 14

Here’s how.
1. Save hours of phone time with online and mobile booking
There is a growing cohort of people who don’t want to book appointments over the phone
and who expect to be able to book online or by mobile. These booking options are musthaves
today, and an added benefit, beyond meeting growing demand, is that they mean less
time on the phone for your team. When a guest arrives at the spa, they expect someone to
pay attention to them, and they don’t want to stand around and wait while someone talks
on the phone.
Krista Foulis, Book4Time’s Customer Success Director, was once the Spa Director at the
Park Hyatt Toronto. Recalling the days before Book4Time and online booking, she says, “I
had two or three people answering phones all day and it was non-stop. That’s hundreds
of calls.”
And a call can take up to 20 minutes to complete. It usually takes closer to ten, however.
So, if you have one team member taking calls in a busy spa, and just 15 of those calls per
day move to an online booking system, that’s 2.5 hours of time saved – per day!
2. Reduce wait times with virtual intake forms
Sending virtual intake forms allows guests to fill out personal information on their own
time, which reduces wait times when the guest arrives at the spa and allows your team to
check this information beforehand or during downtime (or even from home, with a cloudbased
system), saving further time when the guest is waiting.
If it takes five minutes for the guest to fill out the intake form and five minutes for the team
member to enter the information into the system, and you can get 20 people per week to fill
out the virtual form, that’s more than three hours in time saved per week.
3. Cut tedious tasks with online gift certificates
Gift certificates are an excellent way to attract new customers and, at certain times of
year, selling them can take a lot of time. This time is measurably reduced with online gift
certificate sales, as online certificates don’t need to be handwritten, boxed, bagged, or
wrapped with a pretty bow.
Krista Foulis says that, before Book4Time and online gift certificates at Park Hyatt, “During
the holidays we set up a whole desk and I would have to hire an extra 10-15 people just to
sell the certificates. Once we started doing it online that was cut in half.”
September 2021 Issue • p. 15

4. Create an instant emotional connection with a note taking function
As we know, guests these days expect a personalized experience and will be impressed
if they receive one and very unimpressed if they don’t. And it takes time to gather the
information required to make this happen. Book4Time allows your staff to capture
all pertinent information in one central system, including purchase history, robe size,
preferences (like favourite music or a preferred beverage), and even past
conversation topics.
All of this is accessible at the click of a button and viewable from anywhere. So, staff can
be prepared with that glass of champagne and small gift of a new product from a favorite
company, and remember to ask about how the guest has settled into their new home, for
example. All in the time it takes to log into the system and read the report without having
to ask any questions or fumble through manually written notes.
When used optimally, software frees up hours of front-desk staff time per week, making
it a breeze to be prepared and present, and create that emotional connection the guest is
looking for.
Do you wish your team had more time? Learn more from Book4Time or book a demo now.
September 2021 Issue • p. 16

Take a look inside the stunning Eden
Roc Cap Cana, a secluded luxury
resort located just a 15-minute drive
from Punta Cana International Airport
in the Dominican Republic.
PROPERTY FEATURE:
EDEN ROC CAP CANA
September 2021 Issue • p. 17

The Dominican Republic’s Eden Roc Cap Cana is a breathtaking property located in a
secluded beachfront community, just a 15-minute drive from Punta Cana International
Airport in the Dominican Republic.
A Relais & Châteaux member hotel, the Forbes four-star resort features 32 magnificent
Boutique Suites, each with a private pool, 26 elegantly designed Beachfront Suites with
romantic settings, and four charming Oceanfront Pool Villas.
Forbes describes the property as
celebrating “the aesthetics of the
1960s French and Italian Rivieras while
managing to stay relatively true to its
Caribbean setting.” That setting is rich
with lush greenery and sits on a strip of
exquisite white-sand beach.
Private and posh accommodations are
at the heart of the resort’s fundamental
promise to its visitors:
“cherished intimacy for all.”
September 2021 Issue • p. 18

Eden Roc Wellness & Spa
Eden Roc Wellness & Spa is the only spa in the
western hemisphere, and one of only a few in
the world, to use only Natura Bissé products in
all of their treatments. The serene environment
features 12 indoor and outdoor treatment rooms,
a dedicated 1,200-square-foot anti-gravity yoga
area, an Aqua Garden with a freshwater pool and
a state-of-the-art gym. According to Forbes Travel
Guide, “you’d be remiss to skip an afternoon of
relaxation here.”
Wellness & Spa Director, Pedro Castillo, has been
using Book4Time’s software system at Eden Roc
since 2018 and has said that the software has
made a big, positive impact on operations.
He said in a case-study interview “Other vendors
claim to offer an all-in-one wellness and spa
booking solution, but Book4Time is the only
platform that provides everything out of the box.
Built-in functions include appointment booking;
marketing and retention; revenue management;
guest experience and CRM; inventory management;
and security and privacy.”
Castillo also said that the Spa at Eden Roc has
increased sales by 42% since using Book4Time
and that, “Thanks to Book4Time, my staff and I are
spending less time dealing with administrative,
accounting, staffing, and inventory issues, and
more time dealing directly with customers.”
Eden Roc also offers the world-class “Lifestyle”
program, incorporating self-care, exercise,
nutrition, and activities created to cultivate an
atmosphere of wellness and relaxation in the
lifestyle of the resort and community. The goal is
to “demonstrate that incorporating wellness into
everyday activities is a simple yet life-changing
way of living.”
These packages include the services of a personal
concierge and the creation of a customized
schedule of classes, spa treatments, activities,
and dining reservations.
September 2021 Issue • p. 19

Castillo notes that Book4Time has been particularly good for
these activities. He said, “Our property using Book4time found
it very easy to incorporate our wellness classes and activities.
These are easily managed with Book4time. I genuinely believe
the future of hospitality is wellness, and Book4Time is a
wellness software, not just spa software.”
September 2021 Issue • p. 20

September 2021 Issue • p. 21

FOUR SEASONS’ PAT
MAKOZAK ON CREATIVITY
& INTUITIVE EXPERIENCES
Pat Makozak, Spa Director at Four
Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, says
unscripted moments make the best
guest experiences.
September 2021 Issue • p. 22

The Four Seasons Resort Wailea Maui is a worldrenowned
five-star luxury resort in the town of
Wailea, known for exceptional service and guest
experience – not to mention a gorgeous setting.
At Four Seasons Resort Wailea Maui visitors enjoy
customized guest journeys in the most spacious
accommodations on the island of Maui.
Pat Makozak is the Senior Spa Director in a
wellness space that is an integral part of that
journey. Her expertise lies in creating magical
experiences that exceed expectations and guide
guests toward relief and comfort.
After school I was fortunate to connect with a
doctor in Beverly Hills who sent me his celebrity
clientele to massage. I was managing residential
real-estate as well at the time.
I heard that the spa director was leaving the
Peninsula Hotel and I knew the General Manager
there. I asked the GM to consider me. He was
aware that I had a massage practice but did
not realize all that I had to oversee in managing
residential real estate. I wanted to transition from
performing wellness experiences to managing
them for others, and he gave me a shot.
Interestingly, her career didn’t begin in hospitality
but as an actress. During that time she discovered
that the physicality of acting has the power to
release deeply stored emotions and memories,
as well as the revelations that accompany them
– and this drove an interest in massage therapy.
We’ll let Ms. Makozak tell the rest. We spoke with
her about guest experience, creativity, and what
she loves about her job.
Can you talk about your career trajectory
and how you came to be doing what you
are today?
I studied Theatre at NYU, had some luck after
graduating, then moved to LA to pursue film and
television. But, by that time I was 30 and getting
work was slim. I also began to want some items
in my life, like furniture, and so started to look at
other career options.
I had been fascinated by seeing the range of
emotion that a human being could go through by
simply performing the movement and vocalization
exercises I experienced as part of my acting
training. Witnessing a dearth of emotion trapped
in the body that, if released, would result in one
being emotionally and physically better off, led me
to massage school.
September 2021 Issue • p. 23

I didn’t understand how momentous it was for
me to be given that kind of an opportunity. It was
a five-star hotel, and a huge learning curve, but I
absolutely loved it.
From there, I came to the Four Seasons Maui and
have been here for 17 years.
What are some of the things your role
entails?
As a regional director I oversee five properties in
Hawaii and Bora Bora. I assist the spa directors,
helping to drive business and make
creative decisions.
I enjoy being able to guide other spa directors
along their own journey, whether they’re new to the
business or new to our company.
What’s an example of a creative decision
in a spa?
One property I manage is in a very isolated small
community. It’s a challenge to find employees and
we were always trying to import people to work at
the hotel and spa without a lot of success. So, we
connected with a massage school here on Maui,
and they very creatively found some space to set
up a massage school at the property.
There’s not a lot of opportunity on that island
except for the tourist industry and most of the
young people were leaving. This gave those getting
out of high school an opportunity to stay. It was a
good idea but it took the right spa director to really
commit to it and she was able to graduate 10
people in her first year of overseeing the program.
At least seven of those ended up working as
massage therapists in the spa.
Another example is, many years ago, we tried
sending a massage therapist out to the pool to
see how that would go. The area can get crowded
and, once the guest gets the chair they want,
they don’t want to move. We thought sending the
therapist to the guests in their lounge chairs might
have an appeal. And it certainly did. To this day we
generally have three to four therapists on the pool
deck adding an extra bit of relief and luxury. It’s an
$800k a year revenue source for us with absolutely
no overhead.
We also created enhancements to allow therapists
to showcase the spa’s available products by
including them in the treatments. Therapists
are not necessarily natural salespeople, so this
allowed them to incorporate product sales without
having to be overly sales driven.
September 2021 Issue • p. 24

Can you talk more about guiding therapists
who are not natural sales people?
I think therapists look at this differently from
estheticians. Estheticians are more sales oriented
and want to sell the products. That’s not really
the motivating factor for therapists. Therapists
consider themselves healers and they’re not
comfortable with sales. It took a lot of trial and
error to understand how to best reach them and
we are still refining this training.
Our vendors were generous to send us
complimentary product and we had the leads do
a demo of each one of the enhancements, then
had the teams perform them on each other, so
they could see how it feels. We coached them to
choose the enhancements that they felt would
really benefit the guests and introduce it that way.
In the beginning, they were adding about 20%
enhancement sales to their treatment sales. Then
we added the enhancement sales to our existing
seniority point system that allows us to rank our
booking order, and that became very important to
them. They went from selling 20% to selling 40%.
We have found that for the few who are natural
sales people, are also the best trainers. They
speak the same language as the team and bring
about the best results with their co-workers.
What are you excited about?
Even though this pandemic has been challenging
in so many ways, it has added to the wellness focus
in a huge way that I don’t think anybody could have
ever anticipated. I’m very pleased about this larger
sense of awareness to one’s own health.
We recently partnered with a revolutionary health
optimization center called Next|Health to create
a program of exclusive, tailor-made offerings for
travellers seeking an upgraded spa experience.
Guests now have access to amazing, cutting edge
options like Next-Level NAD+ IV, customized IV
therapy treatments, vitamin shots, and biomarker
testing. They can give you all kinds of information
about what’s going on with your health. They do
stem cell therapy, ozone therapy, cryotherapy.
It’s amazing that we found them. What they offer
makes it possible for people to take our health
back into our own hands.
What makes a great luxury guest
experience?
The best experience is intuitive. It takes a certain
kind of individual to be aware and present, to listen,
and to understand what the guest needs before
the guest even need knows they need it.
It’s a memorable surprise when you’re offered
something or given the chance to experience
something that is there just for you. It’s those
unscripted moments when a guest sees that
somebody has thoughtfully picked up on
something they’ve said and created something
just for them.
What’s your favorite thing about your job?
It’s hard for me to narrow it down, but one of the
things that brings me a lot of joy is seeing my
staff, that may have had very little “wellness”
exposure, begin to alter their lifestyles based on
their experience of the spa environment. That is
very gratifying.
September 2021 Issue • p. 25

3 TIPS FOR OPTIMIZING
YOUR RETAIL REVENUE
Retail is often a challenge in spas, but
you can make it a significant part of
your revenue. Start optimizing your
retail strategy with these three tips
from TW Squared.
By Tawnya Wych and Tracie Weeden, Co-Founders
& Owners of TW Squared Retail Services.
September 2021 Issue • p. 26

Retail can be a challenge in spas. This doesn’t
have to be the case. The spa industry is rich
with product and skincare experts who are well
equipped to guide guests in making the right
purchases for their individual needs. It’s just that
sometimes retail takes a back seat to everything
else happening in a spa at any given moment. A
retail management system and the right support
and training can help.
Retail is an integral part of hospitality, spa,
and wellness business that can help create an
exceptional customer experience. Your retail
revenue should be at least 10% of total spa revenue,
and with a variety of brands and categories, online
retail, secondary or pop-up shops, and events
throughout the year, you can even achieve 20%
retail revenue, or even more (depending on the
size of your retail space)!
That might seem high, but it is absolutely doable.
If you want to increase your spa’s retail revenue,
start optimizing your retail strategy with these
three tips:
Implement a retail management system
You’re busy. A retail management system can
help. These systems are designed to support the
running of retail operations, and can handle such
tasks as ecommerce activity, flow of inventory,
customer relationships, and more.
It’s important to gain a true understanding of your
system in order to get the most out of it.
Before choosing a system, determine your needs
today and any future needs your business may
have, then explore various options to understand
the functionality they offer. The size of your
business and number of items and categories
you sell will determine if an all-in-one system
for services and retail is sufficient. Large retail
operations may want a more robust back-office
inventory system that enables you to track color
and size easily and offers more reporting options
for buyers and executives. Identify the decision
maker and leaders from each department that
will use the system and have one point person
assemble information from others and coordinate
with the system team.
You’ll have to gather your data, so be obsessive
about providing the most complete and accurate
data you can. Include only active items, as bringing
in every item leads to confusion. It’s much easier
to add items than to remove them from a system.
Do not take shortcuts on data and expect to fix it
later, as that rarely happens.
If you spend time upfront, you set yourself up for
success. Virtual training before go-live is important
to ensure everyone understands the system
and their role. Refresher training and continued
support after the install ensure success.
Stay on top of your inventory
Staying on top of your inventory means you’ll
never run out of a popular item or overstock one
that isn’t selling. It will help drive your sales and
allow you to make better business decisions for
the future.
Use a retail inventory system to create and
generate daily, weekly, and monthly sales reports.
It’s important to check discounts, margin, top
sellers, and sell through. Someone should be
dedicated to restocking the sales floor daily, to
avoid missed sales opportunities.
Identify vendors, categories and items that are
best sellers and generate the most revenue.
Provide the team with purchase order reports, so
they are aware of incoming product and prepared
to receive it immediately upon delivery. Review
inventory reports, check for items with low onhand
numbers and generate reorders to meet the
demands of your sales and maintain optimum
stock levels.
September 2021 Issue • p. 27

Maintain your system to ensure inventory is
accurate. Perform regular physical inventories and
address any shrink issues such as internal theft,
external theft, and data integrity issues. Analyze
your sales by shop, vendor, classifications, product
age, turn, and cost of goods sold.
A thoughtful and thorough analysis of sales and
inventory will take your business to the next level.
You should never be out of stock of best sellers
when you have a sophisticated system and know
how to use it. Maintain actionable and clean data.
You must know what you sold, when you sold it,
and at what cost, to make better buying decisions
for the future.
Get the whole team on board
It’s imperative to teach your team to fully utilize
your retail system and make sure they have the
time to be on the sales floor and spend time with
customers. Hire people who are passionate about
retail and turn them into evangelists for your
products. Successful retail teams build strong
relationships with their vendors. They have product
information and can tell the story of the product
to customers. Include everyone in vendor training
from front desk staff to therapists. The more they
know, the better they can sell, and you want your
staff to be passionate about the products they sell.
When something isn’t selling, ask vendors to
swap it out rather than taking deep markdowns.
Schedule trunk shows and events with current
vendors to increase sales and test potential
vendors without investing in new inventory. Your
retail shop is a work in progress and should evolve
with new people and new products.
Listen to you customers and staff about what’s
missing from your assortment and look for those
items. Your customers know what they want!
Exploring new brands and developing custom
products will take your retail to the next level.
Pay constant attention to your retail and you will
be rewarded with increased revenue.
September 2021 Issue • p. 28

Spa Executive
FOR LEADERS IN THE BUSINESS OF WELLNESS
ADVERTISE WITH US
CONTACT SAL CAPIZZI FOR MORE INFORMATION
SCAPIZZI@SPAEXECUTIVE.COM
info@spaexecutive.com | www.spaexecutive.com