September 2021 - Spa Executive
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<strong>Spa</strong> <strong>Executive</strong><br />
For leaders in the business of wellness<br />
ISSUE # 30: SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
Four Seasons’<br />
Pat Makozak<br />
Software:<br />
Free up front desk time so spa<br />
staff can focus on what matters<br />
CREATIVITY & INTUITIVE<br />
EXPERIENCES<br />
Business:<br />
Personalized guest experience:<br />
the difference between award<br />
winning spas and everyone else<br />
Staffing:<br />
3 reasons spa employees quit<br />
and what to do about them
ISSUE # 30: SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
In this month’s issue:<br />
3<br />
6<br />
Personalized guest experience:<br />
the difference between award<br />
winning spas and everyone else<br />
Contactless check-in, touchless<br />
therapies & new menus. How spas<br />
have changed since 2020<br />
10<br />
14<br />
3 reasons spa employees quit<br />
and what to do about them<br />
Free up front desk time so spa<br />
staff can focus on what matters<br />
17<br />
22<br />
26<br />
Property Feature:<br />
Eden Roc Cap Cana<br />
Four Seasons’ Pat Makozak on<br />
creativity & intuitive experiences<br />
3 tips for optimizing your<br />
retail revenue
Letter from Publisher<br />
Dear readers,<br />
As spas continue to adapt to a new world and find new ways of doing things, getting<br />
creative is a strategy that will prove valuable. People are finding creative ways to<br />
increase revenue, to attract staff, and to improve the guest experience.<br />
Pat Makozak, <strong>Spa</strong> Director at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, is good at<br />
making smart creative decisions, possibly because of her history working as an<br />
actress before entering the world of wellness. In our Spotlight interview with Ms.<br />
Makozak this month, she shares some examples of the ideas put into action at the<br />
luxury resort where she has worked for 17 years. In one, Ms. Makozak said:<br />
“Many years ago, we tried sending a massage therapist out to the pool to see how<br />
that would go. The area can get crowded and, once the guest gets the chair they<br />
want, they don’t want to move. We thought sending the therapist to the guests<br />
in their lounge chairs might have an appeal. And it certainly did. To this day we<br />
generally have three to four therapists on the pool deck adding an extra bit of relief<br />
and luxury. It’s an $800k a year revenue source for us with absolutely no overhead.”<br />
Sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that are the most brilliant! Anyone who wants to<br />
learn from the best should read this interview.<br />
More insights into best business practises are offered by By Tawnya Wych and<br />
Tracie Weeden, Co-Founders & Owners of TW Squared Retail Services, in their<br />
executive column this month on 3 tips for optimizing your retail revenue.<br />
And Book4Time’s own Krista Foulis shares some insights on how spas can free<br />
up front desk time so spa staff can focus on what matters: the guest experience.<br />
This issue also looks at ISPA’s research into the changes spas have made since<br />
2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which include implementing<br />
contactless check-in, touchless therapies, and new menus. And we break down<br />
the importance of personalization, and why a personalized guest experience is the<br />
difference between award winning spas and everyone else.<br />
Finally, our featured property this month is the stunning Eden Roc Cap Cana, where<br />
private and luxurious accommodations are at the heart of a fundamental promise:<br />
“cherished intimacy for all.”<br />
About<br />
<strong>Spa</strong> <strong>Executive</strong>:<br />
<strong>Spa</strong> <strong>Executive</strong> is<br />
Book4Time’s magazine<br />
for leaders in the business<br />
of wellness. News, views,<br />
and interviews to help you<br />
attract top talent, increase<br />
customer retention, and<br />
offer the best possible<br />
guest experience.<br />
The <strong>Spa</strong><br />
<strong>Executive</strong><br />
Team<br />
Publisher<br />
Roger Sholanki<br />
Creative Director<br />
Emily Moxley<br />
Editor<br />
Elizabeth Bromstein<br />
Designer<br />
Andrea Fernández<br />
Hernández<br />
I hope you enjoy reading this month’s articles in <strong>Spa</strong> <strong>Executive</strong> and they provide<br />
valuable information to help you achieve success.<br />
Roger Sholanki,<br />
CEO<br />
Book4Time
PERSONALIZED GUEST EXPERIENCE:<br />
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN<br />
AWARD WINNING SPAS AND<br />
EVERYONE ELSE<br />
A personalized guest experience is<br />
one of the best ways to grow customer<br />
loyalty and turn new customers into<br />
returning ones.<br />
Personalized guest experience is one<br />
of the biggest factors that sets the<br />
best spas apart from the rest. Here’s<br />
why personalization matters so much.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 3
People have come to want and expect personalized experiences all across sectors and from all kinds<br />
of businesses. Research has found that:<br />
• 75% of consumers are more likely to purchase<br />
from a company that knows their name and<br />
purchase history and recommends products<br />
based on their preferences.<br />
• 33% of consumers who ended their relationship<br />
with a company last year did so because the<br />
experience wasn’t personalized enough.<br />
• 72% of customers expect companies to know<br />
their purchase history regardless of what<br />
method of communication they used.<br />
• More than two in five (42%) consumers say<br />
that if a company doesn’t offer a personalized<br />
experience, they’re likely to switch brands.<br />
• Even if a product or service disappoints, 72%<br />
of consumers say they’ll give the company a<br />
second chance if it provides a hyper-personal<br />
customer experience.<br />
• More than half (63%) of consumers expect<br />
personalization as a standard of service.<br />
• 49% of buyers have made impulse purchases<br />
after a more personalized experience.<br />
Personalization is especially important in spa and hospitality, where the guest is truly expecting to feel<br />
that they are heard and that their needs are being taken seriously. It’s nice when someone at a retail<br />
shoe store remembers you. It’s downright insulting when a spa service provider doesn’t.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 4
What is a personalized guest experience?<br />
A personalized guest experience is exactly what<br />
it sounds like: applying personalization to the<br />
customer experience.<br />
Personalization is providing products and services<br />
to meet customer’s individual requirements.<br />
It’s often thought of as a marketing tactic that<br />
involves retargeting customers with items related<br />
to those they have already purchased or into which<br />
they have shown interest, but that is a dated and<br />
unsophisticated idea of personalization.<br />
McKinsey states:<br />
“<br />
Personalization, once limited mainly<br />
to targeted offers, now extends to the<br />
entire customer experience. This means<br />
that customers want personalization<br />
throughout their interactions with a retailer<br />
– with multiple, personalized touchpoints<br />
that enable them to allocate their time<br />
and money according to their preferences.<br />
In the best personalized experiences,<br />
retailers make the customer part of the<br />
dialogue and leverage data to create<br />
one-to-one personalization. Customers<br />
receive offers that are targeted not just at<br />
customers like them, with brands targeting<br />
at the segment level with broad-based<br />
offers, but at them as individuals, with<br />
products, offers, and communications<br />
that are uniquely relevant to them.<br />
The reality is that anyone who says they don’t<br />
want a personalized customer experience might<br />
not know what we’re talking about. A lot of people<br />
still think it just means spamming inboxes and<br />
bombarding us with ads for items we’ve already<br />
purchased or aren’t interested in (we’re looking<br />
at you, Google). When properly applied to the<br />
customer experience, however, personalization<br />
makes people feel recognized, remembered, and<br />
valued. And everyone wants to feel those things.<br />
How do you do that? It begins with collecting data<br />
from your customers and storing it, followed by<br />
finding ways to leverage that data in ways that<br />
are exciting and impactful, and that make your<br />
customers say “Wow. These people really get me.”<br />
It’s what separates a five-star spa from the others.<br />
In an interview with <strong>Spa</strong> <strong>Executive</strong> about how spas<br />
can achieve a five-star rating, Amanda Frasier,<br />
Forbes Travel Guide’s Senior VP of Ratings, said,<br />
“We look to see what each spa is doing to not only<br />
set itself apart from the competition, but how they<br />
create unique, personalized service moments for<br />
each guest based on their specific needs or guest<br />
profile.”<br />
Centrally managed notes, guest profiling, a<br />
comprehensive reporting dashboard, and<br />
automatic alerts are among the keys to building<br />
customer profiles that make this process easy.<br />
As soon as an appointment is made, a spa should<br />
be using existing information to prepare the<br />
ultimate, personalized, guest experience. And this<br />
should continue throughout the entire customer<br />
journey. It’s not just about purchase history, but<br />
about past conversations and individual customer<br />
preferences.<br />
Every customer is unique. Showing genuine<br />
interest in your guests is what will really<br />
impress them.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 5
CONTACTLESS CHECK-IN,<br />
TOUCHLESS THERAPIES &<br />
NEW MENUS. HOW SPAS<br />
HAVE CHANGED SINCE 2020<br />
This year’s ISPA industry study looked<br />
at changes spas have made to stay<br />
operational and keep customers safe.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 6
ISPA recently released its latest report, the <strong>2021</strong> ISPA SPA INDUSTRY STUDY. This year’s report, for<br />
which the ISPA Foundation commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), surveyed more than 2,000<br />
U.S. spa professionals about their experiences during the pandemic and placed a focus on learning<br />
how spas have adjusted to the pandemic and the actions they took to mitigate or manage the impact<br />
on their business.<br />
The Industry Studies are released annually and divided into two main parts, one looking at key statistics<br />
per spa establishment, including revenues, visits, and employment, and the second focusing on<br />
operational aspects, including employment and staffing, product offerings, core spa services, retail<br />
revenues, and spa administration and policies.<br />
<strong>Spa</strong> revenue fell by 35%<br />
Both revenues and spa visits fell by more than<br />
35% in the period studied, and the total number<br />
of U.S. spa employees fell by just over 20%. The<br />
total number of spa locations suffered less, falling<br />
by only about four percent, while revenue per spa<br />
visit fell just two dollars to $97.50.<br />
“As expected, this year’s study reveals the scope<br />
of the challenge spas have faced throughout the<br />
pandemic, but it also illustrates the industry’s<br />
resourcefulness and innovative spirit,” said ISPA<br />
President Lynne McNees. “<strong>Spa</strong>s have worked<br />
tirelessly to continue safely serving guests, and<br />
recent indications of exceptionally high demand<br />
leave us confident in a strong recovery throughout<br />
<strong>2021</strong> and beyond.”<br />
Findings highlight the ways spas adapted<br />
to safely serve guests<br />
The findings highlight the ways spas adapted as<br />
they worked to continue operating and safely serve<br />
guests. The most common changes spa made<br />
between spring, 2020, and spring, <strong>2021</strong>, include<br />
implementing social distancing protocols for<br />
guests and requiring guests and staff to undergo<br />
temperature checks. These are actions almost<br />
all spas have taken. On top of that, almost three<br />
in four (73%) closed communal areas and 77%<br />
removed shared food and beverage amenities like<br />
water dispensers and buffet-style snacks.<br />
More than half of spas implemented contactless<br />
check-in and another 56% added touchless<br />
treatments and/or treatments and services that<br />
don’t require the presence of a therapist.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 7
Some of the changes spas made during the COVID-19 pandemic:<br />
Implementing contactless<br />
58% 34%<br />
check-in/check-out<br />
Adding touchless<br />
treatments<br />
43%<br />
Developing new<br />
spa menus<br />
22%<br />
Addition or expansion<br />
of services that do not<br />
require a therapist<br />
40%<br />
Offering outdoor or<br />
curbside treatments<br />
Employees fear contracting COVID<br />
from guests<br />
It’s not surprising to learn that the industry<br />
continues to struggle with staffing. As of spring,<br />
<strong>2021</strong>, 53% of spas were actively trying to fill service<br />
provider positions and the number of unfilled<br />
service provider positions was estimated at<br />
36,550, of which 22,060 were full time and 14,490<br />
part-time. Massage therapist roles represented<br />
56% of unfilled service provider positions and<br />
estheticians 25%.<br />
Therapist concerns about close contact with<br />
guests due to COVID-19 was the most frequently<br />
cited issue around recruitment and retention of<br />
massage therapists during 2020, cited by 73%<br />
of spas. This was followed by therapists needing<br />
emergency time off for childcare (53%), and issues<br />
around compensation.<br />
Most spas won’t require proof of<br />
vaccination from staff<br />
Asked if they would require proof of vaccination<br />
for staff members, as of spring, <strong>2021</strong>, one in<br />
four spas said they would require proof and 32%<br />
said they would not. Forty-two percent were still<br />
undecided on the question.<br />
“This year’s edition of the study is critical not only<br />
to understanding the pandemic’s effects on the<br />
U.S. spa industry but also to measuring its recovery<br />
as we move forward,” said PwC Global Research<br />
Director Colin McIlheney. “The study’s findings<br />
provide a clear picture of a challenging moment<br />
in time for the industry, but taken in context, they<br />
also suggest that the industry is in a position to<br />
recover well throughout <strong>2021</strong> and into 2022.”<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 8
DISCOVER THE<br />
WORLD OF SOTHYS<br />
To celebrate its 75th anniversary, the SOTHYS<br />
family is organizing an International Summit on<br />
<strong>September</strong> 27th and 28th, <strong>2021</strong>, accessible and free<br />
to all professionals in the SPA industry.<br />
The origins of the SOTHYS Summit take us to the<br />
United States. SOTHYS, a branch of SOTHYS Paris<br />
Group launched its first Summit back in 2020 and its<br />
second summit at the beginning of the year <strong>2021</strong> to<br />
help and support its partners during the Covid crisis.<br />
The SOTHYS USA Summit gathered more than<br />
1500 professionals online for 2 days of live classes<br />
during which attendees immersed themselves in the<br />
SOTHYS world and improved their training, sales,<br />
and marketing skills.<br />
Strong off its past Summit experiences, SOTHYS<br />
USA joined forces with SOTHYS Paris to organize<br />
and create the first online professional skincare<br />
Summit Worldwide.<br />
THE GOAL?<br />
Share SOTHYS knowledge with the world by<br />
creating one online event with its partners located in<br />
120 countries.<br />
At SOTHYS International Summit, attendees will<br />
have the opportunity to discover, participate and<br />
exchange with spa experts on training, well-being,<br />
business, and marketing topics.<br />
SOTHYS invites all the professionals in the spa<br />
industry to surf with them on this new digital<br />
wellness trend and discover its universe from<br />
another perspective.<br />
Many surprises, fun experiences, exciting new<br />
launches, and success story interviews are planned<br />
during this summit.<br />
To register and download the program, follow<br />
this link:<br />
https://sothys-summit.orbits.live/registration<br />
ABOUT<br />
SOTHYS:<br />
For 75 years, the Sothys brand has been known for its commitment to research<br />
and innovation and is recognized as an expert in avant-garde aesthetics for men<br />
and women. Sothys developed Digi-Esthétique®, an exclusive massage method<br />
which is now poised to turn salon treatments into an unforgettable experience for<br />
the senses, with beauticians playing a key role. The brand owns more than 15,000<br />
salons and spas (including 1,000 salons and 50 hotel spas in France) and has long<br />
been present in the most prestigious hotels in 120 countries across the globe.
3 REASONS<br />
SPA<br />
EMPLOYEES<br />
QUIT AND<br />
WHAT TO DO<br />
ABOUT THEM<br />
Wondering why employees are<br />
leaving? Take a look at these three<br />
common reasons spa employees quit<br />
and what to do about them.<br />
Staffing is an ongoing issue in hospitality and spa,<br />
more so now than ever. People are leaving their<br />
jobs and looking for other lines of work. Or they’re<br />
stepping away to work for themselves and start<br />
their own businesses.<br />
According to the BBC, UK, industry bodies say<br />
one in five workers has left the sector during<br />
the coronavirus pandemic, and separate reports<br />
suggest that hotels and resorts everywhere are<br />
dealing with a similar situation.<br />
Omni Hotels & Resorts President Peter Strebel<br />
reportedly said that, for the first time in his career,<br />
he can’t sell out hotels because there isn’t enough<br />
staff to meet demand. Strebel said Omni has tried<br />
sign-on bonuses, retention bonuses, and more<br />
paid time off to attract and keep employees.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 10
In Ottawa, the company raised housekeeper wages<br />
from $14 to $20 per hour – and Strebel said, “We<br />
filled all our positions.”<br />
Obviously, one of the easiest ways to fix this issue<br />
is to pay people more. There are other factors to<br />
consider as well.<br />
Once you manage to hire someone, you want to<br />
keep them. Recruiting and onboarding is expensive<br />
and constant turnover has a negative impact on<br />
operations. While the pandemic has demonstrated<br />
that we can’t predict the future, we can still take<br />
measures to retain team members and safeguard<br />
against employee attrition.<br />
Here are three common reasons spa employees<br />
quit and what you can do about them.<br />
Lack of advancement opportunities<br />
A lack of advancement opportunities consistently<br />
ranks across all industries as the top reason<br />
employees quit their jobs, even before money.<br />
A 2020 CareerAddict survey and a 2017<br />
Gallup survey found that lack of advancement<br />
opportunities was the top reason people quit their<br />
jobs, beating out pay in both cases. Regardless<br />
of job or sector, people get tired of doing the<br />
same thing day in and day out with no future<br />
growth opportunities. No matter how enthusiastic<br />
someone is about the company or job when they<br />
join a team, the novelty will eventually wear off.<br />
They will become demoralized and demotivated,<br />
which negatively impacts their performance and<br />
your success.<br />
In any company, however, there are only so many<br />
management positions. What can you do? Some<br />
options include implementing performancebased<br />
pay incentives (beyond commissions),<br />
and involving your team in the decision making<br />
process.<br />
A Forbes article titled “3 Ways To Keep<br />
Employees Motivated When A Promotion Isn’t<br />
An Option And A Raise Isn’t In The Budget”<br />
suggests empowering employees with exposure<br />
to executive responsibilities:<br />
“Raise the bar by giving them more responsibility<br />
and challenging tasks that are still achievable with<br />
their skillset. Start by giving them more control<br />
over tasks and take a step back allowing them a<br />
chance to derive their own solutions and make<br />
their own decisions.<br />
“While the upper management is the one to<br />
implement processes, the employees are the one<br />
in the trenches feeling the impact of<br />
their decisions.”<br />
This might mean involving people in creating new<br />
treatment menu items and marketing campaigns,<br />
for example.<br />
Burnout<br />
Burnout is a long-standing issue in the spa industry<br />
and it happens when employees are worked<br />
too hard.<br />
In a 2019 interview with <strong>Spa</strong> <strong>Executive</strong> , Sonal<br />
Uberoi addressed this issue and said, “[Burnout]<br />
becomes more evident in spas within hotels<br />
and resorts where staff scheduling is heavily<br />
dependent on hotel occupancy. <strong>Spa</strong> staff suddenly<br />
find that their days off have been pushed back, so<br />
they have to work seven or eight days in a row —<br />
or more! — and management have to be at the<br />
hotel from morning to when the VIP client leaves<br />
his or her treatment at the end of the day, which<br />
can mean a 10-12 hour shift. These small ‘one<br />
offs’ slowly become the norm, which over time<br />
eventually lead to burnout.”<br />
And this may even more of an issue two years<br />
later, in <strong>2021</strong>. We recently spoke to Benjamin<br />
Donat at St. Regis Deer Valley, who said he’s been<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 11
understaffed through the <strong>2021</strong> season. Donat<br />
said, “This affects both the guests and the existing<br />
team; guests because sometimes they need a<br />
wellness or spa experience, and we can’t provide<br />
it at the time they want because we’re overbooked,<br />
and staff because I have to be careful not to<br />
overwork them and cause burnout.”<br />
Combatting burnout can take some doing but it’s<br />
something spa directors should take seriously,<br />
because what might seem profitable in the short<br />
term will cost you in the long term, when employees<br />
are not at their best and when they quit.<br />
Ways of combatting burnout include creating<br />
wellness programs for staff and making staff<br />
wellbeing a priority, which might mean accepting<br />
fewer appointments in a day. Revisiting staff<br />
schedules can also be helpful. There are tools to<br />
help with this, including software to optimize<br />
staff scheduling.<br />
Bad management<br />
A recent survey of workers across sectors<br />
reportedly found that most people are pretty happy<br />
with their managers, but of those who rated their<br />
managers badly, 63% were planning to quit in the<br />
next 12 months and 70% said their team members<br />
were also planning to move out of the team or<br />
company.<br />
It would be easy to argue that employee attrition<br />
comes down to bad management more often than<br />
not, however, because so many other cited reasons<br />
are actually due to bad management, including the<br />
aforementioned burnout.<br />
Gallup found that only 17% of people cite bad<br />
management as a reason for quitting, but also<br />
noted that almost every other reason on the list<br />
was something that management could influence.<br />
Among these factors are company culture, pay<br />
and benefits, flexibility and scheduling, and job<br />
security. These are all things that are governed, at<br />
least in part, by management who should be doing<br />
their best to create great work environments.<br />
How can we be great managers? By constantly<br />
working to do better.<br />
Some things great leaders do include:<br />
• Listening: The ability to listen is what makes<br />
the difference between bad leaders and great<br />
leaders.<br />
• Being supportive: Working in a spa can be<br />
physically taxing and tiring – and repetitive.<br />
A team needs a supportive manager who has<br />
their backs.<br />
• Leading by example: Take responsibility for your<br />
failures as well as your successes, and inspire<br />
your team to go above and beyond the call of<br />
duty by doing so yourself.<br />
• Effectively communicating goals: Set goals,<br />
communicate them to your team, and outline<br />
the tactics for achieving them. When employees<br />
feel that they are instrumental to the success<br />
of an organization, they are more inclined to<br />
work towards achieving it.<br />
• Being open to feedback and suggestions: You<br />
are not infallible and you might sometimes<br />
be wrong, or have ideas that could use<br />
improvement.<br />
Employee retention takes work. But the work is<br />
worth it and will have big benefits.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 12
Are you passionate about<br />
spas and love technology?<br />
WE’RE HIRING!<br />
Book4Time is a global leader in spa, wellness and leisure activity management<br />
software for the hospitality market. Our SaaS platform manages the end-to-end<br />
guest experience and back office operations for hotels, resorts, casinos and private<br />
clubs in over 85 countries.<br />
Book4Time is experiencing rapid growth and we’re looking to hire experienced spa<br />
industry professionals in a number of key customer-facing roles including:<br />
Sales (Remote - North America, Europe/Middle East, Asia, LATAM)<br />
Client Success<br />
Training and Onboarding<br />
If you thrive on innovation and are looking for a compelling career opportunity,<br />
view our current openings @ https://book4time.com/careers/
FREE UP FRONT DESK TIME<br />
SO SPA STAFF CAN FOCUS<br />
ON WHAT MATTERS<br />
A guest should feel like the most<br />
important person in the world. Here’s<br />
how to free up front desk time to make<br />
that happen.<br />
In a luxury spa and luxury hotel spa, Forbes Five-Star standards are always top of mind, and the way in<br />
which a guest is welcomed is a big part of those standards. From the moment a guest arrives at the<br />
spa, they should feel like the most important person in the world for whom the spa team has all the<br />
time in the world.<br />
This means feeling taken care of. It means a warm greeting in a calm, tranquil environment from a front<br />
desk team member who knows their name and why they’ve come, creating an emotional connection<br />
from the outset. It means getting a tour of the spa and being escorted to the locker room, and being<br />
offered a beverage and a robe and slippers in their proper size. It means that the guest is engaged in<br />
conversation by a greeter who is relaxed, professional, and not rushed, harried, or distracted.<br />
But this isn’t always easy to achieve, is it?<br />
In order to create that tranquil environment with that relaxed and totally undistracted front desk team,<br />
a lot has to happen behind the scenes. This is where your software system comes in to free up time<br />
for your staff to focus as much as possible on the guest experience while the guests are in the spa.<br />
With cloud software, you can dramatically reduce the time your front desk staff spends taking and<br />
confirming phone appointments, filling out gift cards, recording guest information, tracking inventory,<br />
and more.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 14
Here’s how.<br />
1. Save hours of phone time with online and mobile booking<br />
There is a growing cohort of people who don’t want to book appointments over the phone<br />
and who expect to be able to book online or by mobile. These booking options are musthaves<br />
today, and an added benefit, beyond meeting growing demand, is that they mean less<br />
time on the phone for your team. When a guest arrives at the spa, they expect someone to<br />
pay attention to them, and they don’t want to stand around and wait while someone talks<br />
on the phone.<br />
Krista Foulis, Book4Time’s Customer Success Director, was once the <strong>Spa</strong> Director at the<br />
Park Hyatt Toronto. Recalling the days before Book4Time and online booking, she says, “I<br />
had two or three people answering phones all day and it was non-stop. That’s hundreds<br />
of calls.”<br />
And a call can take up to 20 minutes to complete. It usually takes closer to ten, however.<br />
So, if you have one team member taking calls in a busy spa, and just 15 of those calls per<br />
day move to an online booking system, that’s 2.5 hours of time saved – per day!<br />
2. Reduce wait times with virtual intake forms<br />
Sending virtual intake forms allows guests to fill out personal information on their own<br />
time, which reduces wait times when the guest arrives at the spa and allows your team to<br />
check this information beforehand or during downtime (or even from home, with a cloudbased<br />
system), saving further time when the guest is waiting.<br />
If it takes five minutes for the guest to fill out the intake form and five minutes for the team<br />
member to enter the information into the system, and you can get 20 people per week to fill<br />
out the virtual form, that’s more than three hours in time saved per week.<br />
3. Cut tedious tasks with online gift certificates<br />
Gift certificates are an excellent way to attract new customers and, at certain times of<br />
year, selling them can take a lot of time. This time is measurably reduced with online gift<br />
certificate sales, as online certificates don’t need to be handwritten, boxed, bagged, or<br />
wrapped with a pretty bow.<br />
Krista Foulis says that, before Book4Time and online gift certificates at Park Hyatt, “During<br />
the holidays we set up a whole desk and I would have to hire an extra 10-15 people just to<br />
sell the certificates. Once we started doing it online that was cut in half.”<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 15
4. Create an instant emotional connection with a note taking function<br />
As we know, guests these days expect a personalized experience and will be impressed<br />
if they receive one and very unimpressed if they don’t. And it takes time to gather the<br />
information required to make this happen. Book4Time allows your staff to capture<br />
all pertinent information in one central system, including purchase history, robe size,<br />
preferences (like favourite music or a preferred beverage), and even past<br />
conversation topics.<br />
All of this is accessible at the click of a button and viewable from anywhere. So, staff can<br />
be prepared with that glass of champagne and small gift of a new product from a favorite<br />
company, and remember to ask about how the guest has settled into their new home, for<br />
example. All in the time it takes to log into the system and read the report without having<br />
to ask any questions or fumble through manually written notes.<br />
When used optimally, software frees up hours of front-desk staff time per week, making<br />
it a breeze to be prepared and present, and create that emotional connection the guest is<br />
looking for.<br />
Do you wish your team had more time? Learn more from Book4Time or book a demo now.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 16
Take a look inside the stunning Eden<br />
Roc Cap Cana, a secluded luxury<br />
resort located just a 15-minute drive<br />
from Punta Cana International Airport<br />
in the Dominican Republic.<br />
PROPERTY FEATURE:<br />
EDEN ROC CAP CANA<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 17
The Dominican Republic’s Eden Roc Cap Cana is a breathtaking property located in a<br />
secluded beachfront community, just a 15-minute drive from Punta Cana International<br />
Airport in the Dominican Republic.<br />
A Relais & Châteaux member hotel, the Forbes four-star resort features 32 magnificent<br />
Boutique Suites, each with a private pool, 26 elegantly designed Beachfront Suites with<br />
romantic settings, and four charming Oceanfront Pool Villas.<br />
Forbes describes the property as<br />
celebrating “the aesthetics of the<br />
1960s French and Italian Rivieras while<br />
managing to stay relatively true to its<br />
Caribbean setting.” That setting is rich<br />
with lush greenery and sits on a strip of<br />
exquisite white-sand beach.<br />
Private and posh accommodations are<br />
at the heart of the resort’s fundamental<br />
promise to its visitors:<br />
“cherished intimacy for all.”<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 18
Eden Roc Wellness & <strong>Spa</strong><br />
Eden Roc Wellness & <strong>Spa</strong> is the only spa in the<br />
western hemisphere, and one of only a few in<br />
the world, to use only Natura Bissé products in<br />
all of their treatments. The serene environment<br />
features 12 indoor and outdoor treatment rooms,<br />
a dedicated 1,200-square-foot anti-gravity yoga<br />
area, an Aqua Garden with a freshwater pool and<br />
a state-of-the-art gym. According to Forbes Travel<br />
Guide, “you’d be remiss to skip an afternoon of<br />
relaxation here.”<br />
Wellness & <strong>Spa</strong> Director, Pedro Castillo, has been<br />
using Book4Time’s software system at Eden Roc<br />
since 2018 and has said that the software has<br />
made a big, positive impact on operations.<br />
He said in a case-study interview “Other vendors<br />
claim to offer an all-in-one wellness and spa<br />
booking solution, but Book4Time is the only<br />
platform that provides everything out of the box.<br />
Built-in functions include appointment booking;<br />
marketing and retention; revenue management;<br />
guest experience and CRM; inventory management;<br />
and security and privacy.”<br />
Castillo also said that the <strong>Spa</strong> at Eden Roc has<br />
increased sales by 42% since using Book4Time<br />
and that, “Thanks to Book4Time, my staff and I are<br />
spending less time dealing with administrative,<br />
accounting, staffing, and inventory issues, and<br />
more time dealing directly with customers.”<br />
Eden Roc also offers the world-class “Lifestyle”<br />
program, incorporating self-care, exercise,<br />
nutrition, and activities created to cultivate an<br />
atmosphere of wellness and relaxation in the<br />
lifestyle of the resort and community. The goal is<br />
to “demonstrate that incorporating wellness into<br />
everyday activities is a simple yet life-changing<br />
way of living.”<br />
These packages include the services of a personal<br />
concierge and the creation of a customized<br />
schedule of classes, spa treatments, activities,<br />
and dining reservations.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 19
Castillo notes that Book4Time has been particularly good for<br />
these activities. He said, “Our property using Book4time found<br />
it very easy to incorporate our wellness classes and activities.<br />
These are easily managed with Book4time. I genuinely believe<br />
the future of hospitality is wellness, and Book4Time is a<br />
wellness software, not just spa software.”<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 20
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 21
FOUR SEASONS’ PAT<br />
MAKOZAK ON CREATIVITY<br />
& INTUITIVE EXPERIENCES<br />
Pat Makozak, <strong>Spa</strong> Director at Four<br />
Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, says<br />
unscripted moments make the best<br />
guest experiences.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 22
The Four Seasons Resort Wailea Maui is a worldrenowned<br />
five-star luxury resort in the town of<br />
Wailea, known for exceptional service and guest<br />
experience – not to mention a gorgeous setting.<br />
At Four Seasons Resort Wailea Maui visitors enjoy<br />
customized guest journeys in the most spacious<br />
accommodations on the island of Maui.<br />
Pat Makozak is the Senior <strong>Spa</strong> Director in a<br />
wellness space that is an integral part of that<br />
journey. Her expertise lies in creating magical<br />
experiences that exceed expectations and guide<br />
guests toward relief and comfort.<br />
After school I was fortunate to connect with a<br />
doctor in Beverly Hills who sent me his celebrity<br />
clientele to massage. I was managing residential<br />
real-estate as well at the time.<br />
I heard that the spa director was leaving the<br />
Peninsula Hotel and I knew the General Manager<br />
there. I asked the GM to consider me. He was<br />
aware that I had a massage practice but did<br />
not realize all that I had to oversee in managing<br />
residential real estate. I wanted to transition from<br />
performing wellness experiences to managing<br />
them for others, and he gave me a shot.<br />
Interestingly, her career didn’t begin in hospitality<br />
but as an actress. During that time she discovered<br />
that the physicality of acting has the power to<br />
release deeply stored emotions and memories,<br />
as well as the revelations that accompany them<br />
– and this drove an interest in massage therapy.<br />
We’ll let Ms. Makozak tell the rest. We spoke with<br />
her about guest experience, creativity, and what<br />
she loves about her job.<br />
Can you talk about your career trajectory<br />
and how you came to be doing what you<br />
are today?<br />
I studied Theatre at NYU, had some luck after<br />
graduating, then moved to LA to pursue film and<br />
television. But, by that time I was 30 and getting<br />
work was slim. I also began to want some items<br />
in my life, like furniture, and so started to look at<br />
other career options.<br />
I had been fascinated by seeing the range of<br />
emotion that a human being could go through by<br />
simply performing the movement and vocalization<br />
exercises I experienced as part of my acting<br />
training. Witnessing a dearth of emotion trapped<br />
in the body that, if released, would result in one<br />
being emotionally and physically better off, led me<br />
to massage school.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 23
I didn’t understand how momentous it was for<br />
me to be given that kind of an opportunity. It was<br />
a five-star hotel, and a huge learning curve, but I<br />
absolutely loved it.<br />
From there, I came to the Four Seasons Maui and<br />
have been here for 17 years.<br />
What are some of the things your role<br />
entails?<br />
As a regional director I oversee five properties in<br />
Hawaii and Bora Bora. I assist the spa directors,<br />
helping to drive business and make<br />
creative decisions.<br />
I enjoy being able to guide other spa directors<br />
along their own journey, whether they’re new to the<br />
business or new to our company.<br />
What’s an example of a creative decision<br />
in a spa?<br />
One property I manage is in a very isolated small<br />
community. It’s a challenge to find employees and<br />
we were always trying to import people to work at<br />
the hotel and spa without a lot of success. So, we<br />
connected with a massage school here on Maui,<br />
and they very creatively found some space to set<br />
up a massage school at the property.<br />
There’s not a lot of opportunity on that island<br />
except for the tourist industry and most of the<br />
young people were leaving. This gave those getting<br />
out of high school an opportunity to stay. It was a<br />
good idea but it took the right spa director to really<br />
commit to it and she was able to graduate 10<br />
people in her first year of overseeing the program.<br />
At least seven of those ended up working as<br />
massage therapists in the spa.<br />
Another example is, many years ago, we tried<br />
sending a massage therapist out to the pool to<br />
see how that would go. The area can get crowded<br />
and, once the guest gets the chair they want,<br />
they don’t want to move. We thought sending the<br />
therapist to the guests in their lounge chairs might<br />
have an appeal. And it certainly did. To this day we<br />
generally have three to four therapists on the pool<br />
deck adding an extra bit of relief and luxury. It’s an<br />
$800k a year revenue source for us with absolutely<br />
no overhead.<br />
We also created enhancements to allow therapists<br />
to showcase the spa’s available products by<br />
including them in the treatments. Therapists<br />
are not necessarily natural salespeople, so this<br />
allowed them to incorporate product sales without<br />
having to be overly sales driven.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 24
Can you talk more about guiding therapists<br />
who are not natural sales people?<br />
I think therapists look at this differently from<br />
estheticians. Estheticians are more sales oriented<br />
and want to sell the products. That’s not really<br />
the motivating factor for therapists. Therapists<br />
consider themselves healers and they’re not<br />
comfortable with sales. It took a lot of trial and<br />
error to understand how to best reach them and<br />
we are still refining this training.<br />
Our vendors were generous to send us<br />
complimentary product and we had the leads do<br />
a demo of each one of the enhancements, then<br />
had the teams perform them on each other, so<br />
they could see how it feels. We coached them to<br />
choose the enhancements that they felt would<br />
really benefit the guests and introduce it that way.<br />
In the beginning, they were adding about 20%<br />
enhancement sales to their treatment sales. Then<br />
we added the enhancement sales to our existing<br />
seniority point system that allows us to rank our<br />
booking order, and that became very important to<br />
them. They went from selling 20% to selling 40%.<br />
We have found that for the few who are natural<br />
sales people, are also the best trainers. They<br />
speak the same language as the team and bring<br />
about the best results with their co-workers.<br />
What are you excited about?<br />
Even though this pandemic has been challenging<br />
in so many ways, it has added to the wellness focus<br />
in a huge way that I don’t think anybody could have<br />
ever anticipated. I’m very pleased about this larger<br />
sense of awareness to one’s own health.<br />
We recently partnered with a revolutionary health<br />
optimization center called Next|Health to create<br />
a program of exclusive, tailor-made offerings for<br />
travellers seeking an upgraded spa experience.<br />
Guests now have access to amazing, cutting edge<br />
options like Next-Level NAD+ IV, customized IV<br />
therapy treatments, vitamin shots, and biomarker<br />
testing. They can give you all kinds of information<br />
about what’s going on with your health. They do<br />
stem cell therapy, ozone therapy, cryotherapy.<br />
It’s amazing that we found them. What they offer<br />
makes it possible for people to take our health<br />
back into our own hands.<br />
What makes a great luxury guest<br />
experience?<br />
The best experience is intuitive. It takes a certain<br />
kind of individual to be aware and present, to listen,<br />
and to understand what the guest needs before<br />
the guest even need knows they need it.<br />
It’s a memorable surprise when you’re offered<br />
something or given the chance to experience<br />
something that is there just for you. It’s those<br />
unscripted moments when a guest sees that<br />
somebody has thoughtfully picked up on<br />
something they’ve said and created something<br />
just for them.<br />
What’s your favorite thing about your job?<br />
It’s hard for me to narrow it down, but one of the<br />
things that brings me a lot of joy is seeing my<br />
staff, that may have had very little “wellness”<br />
exposure, begin to alter their lifestyles based on<br />
their experience of the spa environment. That is<br />
very gratifying.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 25
3 TIPS FOR OPTIMIZING<br />
YOUR RETAIL REVENUE<br />
Retail is often a challenge in spas, but<br />
you can make it a significant part of<br />
your revenue. Start optimizing your<br />
retail strategy with these three tips<br />
from TW Squared.<br />
By Tawnya Wych and Tracie Weeden, Co-Founders<br />
& Owners of TW Squared Retail Services.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 26
Retail can be a challenge in spas. This doesn’t<br />
have to be the case. The spa industry is rich<br />
with product and skincare experts who are well<br />
equipped to guide guests in making the right<br />
purchases for their individual needs. It’s just that<br />
sometimes retail takes a back seat to everything<br />
else happening in a spa at any given moment. A<br />
retail management system and the right support<br />
and training can help.<br />
Retail is an integral part of hospitality, spa,<br />
and wellness business that can help create an<br />
exceptional customer experience. Your retail<br />
revenue should be at least 10% of total spa revenue,<br />
and with a variety of brands and categories, online<br />
retail, secondary or pop-up shops, and events<br />
throughout the year, you can even achieve 20%<br />
retail revenue, or even more (depending on the<br />
size of your retail space)!<br />
That might seem high, but it is absolutely doable.<br />
If you want to increase your spa’s retail revenue,<br />
start optimizing your retail strategy with these<br />
three tips:<br />
Implement a retail management system<br />
You’re busy. A retail management system can<br />
help. These systems are designed to support the<br />
running of retail operations, and can handle such<br />
tasks as ecommerce activity, flow of inventory,<br />
customer relationships, and more.<br />
It’s important to gain a true understanding of your<br />
system in order to get the most out of it.<br />
Before choosing a system, determine your needs<br />
today and any future needs your business may<br />
have, then explore various options to understand<br />
the functionality they offer. The size of your<br />
business and number of items and categories<br />
you sell will determine if an all-in-one system<br />
for services and retail is sufficient. Large retail<br />
operations may want a more robust back-office<br />
inventory system that enables you to track color<br />
and size easily and offers more reporting options<br />
for buyers and executives. Identify the decision<br />
maker and leaders from each department that<br />
will use the system and have one point person<br />
assemble information from others and coordinate<br />
with the system team.<br />
You’ll have to gather your data, so be obsessive<br />
about providing the most complete and accurate<br />
data you can. Include only active items, as bringing<br />
in every item leads to confusion. It’s much easier<br />
to add items than to remove them from a system.<br />
Do not take shortcuts on data and expect to fix it<br />
later, as that rarely happens.<br />
If you spend time upfront, you set yourself up for<br />
success. Virtual training before go-live is important<br />
to ensure everyone understands the system<br />
and their role. Refresher training and continued<br />
support after the install ensure success.<br />
Stay on top of your inventory<br />
Staying on top of your inventory means you’ll<br />
never run out of a popular item or overstock one<br />
that isn’t selling. It will help drive your sales and<br />
allow you to make better business decisions for<br />
the future.<br />
Use a retail inventory system to create and<br />
generate daily, weekly, and monthly sales reports.<br />
It’s important to check discounts, margin, top<br />
sellers, and sell through. Someone should be<br />
dedicated to restocking the sales floor daily, to<br />
avoid missed sales opportunities.<br />
Identify vendors, categories and items that are<br />
best sellers and generate the most revenue.<br />
Provide the team with purchase order reports, so<br />
they are aware of incoming product and prepared<br />
to receive it immediately upon delivery. Review<br />
inventory reports, check for items with low onhand<br />
numbers and generate reorders to meet the<br />
demands of your sales and maintain optimum<br />
stock levels.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 27
Maintain your system to ensure inventory is<br />
accurate. Perform regular physical inventories and<br />
address any shrink issues such as internal theft,<br />
external theft, and data integrity issues. Analyze<br />
your sales by shop, vendor, classifications, product<br />
age, turn, and cost of goods sold.<br />
A thoughtful and thorough analysis of sales and<br />
inventory will take your business to the next level.<br />
You should never be out of stock of best sellers<br />
when you have a sophisticated system and know<br />
how to use it. Maintain actionable and clean data.<br />
You must know what you sold, when you sold it,<br />
and at what cost, to make better buying decisions<br />
for the future.<br />
Get the whole team on board<br />
It’s imperative to teach your team to fully utilize<br />
your retail system and make sure they have the<br />
time to be on the sales floor and spend time with<br />
customers. Hire people who are passionate about<br />
retail and turn them into evangelists for your<br />
products. Successful retail teams build strong<br />
relationships with their vendors. They have product<br />
information and can tell the story of the product<br />
to customers. Include everyone in vendor training<br />
from front desk staff to therapists. The more they<br />
know, the better they can sell, and you want your<br />
staff to be passionate about the products they sell.<br />
When something isn’t selling, ask vendors to<br />
swap it out rather than taking deep markdowns.<br />
Schedule trunk shows and events with current<br />
vendors to increase sales and test potential<br />
vendors without investing in new inventory. Your<br />
retail shop is a work in progress and should evolve<br />
with new people and new products.<br />
Listen to you customers and staff about what’s<br />
missing from your assortment and look for those<br />
items. Your customers know what they want!<br />
Exploring new brands and developing custom<br />
products will take your retail to the next level.<br />
Pay constant attention to your retail and you will<br />
be rewarded with increased revenue.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2021</strong> Issue • p. 28
<strong>Spa</strong> <strong>Executive</strong><br />
FOR LEADERS IN THE BUSINESS OF WELLNESS<br />
ADVERTISE WITH US<br />
CONTACT SAL CAPIZZI FOR MORE INFORMATION<br />
SCAPIZZI@SPAEXECUTIVE.COM<br />
info@spaexecutive.com | www.spaexecutive.com