Spa Executive May -June 2023 - 1

ISSUE #45 MAY/JUNE 2023 

SPA EXECUTIVE 

FOR LEADERS IN THE BUSINESS OF WELLNESS 

The ChatGPT & AI issue 

Spotlight: 

Oracle’s Laura Calin on hospitality tech, 

ChatGPT & AI 

Feature: 

How will ChatGPT be used in hotels, 

resorts, and spas? We asked it to tell us 

Management: 

How Generative AI can help with 

recruitment & retention in hospitality 

Featured property: 

Fairmont Chateau Whistler

PUBLISHER 

Roger Sholanki 

EDITOR, CREATIVE DIRECTOR 

Elizabeth Bromstein 

Note from the Editor 

Dear readers, 

DESIGNER 

Design Pickle 

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, 

PRODUCTION MANAGER 

Sal Capizzi 

For the past few months, people in every industry have been talking about generative artificial intelligence (AI). 

ChatGPT is a generative AI chatbot developed by OpenAI and released in November 2022. A natural language 

processing tool driven by AI technology, ChatGPT allows people to have human-like conversations with the 

chatbot. It can also be used to generate text and ideas, write articles and ad copy, research topics, and more. 

Most people seem to agree that the launch of ChatGPT and the promise of similar and better tools to come 

are game changers, and everyone is talking about the role the technology will play in the near and far future. 

So, in this issue of Spa Executive we asked Laura Calin, Group Vice President of Global Hospitality Strategy & 

Solutions at Oracle, to be our oracle and share some of her predictions about how generative AI will be used in 

hospitality. And we asked Ms. Calin about how tech has changed the hospitality industry and how it contributes 

to the guest experience. 

Also in this issue, Roger Sholanki, CEO of Book4Time, shares his insights about generative AI with us; we ask 

ChatGPT itself to tell us how it will be used in hotels, resorts, and spas; and we discuss how AI can be used to 

help attract and retain talent. 

While we can never know exactly how this sort of thing will play out - who would have predicted that phones 

would primarily become cameras or that we would use the incredible power of having all the information in 

the world at our fingertips mainly to watch kitten videos and argue with strangers? - we can guess and learn 

from the experts. 

Spa Executive 

Of course, at the end of the day, we have to wait and see how it plays out, but hopefully we can, as an industry, 

harness as much positive power from this as possible. 

Spa Executive is Book4Time’s 

magazine for leaders in the 

business of wellness. News, 

views, and interviews for those 

who want to attract top talent, 

increase customer retention, 

and offer the best possible 

guest experience. 

I hope you enjoy reading this month’s Spa Executive and that our content provides valuable information that 

helps you achieve success. 

Elizabeth Bromstein, 

Editor, 

Spa Executive

Contents 

May/June 2023 Volume 45 

4 

6 

MARKETING: 

How to handle bad reviews of your hotel or spa 

ADVICE: 

Dear Sal, how can I keep my 

spa team productive during downtime? 

8 

10 

12 

14 

CHATGPT & GENERATIVE AI 

TECHNOLOGY: 

Book4Time CEO, Roger Sholanki, shares his 

thoughts on how AI will transform hospitality 

TECHNOLOGY: 

How will ChatGPT be used in hotels, resorts, 

and spas? We asked it to tell us 

TECHNOLOGY: 

How AI can help with recruitment & retention 

in hospitality 

SPOTLIGHT: 


ChatGPT & AI 

18 

20 

FEATURED PROPERTY: 

Fairmont Chateau Whistler 

BUSINESS: 

Overcoming challenges of offering wellness 

programs in hospitality 

23 

MARKETING 

MARKETING: 

Marketing tips and strategies for your hotel’s 

spa & ancillary revenue departments 

27 

29 

31 

WELLNESS RESEARCH: 

Stress ages you but it’s reversible 

new study finds 

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: 

Irisha Steele shares insights on 

marketing & mentoring 

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: 

Revinate empowers hoteliers to 

deliver delightful experiences and drive 

direct revenue

Marketing: 

How to handle bad reviews of your 

hotel or spa 

Don’t get mad. Be nice. Here’s how to handle 

bad reviews of your hotel, resort or spa. 

Online reviews matter. They can make or 

break your spa or hospitality business. 

Research has found that: 

72% of customers use Google reviews to 

find businesses 

94% of consumers have avoided a 

company because of a bad review 

Customers don’t trust companies with 

lower than 4-star ratings 

Research consistently finds that a vast 

majority of people will factor online reviews 

into their purchase decisions – and travelers 

are no exception. People read reviews 

before booking a service or place to stay. 

A 2019 TripAdvisor survey found that 72% 

of respondents always or frequently read 

reviews before making a decision on places 

to stay and eat, or things to do. And the 

figure was even higher for accommodation 

bookings, with four out of five participating 

travelers (81%) always or frequently reading 

reviews before booking a place to stay. 

You must stay on top of your reviews and 

your company’s online reputation. We 

imagine you’re already offering top tier 

customer service at your spa, hotel, resort, 

or wellness business. But no matter how 

hard you work, someone is eventually going 

to be displeased – and even the best of the 

best make mistakes. 

Here are some strategies for handling bad 

online reviews so that you come out on top. 

Respond promptly and professionally 

Responding to negative reviews promptly 

and professionally shows that you are paying 

attention. One survey shows that more 

than half of customers expect companies to 

respond to reviews. And, according to a 2018 

Harvard Business Review study titled Replying 

to Customer Reviews Results in Better Ratings, 

“When hotels start responding, they receive 

12% more reviews and their ratings increase 

by an average of 0.12 stars (on a 1-to-5 scale). 

These gains may seem small, but they can have 

a significant effect on the hotel’s rating, due to 

how platforms like TripAdvisor round ratings up 

or down.” Address the customer’s concerns and 

show that you are taking it seriously. 

4 

| Spa Executive

Don’t get angry or defensive 

It’s important to remain calm and professional 

when responding to negative reviews. Avoid 

getting defensive or attacking the customer, as 

this can make the situation worse and make 

you look like a jerk. Be gracious, no matter how 

absurd you might think the person’s complaint. 

The more gracious you are, the sillier the other 

person will look if they are not gracious, and so 

they are likely to be gracious as well. 

Take the conversation offline 

Encourage the customer to contact you directly 

to discuss the issue further. This can prevent 

things from escalating and further negative 

comments from being posted online. If you 

know who the person is, take it upon yourself to 

reach out by email or phone. 

Find a solution 

Does the customer have a legitimate 

complaint? If so, you should acknowledge its 

legitimacy and attempt to rectify the situation 

by offering a solution or compensation, 

such as a discount, or free product, service, 

or experience. This shows that you take 

customer service seriously and are willing 

to make things right. Even if you aren’t 

convinced the complaint is legitimate, it can 

help to make a peace offering. 

Apologize 

You can apologize because you’re sorry the 

reviewer is not happy without admitting to 

being at fault, if you feel you were not. A 

sincere apology can be an effective means 

of disarming the aggrieved party by forcing 

the complainant to shift to an attitude of 

magnanimity in order to maintain their power 

position. If you are effusive enough in your 

apology, there is no point in continuing to 

attack you as it starts to make them look and 

feel petty. 

Collect as many positive reviews as possible 

Happy customers are much less likely than 

unhappy ones to leave reviews without being 

prompted to do so. And most people won’t 

leave a review without being asked, while most 

will reportedly do so if you do ask them. So, ask. 

Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive 

reviews to offset the negative. This will help 

improve your overall rating and reputation. 

Also, research shows that businesses with a 

minimum of 200 reviews generate twice as 

much revenue as those with fewer. 

Send out customer satisfaction surveys after 

a guest leaves your spa or property and, if 

they indicate that they are happy with their 

experience, promptly request that they leave 

you a review. Software can help. For example, 

Book4Time partner Demandforce can send 

automated review requests via email or text 

message, after which reviews can be published 

directly to Google. You can also receive realtime 

alerts when a review of your business is 

posted online and generate instant replies. 

Say thank you 

Find your gratitude. Even if you have to do it 

through gritted teeth, thank the customer for their 

feedback and for sharing their experience. You 

might also thank them for bringing gaps in your 

customer experience to your attention and for 

showing you where you need to improve. 

Learn from the experience 

Use negative reviews as an opportunity to 

learn and improve your business. Be honest 

with yourself and your team about potential 

issues that should be addressed and identify 

any recurring ones that come up repeatedly in 

reviews. Take steps to address these issues with 

training and making sure everyone is aligned. 

Your brand reputation depends on this. 

Of course, the best way to handle negative 

online reviews is to avoid them in the first 

place. Do your best to ensure that your guest 

experience is exquisite from end to end – and 

above reproach. 

5 


Dear Sal, how can I keep my spa team 

productive during downtime? 

Sal Capizzi, Marketing Director at Book4Time 

and a former Director of Spa and Wellness 

at NEXUS Luxury Collection, shares his expert 

insight into your reader questions. 

Send your queries about managing staff, 

operations, and anything else you want to know 

(challenge him!) to scapizzi@spaexecutive.com 

Q. Dear Sal: 

I’m trying to come up with 

I’m trying to come up with downtime 

downtime tasks for my 

tasks for my concierge team so they can 

concierge team so they can stay 

stay productive during downtimes. 

productive during downtimes. 

Can you help? 

Can you help? 

A. This is a great question because no team is 

free from the occasional slow day at the spa. 

The first thing you want to do is assess why 

you are having a slow day. Is your team prebooking 

appointments? Are they incentivized 

to pre-book appointments? Creating healthy 

competition amongst your desk staff is a 

surefire way to have as many pre-booked 

appointments as possible. But maybe 

operations are solid and this is a one off. 

Start with outreach. Have an outreach 

plan for your desk staff to start chipping 

away at instead of playing Candy Crush. This 

can be anything from clients who haven’t 

visited the spa in 30/60/90 days to reaching 

out to clients who have open gift card 

balances and reminding them there is still 

pre-funded money on their account that 

needs to be spent! 

Create the ultimate guest experience. 

Send a thank-you email or write a phone call 

script for your staff to begin communicating. I 

personally wouldn’t suggest calling someone 

who visited the spa more than 30 days ago 

but thanking clients for coming in for a visit 

within the first 48 to 72 hours is essential. 

This is also a great time to offer these clients 

a pre-booking incentive just in case the team 

“forgot” at checkout. 

Correct that wear and tear. Your spa is 

busy and chances are the equipment you 

use will have seen better days as time goes 

on. Have your team take an audit of table 

mechanics, towel warmers, oil stains on walls 

in treatment rooms and common areas, and 

double check any amenities that see a lot of 

traffic. This could involve your lounge area 

down to your steam room. 

6 


Generate visibility. We don’t always have 

the chance to grab our phones and post on 

social media during a typical work day. Use 

your downtime as a chance to showcase 

any new services or products that you are 

offering in your spa. 

Plan promotions. As a business operations 

manager it is your responsibility to create 

promotions during the holiday season and for 

special occasions throughout the year. If your 

spa has been busy and you have been putting 

that Mothers Day/Father’s Day/Family Day 

promotion off, now is the time to plan it from 

start to finish! Once your promotion is created, 

let your concierge staff take it and run with 

it. Have them run a report to see who visited 

the spa during the same time range or for the 

same promotion in past years and have them 

reach out to these clients to let them know 

the promotion is happening again. Chances 

are they enjoyed their experience and the 

promotion so much that they will purchase it 

again. Want to take it a step further? Create that 

healthy competition amongst your staff and 

reward them with a signature treatment or a 

monetary bonus for whoever books or sells the 

most promotion packages! 

Good luck! 

Sal 

7 



Technology: 

Book4Time CEO, Roger Sholanki, shares his 

thoughts on how AI will transform hospitality 

Book4Time CEO and publisher of Spa 

Executive magazine, Roger Sholanki, shares his 

thoughts on how AI will transform hospitality. 

Spa Executive is published by Book4Time, 

the leader in guest management and 

ancillary revenue solutions for the most 

exclusive spas, hotels, and resorts around 

the globe. 

Roger Sholanki is Book4Time’s CEO, a tech 

entrepreneur who is passionate about 

building disruptive companies and products 

that help advance the global hospitality, 

health, and wellness industries. He thrives 

on challenging the status quo and setting 

the bar higher for everything from product 

development to customer success. 

We’re talking about ChatGPT and generative 

AI in this issue, so we asked Roger Sholanki 

to weigh in on the topic of how ChatGPT 

and AI tools will transform hospitality. Here’s 

what he had to say: 

How does tech enhance the end-to-end 

guest experience? 

Guest facing technology plays a key 

role in helping spas and hotels deliver a 

consistent end-to-end guest experience 

from initial decision making through to 

completing a booking, check-in and checkout. 

We continue to see our customers 

adopting more of our guest facing 

modules to help customize the guest 

experience best suited to their brand 

proposition and operating procedures. 

The tech is the silent ‘brains’ behind the 

scenes helping both consumers and staff 

with the boring Stuff, freeing them up to 

focus more on overall experience and 

drive more valuable interactions. 

Everyone is talking about how ChatGPT and 

generative AI will transform industries. How will 

AI transform hospitality? 

Generative AI is not new. Most of the 

technologies we’re seeing today have 

existed for several years. However, the 

convergence of several trends has made it 

possible to productize generative models 

and bring them to new applications such 

as CHATGPT. 

The top three benefits ChatGPT brings 

to spas, hotels and most hospitality 

businesses is to help improve the guest 

experience, drive more business and 

reduce operating costs. 

8 


What are some concerns or pitfalls companies 

should be aware of with CHATGPT and other tech? 

ChatGPT is undoubtedly very promising 

and exciting, but its implementation 

into businesses comes with certain risks 

that must be considered. For example, 

it can provide wrong information with 

a high level of confidence. This raises 

ethical concerns like the possibility of 

sharing deceptive content and spreading 

misinformation that could result in ruined 

reputations, or circulating incorrect facts 

that could leave businesses with huge 

liability risks. 

Oversight of generative AI across the 

board is a big topic across the industry, 

any business looking to deploy ChatGPT 

or any other advancements driven by 

generative AI should keep current on 

the latest developments including new 

legislation and laws in development. 

What do you find exciting about all this? 

Our team is excited to take advantage of 

AI’s potential, having already begun several 

projects involving this technology that we 

are eager to share the results of and bring 

to market in the coming years. As much as 

we are mindful of the risks, the remarkable 

potential of ChatGPT and other AI tools will 

be exceptionally beneficial and will change 

the way we do business over the next 

decade or sooner. 

9 



Technology: 


and spas? We asked it to tell us 


and spas. We asked it and here’s what it had 

to say. 

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence chatbot 

developed by OpenAI and released in 

November 2022. A natural language processing 

tool driven by AI technology, ChatGPT allows 

people to have human-like conversations with 

the chatbot. It can also be used to generate 

text, write articles and ad copy, generate ideas, 

research topics, and more. 

While it’s just one generative Artificial 

Intelligence (AI) tool, ChatGPT made a 

huge splash thanks to its versatility and 

intelligence that appears to be way beyond 

that of other tools. It’s said to be the most 

advanced AI yet, but similar tools are 

emerging – like Google Bard and Jasper 

Chat – and more advanced ones will 

continue to emerge. This is just a glimpse 

of what is to come. 

It’s clear at this point that this will change 

things in every industry, revolutionizing 

communication, changing the way we automate 

tasks, improving efficiencies and more. 

It also has a darker side, including the 

potential propagation of misinformation and 

the decimation of workforces. But you can’t 

close Pandora’s box. So, here we are. 

Speculation abounds as to how ChatGPT and 

other AI tools will impact specific industries, 

including hospitality, spa, and wellness. 

So, we asked ChatGPT to comment on how 

it will be used in the hotel, resort, and spa 

industry. Here’s what it had to say. 

Spa Executive: How will AI be used in the 

hotel and resort industry? 

ChatGPT: AI technology has the potential 

to significantly transform the hospitality 

industry, including hotels, resorts, and 

spas, enhancing service delivery and 

improving guest experiences. Here’s how 

AI can be employed: 

Chatbots and Virtual Assistants: AIpowered 

chatbots can provide instant 

customer service, answering queries about 

room availability, pricing, services, and 

local attractions. In-room virtual assistants 

can enable guests to control room 

features using voice commands. Similarly, 

in spas, these virtual assistants can answer 

client questions and guide clients through 

at-home wellness routines. 

10 | Spa Executive

Personalization: By analyzing customer 

data like preferences, search history, 

and previous bookings, AI can offer 

personalized recommendations for 

rooms, services, and local experiences in 

hotels and resorts. In spas, AI can provide 

personalized treatment recommendations 

based on individual preferences and 

responses to specific treatments. 

Revenue and Inventory Management: 

AI algorithms can help optimize pricing 

strategies in hotels and resorts, considering 

factors like booking patterns and competitor 

prices. In spas, AI can optimize inventory 

management, predicting demand for certain 

products or services. 

Housekeeping, Maintenance, and 

Service Delivery: AI-powered robots 

can be employed for tasks like cleaning 

rooms, delivering amenities, and handling 

luggage in hotels. Drones can be used for 

property inspections and maintenance. 

AI can assist with staff scheduling in spas, 

ensuring that staff skills are matched with 

the right treatments. 

Energy and Resource Management: 

AI can monitor and analyze energy 

consumption patterns in real-time, 

optimizing energy use and reducing costs in 

hotels and resorts. 

Food and Beverage Management: AI 

can optimize menus based on customer 

preferences, dietary restrictions, and 

seasonal ingredients in hotels and resorts, 

as well as assist in managing inventory and 

minimizing food waste. 

Marketing and Sales: AI-driven 

algorithms can create targeted marketing 

campaigns and promotions, helping hotels, 

resorts, and spas reach the right audience 

and increase bookings. 

Workforce Management: AI can 

streamline employee scheduling, task 

allocation, and performance monitoring 

in hotels and resorts, resulting in higher 

efficiency and better staff allocation. 

While the adoption of AI in the spa 

industry is still relatively nascent compared 

to other sectors, these technologies offer 

a range of potential benefits that can 

enhance both the customer experience 

and the spa’s operational efficiency. As 

AI technology continues to evolve, its 

applications in the hospitality industry will 

expand further, offering new opportunities 

for improving operational efficiency, guest 

satisfaction, and overall competitiveness, 

and its use in the spa industry is likely to 

become increasingly commonplace. 

Security and Access Control: Facial 

recognition and other AI-enabled security 

systems can be used for guest check-ins and 

secure access to hotel and spa facilities. 

Guest Experience Enhancement: AI can 

be used to analyze guest feedback from 

online reviews, surveys, and social media, 

identifying areas for improvement in 

hotels, resorts, and spas. 



Technology: 

How AI can help with recruitment & retention 

in hospitality 

AI could play a significant role in improving 

talent acquisition and retention in hospitality. 

Here’s how. 

Everyone is talking about generative Artificial 

intelligence (AI) and the role it will play in every 

industry in the near and far future. Most people 

seem to agree that the launch of ChatGPT late 

last year and the promise of similar and better 

tools to come are game changers in every 

sense of the word. 

Staffing is one of the biggest challenges in 

the hospitality industry, one that many are 

already using technology to help solve. The 

human touch will always be crucial in this 

area – just like it’s important for the industry 

as a whole. People want to connect with other 

people and employees like to feel valued and 

appreciated. Technology can’t provide that. But 

it can make our lives significantly easier when 

used correctly. Automation and contactless 

experiences are reducing labor costs, while 

user-friendly platforms are making team 

members’ lives easier. 

AI could also play a significant role in improving 

talent acquisition and retention in hospitality. 

How AI can help with staff recruitment & 

retention in hospitality 

Predictive Analytics: AI-powered 

predictive analytics can analyze vast 

amounts of data to identify patterns and 

trends related to employee turnover. By 

considering factors such as performance, 

engagement, demographics, and job 

satisfaction, AI algorithms can generate 

insights and predictions about which 

employees are at a higher risk of leaving. 

This enables proactive measures to be 

taken to retain valuable staff members. 

Sentiment Analysis: AI can analyze 

employee sentiment through various 

channels, including surveys, social media, 

and internal communication platforms. 

By monitoring language patterns, 

sentiment analysis algorithms can identify 

signs of employee dissatisfaction or 

disengagement. This information can be 

used to address issues promptly, offer 

support, and implement targeted retention 

strategies. 

Personalized Development: AIpowered 

learning platforms can provide 

personalized training and development 

opportunities to employees. By analyzing 

individual performance data and identifying 

skill gaps, AI algorithms can recommend 


tailored learning paths and suggest relevant 

courses or resources. This can help 

employees feel valued and supported in 

their professional growth, increasing job 

satisfaction and reducing turnover. 

Intelligent Hiring: AI can assist in 

the recruitment and hiring process by 

automating routine tasks, such as resume 

screening and candidate pre-assessment. 

By leveraging natural language processing 

and machine learning, AI algorithms can 

identify potential candidates with the 

desired skills, experience, and cultural 

fit. This ensures a more efficient and 

accurate selection process, reducing 

the likelihood of hiring mismatched 

employees who are more likely to leave 

the organization quickly. 

Again, while AI can provide valuable 

insights and tools, the human element 

remains crucial. Organizations should 

use AI as an enabler to inform decisionmaking 

and implement appropriate 

retention strategies, while also fostering a 

supportive and inclusive work culture that 

values employees’ well-being and growth. 

Employee Feedback and Engagement: 

AI-powered chatbots or virtual assistants 

can facilitate regular and interactive 

communication between employees and 

management. These conversational agents 

can collect feedback, address queries, 

and provide resources or support when 

needed. By fostering open communication 

and engagement, AI can contribute to 

a positive work environment and help 

identify and resolve issues that may lead 

to turnover. 

Workforce Analytics: AI can analyze 

a variety of workforce data, such 

as performance metrics, employee 

demographics, and compensation 

information. By identifying patterns and 

correlations, AI algorithms can reveal factors 

that influence employee retention and 

turnover. This insight allows organizations 

to make data-driven decisions regarding 

compensation, benefits, workload 

distribution, and organizational policies to 

address underlying causes of turnover. 




ChatGPT & AI 

Laura Calin, Oracle’s Group Vice President of 

Global Hospitality Strategy & Solutions, talks 

ChatGPT, AI, and tech with Spa Executive. 

Oracle is a cloud technology company based in Austin, 

Texas, that provides organizations with computing 

infrastructure and software to help them innovate, 

unlock efficiencies and become more effective. 

Founded in 1977 by Larry Ellison, Oracle is one of the 

largest computer-tech companies in the world, offering 

cloud, license, software and hardware services. 

Oracle Hospitality property management and 

operations solutions connect event sales, guest 

rooms, management, and POS, delivering the 

integrations you need to create exceptional 

experiences, as well as human capital and 

marketing solutions. OPERA is the world’s leading 

property management solution, which helps 

hoteliers manage the many facets of their business, 

from reservations, sales, upselling, and catering, to 

helping deliver personalized guest service, increase 

profitability, and encourage loyalty. 

Laura Calin is Oracle’s Group Vice President 

of Global Hospitality Strategy & Solutions. As a 

member of the senior leadership team, she is 

responsible for driving business and charting the 

direction of Oracle Hospitality’s cloud services 

and solution portfolio for the Hotels, Casinos, 

and Cruise verticals. With more than 25 years in 

the industry, beginning as a software developer, 

Ms. Calin is known as a strategic thinker and 

problem-solver. 

We asked her about hospitality tech, ChatGPT 

and generative AI, and how these things are 

impacting the industry. 

Can you please talk about how technology has 

changed the hotel and resort industry over the 

past few years? 

We have seen a strong resurgence in 

the number of hotel guests as travelers 

headed back to leisure vacations and 

business trips, but still the industry 

does not look the same as it did before 

the pandemic. Innovations that were 

implemented as necessities at the height 

of COVID-19 have become mainstays, as 

guests have come to expect a more lowtouch 

and streamlined experience. 

In the post-pandemic landscape, every 

interaction is now an opportunity for 

hotels to prioritize guest convenience and 

choice by presenting upsell offerings, as 

well as ancillary products and services. 

Additionally, hotel staff want the same 

friendly user experience on professional 

software as they have on consumer 

software, which makes onboarding 

new staff easier than ever and saves a 

lot of time and effort for your veteran 

employees, too. 

14 


Everyone is talking about how ChatGPT and 

generative AI will transform industries. How will 

ChatGPT transform the hotel and resort sector? 

The full impact of generative AI on the 

hospitality industry is still unknown, but it’s 

clear that it has the potential to disrupt the 

status quo. The biggest winners will be the 

guests, as their experiences could improve 

drastically across the entire travel journey 

as technology grows more intuitive. 

How can AI and other tech help with 

hospitality marketing? 

Hoteliers who successfully integrate 

and leverage their data through AI will 

be best positioned to provide accurate, 

relevant recommendations, resulting 

in unparalleled guest experiences. For 

example, generative AI can better help 

hotels determine what attributes a visitor 

values most, at what price, and at which 

point in their journey they are most likely 

to upgrade or request services. Training 

the AI on property-specific information 

like inventory, pricing, and availability with 

historical guest interaction data from a 

cloud-based PMS could help generate 

timely guest offers and increase upselling 

revenue significantly. 

How does tech enhance the end-to-end 

guest experience? 

Every touch point that is connected to 

a hotel’s property management system 

provides an opportunity to give the guest 

the ideal stay. We continue to see hotels 

leverage technology to not only increase 

operational and staff efficiency, but also 

meet changing guest expectations for 

a high-value, but relatively low-touch 

experience. To achieve this, hotels need to 

evolve away from rigid and siloed business 

models, blend accommodation styles, 

and focus on meeting and exceeding new 

guest expectations. 

What are some concerns or pitfalls companies 

should be aware of with ChatGPT and other tech? 

Many questions and challenges remain to 

be solved before generative AI becomes 

mainstream, including security, data 

privacy, and regulations. But regardless 

of how generative AI is received in the 

industry, the first step for hoteliers 

remains their transition to the cloud. 

Do you think guests will ever be weary or 

concerned about “too much” technology in a 

hotel or resort? 

In general, technology is most useful 

when it gives guests additional options 

or choices to choose from. For instance, 

there are many customers who still place 

an emphasis on in-person services and 

prefer to come into a hotel and check 

in with a receptionist at the desk. Other 

guests may prefer to do it all on their 

phones and simply pick up their key, or 

maybe they want to use a kiosk that can 

guide them through the check-in process 

with a real human nearby if they run into 

any errors or have questions throughout 

the process. So, the value of the 

technology is providing as many choices 

as possible and allowing each guest to 

choose what best serves their needs. We 

don’t want the technology to feel intrusive, 

it’s there to make lives easier. 

How would you combat this feeling? 

When providing technology solutions, 

it can be helpful to focus on removing 

friction by eliminating extraneous actions 

that are purely administrative and have 

no value to the guest, such as payments. 

For instance, a preferred property 

management solution would only need a 

guest’s credit card information entered 

once, and then moving forward it wouldn’t 

need to be reentered, saving time and 

making future transactions easier. In that 

way, removing a point of friction can be 

replaced with an interaction that actually 

adds value to the guest experience, such 

as greeting visitors, providing an update 

on the property, or outlining activities and 

special experiences that can create loyalty. 

We have seen robots delivering food & beverages 

poolside. In your opinion, will robots ever be 

standing behind a front desk? 

To date, the early attempts at replacing 

desk staff with robots haven’t been 

successful. See Japan’s Henn na Hotel as 

an example, where guests complained that 

robots at the front desk could not answer 

basic questions. Still, automation is very 

popular. Some guests prefer automated 

or contactless check in and check out 

experiences, and robots or kiosks can 

provide that option to guests. 

Moving forward, I expect we’ll see more 

and more automation, which will allow 

hotel staff to focus more on soft skills, 

such as interpersonal customer service 

interactions where staff can immediately 

best serve the needs of the customer. 

Even as hotels and their staff focus on 

becoming more efficient, I think in an 

ideal world there is a hybrid workforce, 

where humans and machines are going 

to be providing optimal personalized 

experiences for the travelers. 


What are you excited about in the world of 

hospitality tech right now? 

I am most excited about the recent and 

ongoing developments of open integration 

platforms for the hospitality industry, and how it 

has opened a whole new world of opportunities 

for hoteliers. Technologies like the Oracle 

Hospitality Integration Platform (OHIP) have 

really changed the game, and helped alleviate 

what was the biggest pain point for hoteliers in 

recent years. 

We’re seeing an explosion of innovation in the 

hospitality industry and that is why there are 

so many startups in the hospitality space right 

now. Previously, hotels would only connect 

to maybe five or 10 solutions that had been 

around forever because they were the only 

certified integration offerings. Now it’s fast 

and cheap to test new solutions in your PMS 

and, if it fails, it’s no big deal. In that, I see a big 

opportunity for the industry to implement new 

innovative solutions and really revolutionize the 

experience for guests and employees alike. 


ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT THE 

SPA & WELLNESS INDUSTRY & DO 

YOU LOVE TECHNOLOGY? 

COME WORK FOR US. 

Book4Time is the global leader in spa, wellness, and leisure activity management 

software for the hospitality market, operating in more than 85 countries. 

Book4Time is experiencing rapid growth and hiring experienced professionals in a 

number of key roles. We offer: 

• 100% employer-paid premium benefits 

• Wellness/fitness membership program 

• Company match group RRSP program 

• 18 days of paid time off plus corporate holidays 

• Remote-First work environment (Office location: Markham, ON) 

• Free underground parking 

• Budgeted professional development 

• Wellness Stipend 

• Discounts at our customer locations 

Browse open positions here 

We look forward 

to working with you!

Featured property: 

Fairmont Chateau Whistler 

Surrounded by stunning mountain vistas, scenic 

lakes and a close-knit mountain community, 

Fairmont Chateau Whistler welcomes adventureseekers, 

families, and outdoor enthusiasts. 

Fairmont Chateau Whistler is a resort in a 

naturally spectacular alpine setting that delivers 

an ideal experience for guests. This awardwinning 

hotel sits at the base of Blackcomb 

Mountain, with ski-in ski-out access, and 

showcases classic elegance, exceptional dining, 

and full resort amenities. 

At the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, you’ll find 

519 alpine-inspired guest rooms, a Fairmont 

Gold floor, expansive conference and event 

space, a renowned food and beverage program 

and a championship golf resort. 

Stunning mountain vistas & scenic lakes 

Surrounded by stunning mountain vistas, 

scenic lakes and a close-knit mountain 

community, Fairmont Chateau Whistler 

welcomes adventure-seekers, families, and 

outdoor enthusiasts. 

The resort offers a wide variety of activities 

for hotel guests that include recreational 

offerings, fitness classes, and Whistler 

Experience Guide activities. 

Fitness classes include twice daily yoga, 

Pilates, Stretch & Mobility, Aquafit, Tai 

Chi, LuLuLemon Mirror classes, and 

personal training. Whistler Experience 

Guide activities are based on the seasons 

and include (but are not limited to): 

skiing (downhill and cross country), 

snowboarding, snowshoeing, hiking, 

biking, cultural tours, museum tours, 

brewery/distillery experiences, paddle 

boarding, shuttle bus tours, and nature 

tours. The huge range of activities and 

offerings changes throughout the year 

with the seasons. 

Josh Fraser, the resort’s Health Club and 

Recreation Manager, uses Book4Time 

software to manage the property’s spa, 

classes, and activities. 

Vida Spa at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler 

Vida Spa, at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler 

is a 4250 square foot space, an ideal venue 

for groups of all sizes. The spa is equipped 

with 15 treatment rooms, two of which 

include handcrafted cedar steam cabinets 

used in the spa’s signature Ayurvedic 

Swedana treatment. Two of the treatment 

rooms are couples’ suites, where guests 

can enjoy their treatments together. The 

Whistler location features a manicure/ 

pedicure lounge where three guests 

can enjoy pedicures and two can enjoy 

manicures together in the same room. 

The philosophy of Vida Spa in Whistler is 

strongly rooted on the delicate balance of 


inner calm, outer vitality, sensory pleasure, 

and spiritual health. The holistic approach 

blends the ancient Indian principles of 

Ayurveda together with modern practices 

to ensure that each guest receives a 

personalized treatment that meets their 

individual needs. 

breathing to become full and relaxed. All Doshas benefit from the Shirodarha equally. Clients that have 

headaches, head congestion, difficulty sleeping or insomnia will benefit from this treatment”. 

Vida Spa guests have access to Fairmont 

Chateau Whistler’s health club, including 

indoor and outdoor Jacuzzi and pools, 

eucalyptus steam rooms, and saunas. 

Stand out menu items include (as described 

by the property): 

AYURVEDIC MASSAGE 

“A unique massage method that applies 

generous amounts of warm oil over the 

body with extra attention to the head, 

neck and scalp. This technique optimizes 

the body’s systems, mobilizes joints and 

enhances tissue suppleness. Experience a 

sensation of profound relaxation that will 

stay with you for days”. 

SWEDANA 

“After an Ayurvedic massage, you are 

cocooned in our west coast cedar steam 

cabinet. A deeply aromatic enhanced by 

herbs customized to your dosha cleanses 

and detoxifies your system. A herbal powder 

brushing of entire body stimulates and 

exfoliates your skin to prevent re-entry of 

toxins”. 

SHIRODHARA 

‘"Shiro’ means head and ‘dhara’ means 

stream of flow. Shirodarha is a steady 

stream of warm oil flowing over the 

crown of the head continuously for 15-20 

minutes. It is thought to be a pre-meditative 

technique to quiet the mind. When the oil 

nourishes the important nerves of the head, 

it settles all faculties of the brain and allows" 


Overcoming challenges of offering wellness 

programs in hospitality 

Demand for spa and wellness experiences 

has increased dramatically. But implementing 

wellness programs at a hotel or resort can come 

with challenges. 

Implementing wellness programs at a hotel 

or resort can be a lucrative endeavor. Most 

seasoned professionals know this by now. 

Demand for spa and wellness experiences has 

increased dramatically in recent years and it 

makes sense to give consumers what they want. 

But implementing these wellness initiatives can 

be a complex process, and there are some 

challenges hospitality businesses may face 

launching new programs or managing existing 

ones. Fortunately, many of these challenges are 

easily overcome with good planning, strategy, 

and software support. 

Some of the challenges associated with 

implementing and running wellness programs at 

your hotel or resort include the following: 

Challenge 

Cost: Incorporating wellness into a 

hotel or resort may require a significant 

investment of time and money. This can 

include renovating or building new facilities, 

recruiting and hiring trained staff, and 

implementing new technologies. 

Solutions 

Start small, with a few basic wellness 

offerings, such as yoga or meditation classes, 

before expanding to more complex offerings. 

You can gradually increase the scale as you 

build a customer base and generate revenue. 

Make use of existing space in your hotel or 

resort, like outdoor areas or underutilized 

rooms, for wellness activities. Offer poolside 

and cabana massages. 

Partner with local wellness providers, like yoga 

studios or spas, if you don’t have space for a spa 

of your own, to offer services at your hotel or 

resort. This can save on the cost of hiring your 

own instructors or building your own facilities. 

Use technology to offer in-room, virtual 

wellness classes, and online yoga or meditation 

sessions, which can be less expensive than inperson 

classes. 

Choose a software system that offers user 

permissions at different levels and scalability to 

manage your onsite activities so you can add 

more users as you scale up. Use software for 

yield management to avoid wasting money and 

losing revenue with low occupancy and uptake, 

and for inventory management so you only 

spend on what you’re certain you need. 

Challenge 

Staffing: Staffing in hospitality is already a 

massive challenge. Finding and training staff 

for wellness programs can also be difficult. 


Solutions 

Treat your team members like your internal 

guests. Don’t try to save by lowballing on 

wages and benefits. Top talent is worth it and 

you wind up paying more with high turnover 

than you would with people who stay. 

Offer career advancement opportunities, 

training programs, certifications, and 

mentoring, to encourage staff to stay with 

your company long term. Create a positive 

work environment, don’t burn people out, 

and focus on onboarding, and education. 

Partner with local schools to offer internships, 

apprenticeships, and job-shadowing 

programs. Create employee referral 

programs that reward existing staff for 

referring new hires. 

Use technology. Make sure your spa 

and ancillary revenue software is easy to 

use and helps streamline and automate 

administrative tasks, such as scheduling and 

payroll, so that staff can focus on customer 

service and other high-value activities. 

Challenge 

an online booking site for your spa, classes, 

and activities and promote it with QR codes 

placed throughout your property. You’ll find 

many more marketing ideas here. 

Challenge 

Integration with existing payment 

systems. A property could have challenges 

collecting payment for services and classes 

without a dedicated system for doing so. 

Solutions 

Choose a software to manage your wellness 

departments that integrates with your 

existing point of sale system/s or even offers 

their own POS – like Book4Time. That way, 

all of your ancillary revenue is covered and 

guests can pay at checkout, rather than 

having to pay separately for any wellness 

activities or services. Moreover, Book4Time 

captures a credit card at time of booking, 

reducing revenue losses from cancellations 

and no shows. 

Challenge 

Solutions 

Reframe the meaning of ROI. Emlyn Brown 

said, “For me, the measurement is what I 

would call the ‘drive and aspiration’ to visit a 

property and the attractiveness of wellness 

and wellbeing activity. It’s a bit of a nontangible 

discussion, but what makes a person 

actually click through and book a hotel? 

The aspirations to participate in health and 

wellbeing, spa experiences, and recreational 

activities are important drivers for properties 

to attract guests. If you look at the reasons 

why consumers actually visit properties or 

become loyal to certain brands, you’ll find 

that wellness plays a very important role.” 

As for measuring actual, financial ROI from 

wellness, Book4Time software’s reports and 

dashboards are the best in the industry, 

allowing you to track KPIs and see all of your 

metrics at a glance and in one place. 

Careful planning and execution, and 

Book4Time’s software solutions will help 

overcome these challenges so you and your 

guests can get the most out of your hotel or 

resort’s wellness programming. 

Marketing: Promoting wellness offerings 

to guests can be a challenge. Hotels and 

resorts may need to develop new marketing 

strategies to make customers aware of their 

new wellness offerings. 

Solutions 

Up your marketing efforts, focusing on your 

wellness offerings. Leverage social media, 

encourage customer reviews, implement a 

referral program, host events, collaborate 

with influencers, and focus on SEO. 

Measuring return on investment (ROI): 

Measuring the success of wellness programs 

can be difficult. As Accor’s Emlyn Brown told 

Spa Executive in a 2021 interview, “The idea 

of measuring ROI is sometimes a difficult one. 

We always take a strong stance to ensure 

financial feasibility and understanding of the 

market when creating new wellbeing facilities 

within our hotels. But now that people have 

a more sophisticated understanding of what 

creates success, I think that the overall ROI on 

wellbeing needs a stronger measurement.” 

Create a dedicated page on your website 

highlighting your wellness offerings. Build 


BOOK ONLINE, 

PAY ONLINE, 

SKIP THE LINE 

Enjoy the contact-less experience.

MARKETING 

Marketing tips and strategies for your hotel’s 

spa & ancillary revenue departments 

Guests can’t take advantage of your classes, 

excursions, and cabana packages if they don’t 

know these things are available. These marketing 

tips will help. 

Effective marketing is a crucial aspect of 

business success across all industries, 

including the hospitality and spa industry. 

However, due to competing priorities, 

marketing efforts for spas and ancillary 

revenue services around hotels and resorts 

are often neglected. This is a mistake because 

no matter how outstanding your features and 

offerings may be, customers won’t know about 

them if they’re not marketed properly. 

Most spas don’t have the luxury of dedicated 

marketing teams, so managers and directors 

who are already stretched thin must take on the 

responsibility of building the brand. Even for spas 

within larger organizations, like hotels or resorts, 

marketing budgets can be limited, if they exist 

at all. Fortunately, in today’s digital age, social 

channels and online platforms offer multiple free 

or low-cost marketing opportunities, eliminating 

the need to purchase expensive ad space. By 

leveraging social media, spas can raise brand 

awareness, market their services, and maintain 

connections with guests even after they leave. 

Similarly, hotels offering classes, workshops, and 

activities may not always get the word about 

these things out there as much as they would 

like. Guests can’t take advantage of your classes, 

excursions, and cabana packages if they don’t 

know these things are available. These marketing 

tips will help. 

1. Leverage online booking for your spa, classes, 

activities, and more 

The software that manages all of your 

ancillary revenue operations should help 

with your marketing. An online booking 

site that makes it easy for guests to book 

things like spa appointments, activities, 

cabanas, and tennis and pickleball courts 

is a must-have for any property. 

For example, Josh Fraser, Health club and 

Recreation Manager at Fairmont Chateau 

Whistler, uses Book4Time’s online booking 

platform. Between July 2022, when the 

Chateau started using the system, and 

December 31, 2022, a stunning 75% 

of sign-ups for the resort’s classes and 

activities came through the new online 

booking system. Fraser said, “The online 

usage is also great for our marketing. It 

means guests can actually see everything 

available to them, whereas in the past, 

they may not have been aware of what was 

on offer.” 

2. Use QR codes 

Fairmont Jasper Park has seen similar 

benefits with an online booking site that 

is accessible through a QR code placed 


throughout the hotel, leading guests 

directly to all of their offerings. 

Awareness of what the hotel has to offer 

has increased, and as a result, so have 

bookings, resulting in a better ROI for the 

hotel’s activity program spend. The hotel’s 

Recreation Manager, Spencer Martin, says, 

“Book4Time has increased the awareness 

of our activities to guests, which has led 

to the money we spend on our activities 

being a better investment.” 

3. Use Facebook or Instagram ads 

While we are always trying to reduce 

spending, don’t discount the possibility 

of paid ads. Google ads can be effective 

but can also be expensive. Social media 

advertising can be more affordable and 

also a powerful way of raising brand 

awareness and attracting customers, and 

some spa owners are really happy with the 

results. You can play with demographics 

and target audiences and set your 

spending limits to see if these ads work for 

you without breaking the budget. 

4. Teach, don’t sell 

When it comes to content, that content 

should provide value to a target audience 

wherever possible. Today’s consumers are 

weary of being sold to and tend to block out 

online ads, marketing, and sales content, but 

they do respond to educational content that 

provides information they can actually use 

to make their lives easier. Rather than hitting 

people over the head with the message 

that you want them to buy your product or 

service, give them something they can use. 

This allows you to showcase your brand 

and position yourself as a trustworthy and 

valuable source of information. 

This doesn’t mean you can never just post 

about a product or service you want to sell. 

But try to keep the balance tipping towards 

teaching over selling. 

5. Increase your organic social media reach 

Organic social media reach can be easily 

one of the most effective free marketing 

strategies. Your business probably 

already has a social media presence, 

and if it doesn’t, create one or a few on 

the platforms that work best for you, like 

Instagram and TikTok. Facebook remains 

the largest social media platform and 

may be good for ads, but it’s mainly used 

by older audiences. People are probably 

not looking for facials and massages on 

LinkedIn, but they might be looking for 

a destination that offers workcations or 

corporate retreats with yoga classes and 

group activities. Find out where your target 

customer hangs out and meet them there. 

Once you have the accounts, use them. 

Don’t leave them sitting there unused. 

6. Post about your products and services 

Yes, you can post about your amazing 

services and products – just not all the time. 

Share how much you love them and why. 

Talk about what they do, why they work, 

and why others will love them as much as 

you do. Remember to teach, rather than 

sell, where possible. Show how a product is 

used, for example. Share something useful 

about the product or service. When you truly 

love something, people can feel that and will 

respond accordingly. 

7. Post about your team 

People in the spa, wellness, and hospitality 

industry love to say that the people who 

make up our teams are everything. Share 

that with the world. Share what your staff 

is doing, what products they’re using, the 

stories that make them interesting, and talk 

about their expertise. Share stories and 

pictures of what’s happening around you 

and make it compelling so that people want 

to be a part of it. 

8. Leverage video content 

Instagram reels, Facebook reels, TikTok 

videos, YouTube videos – all of these can 

be used to market your business. Video 

content is a major driver of sales and 

engagement. Research findings suggest 

that a majority of people want to see video 

content online and that video marketing 

has high engagement numbers. 

Create tutorials to show people how to 

do what you do. Don’t worry about giving 

away your secrets. People will still want 

the professional version. Teach your 

audience how to massage their own feet, 

give themselves a home facial, do a short 

yoga session, meditate, use singing bowls, 

make their own body oil… the possibilities 

are limited only by your imagination. 

Video tutorials will raise brand awareness, 

engage your audience, and showcase your 

expertise and products and services. 

9. Encourage team members to promote your 

brand on social media 

Your team members who are active on 

social media should be eager to post about 

their work if they love their jobs. What can 

they tell the world about your brand as a 

company and as a workplace? This is also 

amazing employer branding. Don’t make 

social sharing mandatory for team members 

whose jobs it’s not, but do encourage it with 

those who would like to participate. 


10. Encourage customers to share their 

experiences (user-generated content) 

Your customers can and should be 

your greatest ambassadors. If they are 

pleased with an experience, product, or 

service, encourage them to share this on 

their social media channels. Make direct 

requests or they won’t think of it. Small 

gifts can often be a motivator for this, and 

you can say something about the gift like 

“If you enjoy it, please share that with your 

network!” If a customer likes you, they will 

want to be a part of your success. 

Create a selfie station where happy guests 

can take blissed-out post-spa treatment 

photos to share on their own social 

channels. Make it an inviting place to stop 

for a bit on the way out. Make sure to ask 

guests taking selfies to hashtag and @tag 

your business! 

11. Share posts about your customers 

You can also take pictures and videos of 

your willing customers and share them 

yourself with a little comment or story 

about your experience together. Remember 

to focus on the guest and not on yourself – 

how great your experience with them was 

and what they brought to your day, rather 

than what you brought to theirs. 

12. Be interactive and engaged 

Aside from posting on your own social media 

channels, don’t forget to interact with other 

people’s content. Comment, like, and share 

other people’s good content from your online 

network. And keep the conversation going on 

your own pages by responding to comments. 

Don’t try to control the conversation. Getting 

people talking about your brand on social 

media means letting go of control over the 

conversation. You can encourage positive 

talk but can’t force it. This means not deleting 

comments you don’t like from your own 

pages or arguing with people you disagree 

with. Be prepared for negative comments 

as things happen naturally. The best way to 

avoid this is to provide exquisite customer 

experiences and be above reproach, but 

there is always going to be someone with 

something negative to say. You can’t control 

that and you shouldn’t try. 

13. Partner with micro or nano-influencers 

Influencer marketing is common these days 

but might be out of a business’s price range 

and often doesn’t deliver as much bang 

for a buck as hoped. Micro-influencers or 

nano-influencers have smaller followings 

(somewhere between 1,000 – 100,000), 

cheaper rates, and can often have higher 

engagement rates. 

14. Market your memberships with “bring a 

friend” perks 

Membership packages that allow unlimited 

use of your facilities and a certain number 

of treatments per month are an excellent 

way to fill up your spa during downtimes 

and bring in a steady revenue stream all 

year round. Allow and encourage guests to 

bring a friend once a month to sweeten the 

deal and introduce new people to your spa. 

15. Sell gift cards 

Gift cards are a tried-and-true marketing 

strategy to effectively get your brand name 

out there, attract new customers, and 

retain existing ones. Particularly around the 

holidays and special dates, these little gems 

can be powerful tools. Digital gift card sales 

make it even easier these days to get those 

precious gifts into the right hands, with 

almost no effort on the client’s part or yours. 

16. Use email marketing 

Stay in touch with your network by 

email. Send out welcome emails to new 

customers, birthday emails to existing ones, 

a newsletter updating your customers on 

events and product and service updates, 

thank you emails, and customer satisfaction 

surveys. Be sure to always collect customer 

email addresses – but don’t bombard 

people with too much messaging. Find a 

nice digestible pace, or people will just find 

you annoying. 

17. Host events 

Host private events to introduce loyal 

customers to new products, services, classes, 

or activities at your spa, hotel, or resort, or 

to celebrate holidays or milestones (like 

your one year or 10-year anniversary as 

a business). Pour tea or wine, offer a free 

class or workshop, or samples of your new 

product, and give mini facials or massages at 

a spa. 

Encourage customers to bring a plus one. 

Don’t forget to take pictures and videos and 

to post these online to showcase what a great 

host you are and how compelling and lovely 

your clientele is. And encourage your guests 

to share their experiences with the world. 

18. Start a referral program 

Incentivize referrals from guests by offering 

a gift of a discount, upgrade, or free product 

or service when a new person comes in for 

a treatment or signs up for a membership at 

their recommendation. 


19. Encourage online reviews 

Reviews are a major element of boosting 

brand awareness. A vast majority of 

people look at online reviews, and many 

won’t even try a business with fewer than 

four stars. Encourage guests to leave good 

reviews, and always respond to all reviews, 

good or bad, with a “thank you” or an “I’m 

sorry your experience didn’t live up to your 

expectations.” Read more about handling 

online reviews here 

20. Build your SEO 

SEO stands for search engine optimization, 

and it refers to where you rank on search 

engines (mostly Google) when people 

search for particular keywords or phrases. 

So, for example, if someone is looking for 

an “Austin spa,” will they find you or your 

competition first? Learn about keywords 

and how to improve your rankings, then 

apply this to your website to improve 

brand visibility. 

21. Donate to charity auctions 

Charities often hold big events with silent 

or online auctions where people bid on 

items and the money they pay goes to 

the cause. These items are also donated 

by the businesses themselves. Donating 

spa products and service packages or 

free classes and experiences to these 

events is not only a great way to increase 

occupancy and expand your reach but also 

an opportunity to support the causes you 

believe in. It’s win-win. 


Stress ages you but it’s reversible 

new study finds 

A new study has found that stress ages you but 

that these effects may be reversible. 

Stressful life events can increase biological 

age in humans, a recent study has found, but 

these effects are reversible. 

While our chronological age can only move 

in one direction (in this universe, anyway) our 

biological age may be more flexible. According 

to a research brief, biological age reflects 

the health of a person’s cell and tissues 

and can be influenced by factors including 

disease, lifestyle changes, and environmental 

exposures. There have been hints in the 

past that biological age might be reversible, 

but a new study led by investigators from 

Brigham and Women’s Hospital is the first to 

provide compelling evidence. Findings from 

both human and preclinical models show that 

when stress is relieved, biological age can be 

restored. The results have implications for 

aging research and testing anti-aging drugs. 

Biological age may be more dynamic than 

we think 

“Traditionally, biological age has been 

thought to just go up and up, but we 

hypothesized that it’s actually much more 

dynamic,” said lead author Jesse Poganik, 

PhD, of the Brigham’s Division of Genetics. 

“Severe stress can trigger biological age to 

increase, but if that stress is short lived, the 

signs of biological aging can be reversed.” 

Poganik and colleagues gathered data 

from different situations likely to cause 

severe physiological stress. These included 

blood samples from elderly patients 

undergoing emergency surgery, taken 

before and after surgery; blood samples 

from pregnant mice and pregnant people, 

from early and late phases of pregnancy 

and after giving birth; and samples 

from COVID-19 patients admitted to the 

intensive care unit, at time of admission 

and throughout their stay. The team also 

used a classic mouse model in which the 

circulatory systems of younger and older 

mice are surgically joined together. The 

team used “biological clocks” – widely used 

in the aging research field – to determine 

the health of cells and tissue. 

Stress ages you, research team finds 

In every analysis, the researchers saw 

indications that biological age increased in 

situations of several physiological stress 

but was restored when the stressful 

situation resolved. 

The authors note that the changes may 

be driven by as-yet unidentified factors 

and that not all subjects recover their 

biological age at the same rate or to the 

same extent, but the work does have 


implications for the study of anti-aging 

interventions. 

“Our findings challenge the concept that 

biological age can only increase over a 

person’s lifetime and suggest that it may be 

possible to identify interventions that could 

slow or even partially reverse biological 

age,” said senior author Vadim Gladyshev, 

PhD, of the Brigham’s Division of Genetics. 

“When stress was relieved, biological age 

could be restored. This means that finding 

ways to help the body recover from stress 

could increase longevity.” 

Spa Executive covers health and wellness 

related research and reports to help spas 

and wellness businesses show evidence 

supporting the benefits of their offerings. 

Spa Executive is published by Book4Time, the 

leader in guest management, revenue and 

mobile solutions for the most exclusive spas, 

hotels, and resorts around the globe. Learn 

more at book4time.com. 


Irisha Steele 

Irisha Steele shares insights on 

marketing & mentoring 

Spa and wellness consultant, Irisha Steele, talks 

mentoring, guest experience, marketing, and more. 

Irisha Steele is a seasoned spa and wellness 

professional. After several years working 

with some of the top hotels and resorts, she 

recently launched her own consulting firm, 

Irisha Steele Consulting LLC. 

Having learned from some of the best around 

the world, Irisha Steele has expertise in 

marketing, guest experience, and coaching 

team members. We asked her about all of this 

and more. 

Please tell us about your career trajectory and 

how you came to be doing what you are today. 

I studied criminal justice and psychology 

but at age 18 I knew that my true calling 

was in the spa industry. While in college, I 

worked part-time at a day spa where I fell in 

love with the spa industry. After graduating 

from college, I worked at a non-profit 

organization, but I always dreamed about 

returning to the spa world. 

One day while walking in Boston, I saw a 

Bliss Spa being built and applied for a front 

desk job. I went from being a non-profit 

business manager to a spa front desk agent. 

I felt like I was taking a step backwards but I 

was happy. I worked my way up from front 

desk agent to spa supervisor and eventually 

to spa manager at the W Boston, where 

I stayed for four years. Following that I 

became Spa Director at the St. Regis Aspen. 

Five years later I traveled to Bali, Indonesia 

to host a wellness retreat and wound up 

getting stuck there for nine months due 

to Covid! I took this opportunity to further 

my knowledge and experience in holistic 

wellness with the spa experts in Bali. When 

I returned to the US I worked at a small 

boutique property in Sonoma County and 

recently, I made the decision to start my own 

luxury spa wellness consulting firm, Irisha 

Steele Consulting LLC. 

What is your role and what does it entail? 

My role has a range of responsibilities, but 

my primary focus is to offer guidance and 

support to the hotels and spas I’m offering 

my expertise to. I like to think of myself as 

both the cheerleader and quarterback for 

spa development. From the operational 

side, I assist with business development, 

including marketing, licensing, equipment 

and computer systems, menu development, 

protocols, systems, business planning, 

financials and staff management. 

29 


What makes a great guest experience? 

Slowing down. I never understood why 

there is a rush or fast-paced environment 

in a spa setting. I encourage everyone to 

slow down, to be more present. This makes 

people feel more cared for, and prevents 

the feeling of being transactional. It also 

helps build connections with guests. 

I also believe a peaceful and calming 

atmosphere with skilled therapists who 

genuinely love to personalize their services 

makes a great guest experience. 

Can you share some marketing tips for spas and 

hotels/resorts? 

Build a strong(er) online presence. I often 

advise my clients to create fresh content 

and leverage social media to connect 

with potential guests and build brand 

awareness. High-quality visuals are a must. 

One client updated her TikTok account and 

we created ASMR content for facials and 

scalp treatments. These videos generated 

a lot of traction and guests would even ask 

about the “TikTok facial” when calling to 

make reservations. 

Don’t forget about your locals. Connecting 

and marketing to the local community is 

important. As a former spa director, I made 

it a point to attend local events, volunteer, 

and offer local discounts to encourage 

community engagement. I understood the 

importance of keeping the spa busy during 

slow periods, and engaging with the local 

community was a great way to achieve that. 

Do you have ideas for solving the industry 

staffing crisis? 

I have been successful in using mentorship 

to attract and retain employees. As a 

member of The Northern California Spa 

Network, I participate in monthly meetings 

with other spa professionals. We often 

discuss the power of mentorship and its 

importance in keeping our industry alive. 

I am grateful to have had mentors who 

helped me progress from a front desk 

agent to supervisor, then to manager, 

director, and now consultant. In return, I 

have made mentorship a significant part 

of my hiring strategy. As a spa director, 

I provided mentorship and leadership 

development for all team members. I’ve lost 

count of how many team members I have 

promoted into different and/or leadership 

roles. One of my greatest success stories 

involves a massage therapist who was 

highly talented but wanted to advance 

further in his career. Through mentorship, 

he was promoted to lead massage 

therapist. We worked together to develop 

his skill sets, and he eventually became a 

Spa Director at a luxury wellness retreat 

center. I was extremely proud of him. 

Do you find yourself leveraging technology 

lately and how do you feel tech fits in the 

wellness world? 

Wellness and technology are so 

interconnected now. Personally, I’m always 

looking for ways to make my life more 

efficient. I’ve had the opportunity to visit 

several wellness centers that leverage 

technology to support guests. Sensei is one 

of the most innovative centers I have come 

across, and their use of technology to create 

wellness experiences is truly inspiring. 

What are you excited about in the hospitality/ 

spa/wellness world right now? 

A focus on spiritual wellbeing. I’m excited to 

see more acceptance for spiritual wellbeing 

in the spa industry. Three years ago, when I 

was working on a spa menu, we developed a 

service called Spirit Path. It was a 90-minute 

treatment designed to uplift your spirit and 

realign your physical and energetic bodies. 

It included singing bowls, energy work. At 

the time, I received a lot of pushback on the 

service because it was perceived too spiritual 

for a hotel spa. Now, more and more spas 

are creating a place for spiritual wellbeing. 

I am seeing more breathwork, meditation, 

energy healing, and gratitude practices 

offered through spas and hotels. 

What are you working on that you’re 

excited about? 

I am excited to be currently involved in a new 

spa development at Dawn Ranch, which is 

located riverside at the edge of Guerneville 

in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley. As a 

resident of Sonoma, I am grateful for the 

opportunity to co-create a magical spa in 

my own neighborhood. Working with the 

owners and general manager has been an 

amazing experience! Their focus on the guest 

experience has made my job easier and has 

allowed me to be more creative. Nature has 

been a significant source of inspiration for 

me, and the fact that the property is over 15 

acres of ancient giant redwoods, sprawling 

meadows, and a vintage orchard feels like a 

dream come true. 


Revinate empowers 

hoteliers to deliver 

delightful experiences 

and drive 

direct revenue 

Raj Singh, Chief Marketing Officer, Revinate 

Revinate helps businesses increase revenue 

while delivering delightful experiences. 

Unlocking the potential of personalized 

marketing and enhancing guest experiences 

are key priorities for today’s hoteliers. In a 

highly competitive industry, the ability to 

connect with guests at every touchpoint 

is crucial to driving revenue and fostering 

loyalty. This is where Revinate, a leading 

provider of data platform and guest 

communication solutions, steps in. 

We talked with Revinate’s Chief Marketing 

Officer, Raj Singh, about how, by harnessing 

the power of data and employing targeted 

marketing strategies, Revinate helps 

businesses increase revenue while delivering 

delightful experiences. 

Tell us about what Revinate does. 

Revinate empowers hoteliers to connect 

directly with guests at every touchpoint 

to deliver delightful experiences and 

drive direct revenue. Our data platform 

and guest communication solutions 

put hoteliers in control of every step of 

their guests’ journeys — initial research, 

booking, check-in, throughout the stay, 

and even after check-out. We do this all 

using the communication channels that 

the guests prefer, whether it’s voice, 

text, email, or web. 

How can Revinate help businesses increase 

revenue? Can you give me an example? 

Our marketing platform helps hoteliers power 

revenue through email marketing. Our awardwinning 

platform ingests guest data from the 

hotel’s PMS and synthesizes it to create guest 

segments that power automated, hyper-targeted 

email campaigns to drive profitable revenue. 

Our customer, Noble House & Resorts, achieved 

a over 10x ROI by utilizing targeted, personalized 

email campaigns based on guests past behavior 

and preferences. The automation and analytics 

capabilities of Revinate allowed for streamlined 

and data-driven marketing strategies, resulting in 

a significant return on investment. 


Can you talk about the importance of 

personalization in marketing? 

It’s important to personalize communications 

at the right time to drive repeat business. It 

increases guest loyalty while also positively 

impacts the guest journey. Revinate 

collects, enriches and targets hoteliers’ 

data so they can deliver ultra-personalized 

communications and experiences to the right 

guest at the right time. 

guests away. By managing online reviews, 

hoteliers can address any negative 

feedback and maintain a positive 

reputation. Hoteliers can also improve the 

guest experience by leveraging our in-stay 

surveys through email or text, allowing 

them to respond to any feedback before 

the guest leaves the property. 

How can hotels and resorts improve 

their marketing? 

Why is CRM important? 

The right CRM is important for several 

reasons. It allows hotels to manage customer 

relationships, improve the guest experience, 

and streamline operations. By leveraging 

guest data, hoteliers are able to create a more 

personalized and efficient guest experience. 

How are customer segments useful? 

Customer segments help hoteliers to 

optimize their campaign results. Instead of 

sending a generic message to all customers, 

segmentation allows you to drill deeper and 

deliver a personalized message at the right 

time during the guest journey. With Revinate 

Marketing, hoteliers can easily segment their 

guest database leading to efficient email 

marketing and driving direct revenue. 

In order to improve marketing efforts, 

hotels need to first get their data right. If 

data is spread out across several different 

platforms and not allowing for a single 

view of a guest, it’s very challenging to 

have targeted omni-channel campaigns 

that deliver the right message to the right 

guest. With clean data and hyper-targeted 

segmentation, hoteliers can improve 

their guest experience, increase 

engagement and loyalty, and ultimately 

drive revenue growth. 

How can you help manage reviews? 

With Revinate Guest Feedback, hoteliers 

can manage reviews and feedback all from 

one dashboard. This allows them to easily 

respond to reviews right from our app or 

drive survey-takers to publish their reviews 

on TripAdvisor or Google. 

Why is this important? 

Positive reviews can drive new bookings, 

while negative reviews can drive potential 


FOR LEADERS IN THE BUSINESS OF WELLNESS 

ADVERTISE WITH US 

CONTACT SAL CAPIZZI FOR MORE INFORMATION 

SCAPIZZI@SPAEXECUTIVE.COM 

scapizzi@book4time.com www.spaexecutive.com

Spa Executive May -June 2023 - 1

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