We are continuing our coverage of the presentations from the 2021 Repêchage Power Lunch to help everyone help their business thrive and grow into the New Year. Today, we will get valuable insights from presenter Brian David Douglas, director of spa and recreation at the Conrad Fort Lauderdale, a 2021 Forbes Four Star Rated Spa. Douglas is a Dual Licensed Massage Therapist & Esthetician for Florida & North Carolina, was voted “Rising Star in Skincare” at the 19th Annual International Congress and is a Global Wellness Award Winner for American Spa Magazine. He even has a day named after him for the City of Wilton Manors, FL.
What is Luxury?
Many business owners think that attaining a luxury status to their business will be expensive, but, according to Douglas, this isn’t necessarily true. According to his research, luxury is about creating the proper mind set, both for yourself and your staff, rather than just spending a lot of money on your spas décor and charging a lot of money. And, Douglas says “It’s attainable.
To start, Douglas first asks for the business owner or spa manager to ask themselves if their business is a luxury spa in their market. If the answer is, “I’m not sure,” or “No,” you need to ask yourself why not.
“I want you to challenge yourself and your business to become known as the luxury spa in your market,” says Douglas, “I want to challenge you to implement some things today that I think will guide you along the path of becoming the luxury spa that you can be.”
The truth is, according to Douglass, that when he did surveys on luxury, he found that luxury did not mean lots of money, per se. What he did hear:
- Luxury is an experience.
- Luxury is anticipation of guests needs.
- Luxury is attention to detail.
- Luxury is added value.
- Luxury is time.
Luxury is An Experience
“So, we know that we don’t hear that luxury is expensive,” he said. “Luxury doesn’t have to be all about diamonds and silver and gold luxury. It doesn’t necessarily mean investing in expensive renovations such as immersion pools or new technology. Luxury is an experience. And that’s something that I think we all can achieve and we all can strive towards.”
When doing an experiential renovation, the first place to start, according to Douglas, is with the language your staff employs. Oftentimes, he suggests, “we have everything in place. Everything is wonderful, but the words that we’re using and the phrasing is where we can challenge ourselves.”
How Do We Talk to the Guests?
Douglas challenged participants to look at the language they are using at their spa to be sure it is “a luxury language.” These changes cost nothing, but can have a big impact on how your spa is perceived. These important shifts include:
- Training your team and yourself to always say, good morning, good afternoon and good evening.
- When you’re talking to the guests, use the guest’s last name. Every person that encounters a guest is asked to use their name, their last name, at least twice in conversation. “It’s so important to feel welcomed and recognized when you’re spending money and coming to a spot. You want to feel like they know who you are. They’re anticipating you and they speak to you in a way that is appropriate.”
This means that when the therapist greets the guests, they say “ Good afternoon, Ms. Cooper, my name is Brian. I’ll be your massage therapist today. Let me escort you back to the room and at the conclusion of the massage, Ms. Cooper, because you mentioned your dry skin. I would like to recommend our Repêchage Sea Spa Body Cream which is going to help your skin keep nourished and brightened. I’ll have that up front for you, Ms. Cooper.”
Other suggestions for flipping the script:
Phrase Better Choice
Okay/You got it Certainly/absolutely
Can I?/Let me May I?/ Allow me
Fantastic/Super Excellent/Wonderful
I do not/cannot Let me find someone to assist you
Uh huh I understand
Guys Ladies and gentlemen
You’re welcome My pleasure
Bye Have a pleasant morning/day/evening
Do you need anything else? Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Changing your language can make a big impact on creating a luxury experience, yet costs nothing, points out Douglas.
What is Your “It” Factor?
The next assessment and adjust is to determine what makes your spa unique and then to create a menu that reflects this. Questions to ask include: Who are you as a spa? What is your brand? Does the appearance of the spa make sense with the location of the spa? How does your location tie into the surroundings when you’re choosing your décor?
“For example, our spa here is at a beautiful beach, so I created a menu that reflects its ocean-front location,” said Douglas. “So, all of our treatments on our service menu include Seaweed and Marine botanicals. All of our oils and scrubs that we use in the treatment room include an essence from a native South Florida species from our area. So you’re truly being immersed in the South Florida experience.”
Compete on Quality, Not on Price
Pricing is huge consideration. There is always someone who will do it cheaper, so compete on quality, not on price, said Douglas. Maintain your pricing at the market level and deliver a quality service for which its worth paying. “If we compete on quality and not on price, we’re able to deliver a much better experience,” said Douglas
This approach helps to maintain a top-notch team, because with this pricing, if they are commission-based, they are able to make a better rate, and can work smarter, not harder and make more money in a few days at the spa.
Luxury is Consistency: Creating a Sequence of Service
One of the most important strategies to implement to be a luxury service provider is consistency. For this, Douglas recommends implementing and documenting a sequence of service that details every step of the day. This is your Bible on how your spa is run from the moment you arrive in the morning to when the final staff member leaves, a written standard that documents all the details. This includes what is the standard for the coordinators when they are coming in each morning, including everything from opening the spa (at what pace do you turn on the lights? Turn on the music?), how the clients are greeted and escorted through their service, to even how to place pillows on the beds, chairs and lounges.
Likewise, all services need to have strict protocols, and the staff must follow these for consistency of service. “You don’t want to have one therapist that’s holding crystals over the person, another person that is chanting, and another person that’s stretching them off the table,” said Douglas.
“We really want our team to be cohesive and giving a similar experience to our guests,” emphasized Douglas. “But if it’s not on paper, it doesn’t exist. So it’s important to go through and create a sequence of service and stick to that.”
Pre-Shift Exercise
Pre-shift exercises are something that Douglas highly encouraged everyone to implement. While it doesn’t cost anything, meeting with the staff every morning and going over the day adds priceless value to the level of performance and services your place of business provides.
These meetings are an opportunity to go over the days bookings, identify what rooms will be assigned to specific therapists, identify any VIPs that will be coming in for services, and coordinate on how to specifically attend to their preferences, etc.
This is also an opportunity to share if there are any bookings that have an anniversary or birthday, so the staff can quickly decorate the room to delight the guest with a wonderful experience.
“Have those conversations with your team, “ said Douglas. “You may be aware of your own vision, but this has to be communicated regularly to the entire team to keep everyone on the same page.”
The Value of Survey Cards
Douglas related how he found that he was very surprised by what the guests were saying about the spa experience after leaving customer survey cards in the dressing and locker rooms. No one complained about the cost of service, for example. No one complained about what had happened in the treatment room with a therapist, which is key, because the spa manager isn’t in the room with the therapist, and it is basically run on the honor system. What these survey cards did reveal was that it was small, inexpensive details that might be missing. For example, one complaint was that there were no combs in the men’s locker room. For $22.00, Douglas was able to immediately order a box of 400 combs, which are now placed as an amenity in the men’s locker room.
Other comments were regarding disclosure of mask policy, sanitation protocols and cleanliness. Communicating clear cut policies, and how your spa is complying to increased diligence in safety, such as using unidose facial treatments such as the professional treatments from Repêchage, can add priceless value to your services and the success of the spa.
Just Say No to No, Again
For a true luxury experience, customization is key. If a guest is paying for a service, they want the ability to customize it. Therefore, the spa owner should have a sensible upgrade service menu in place and ready to access at any time for all staff.
This is true even if the spa does not perform specific services. If the facility does not perform nail services, for example, they can offer a hand and foot treatment, while recommending and then booking a nail service at a nearby salon which has already been assessed for quality. This creates trust with your guests, and can provide additional revenue by working with this outside service provider, who may then refer clients to you for services they do not render.
“By all means, do everything you can to accommodate them,” said Douglas. “This is a good opportunity for us to turn around a situation and always offer the guests an alternative.”
If guests consistently request a specific product that you do not carry, make every effort to bring that vendor into your business. “Sell them what they want,” said Douglas. “so that they’re not going to another location and buying it there.”
“It’s also important to truly know what brands that you have in the spa, because the brands that you carry in the spa retail are a reflection of you and what you are,” Douglas pointed out. It’s for this reason he has partnered with brands such as Repêchage, with a 40+ year history in skin care and proven successful results.
Small Changes, Big Rewards
Customer satisfaction cards can also help reveal areas where the spa can be upgraded, but it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Douglas recounted how he implemented a renovation of the waiting area in the spa based on feedback from a survey card that indicated that the lighting in the area was too bright, how they wanted to put their feet up, and have access to snacks.
Without tremendous cost, the spa implemented curtains to soften the lighting and provide privacy bays for guests, ottomans for foot rests, and a small snack area stocked with healthy, individually wrapped items with flavors indigenous to the area that continue the spa brand story.
“What a difference some sheer curtains made!” said Douglas. “This demonstrates that renovation does not have to break the budget or be an elaborate production to have tremendous results.”
The Parting Gift
The final low cost investment is in proper boutique bags and tissue paper.
“One of the things that drives me crazy is when someone goes into the spa and they make a purchase and we just slip it into a bag with no thought, or we just hand it to them without a shopping bag,” said Douglas. “We want to make it a nice presentation and enhance the experience for our guests.”
He advises investing in pretty gold or silver boutique bags and tissue, which do not have to cost a lot, and taking the time to wrap each purchase. “This beautiful wrapping helps the clients know that they are giving themselves something and taking care of themselves.”
For more information on creating a five star experience, implementing staff initiatives and providing exceptional service, see Lydia Sarfati’s Success At Your Fingertips: How to Succeed In the Skin Care Business.
What are some of the ways you like to convey luxury at your spa or salon without breaking the bank? Let us know in the comments.
