Raoul Andrews Sudre / Senior Advisor / Aspen Spa Management

As a Spa Consultant, I have always advocated the “Walk your Talk” philosophy.  It is sometimes “politically incorrect” to speak the truth and many have shun from it for fear of reprisal.  My professional integrity and the very nature of my job demands that I tell people the truth—this is why they pay me!  If they want to hear that everything is fine and great they can ask their friends or colleagues; if they want to know the truth, they pay me to receive an objective assessment of their situation, an evaluation of their project based on  reality and hard facts not based on “hype” or “I will make you feel good” advisors.  The correctness of my advice is the commodity that I guarantee:
We are in a “Beauty and Health” industry and I strongly believe that in order to be credible you have to be representative of what you sell!

I personally only hire staff that can project that image.  When I am called upon to select a staff for a Spa that we have designed and may have to run, I apply the same principles.  Would you seek the advice of a doctor to stop smoking if he/she was a chain smoker?

Probably not…!

I cannot recommend to a Spa owner, to hire an esthetician that is not impeccably neat and clean and in as much as I feel sorry for them, I cannot hire an esthetician that has major skin problems nor can I condone a massage therapist or even a Spa receptionist that is unkempt or morbidly obese.  The law forbids us to discriminate but when choosing personnel for you business you must ensure that all elements having an impact on the success of your business are positive.  You owe this to your clients, your staff, and to yourself.  Discrimination based on race, creed, color is totally unacceptable, but to choose the best employees to have on your staff is not negative discrimination, it is a sensible and logical choice based on an ideal profile.

We live in a society where it has become acceptable to lie as so as not to offend!

Unfortunately there are many things that are offensive in life but to pretend they are not is not helping anyone to get better, or to be more successful!  And yet this is what most do.  As a consultant I try to be on top of all aspects of the industry.  I constantly read all the reports that affect our industry and having spent considerable time in my life to learn many skills connected with my work, I feel confident that my judgment and appreciation of various situations that are related to the Spa Industry are in most cases correct (there are always exceptions to any rule of thumb).  My clients are too busy doing what they do best—running their business, they come to me either to get a second opinion or simply because they have no knowledge of the subject at hand!  The Spa World.  They  usually come to me with some knowledge gathered here and there and sometimes have preconceived notions that prevent them from making the right decisions.

There are typically a number of misconceptions that will affect their ability to insure a successful operation:

1)    Location of the Spa:  Hoteliers, will look to use non-income producing space such as a basement to put their Spa in!  It is not a good idea and of course when there are no other possibilities we will do it, knowing that a number of clients will not patronize a spa that is underground! And in order to minimize the negatives the cost of doing the spa will be higher than in another location.

2)    Hotel professionals assume that Spa staffs, particularly when they are licensed, are competent to perform their work in a Spa environment.  This cannot be further from the truth!  Yes, there are good technicians in the industry but due to an excessive demand for personnel and the fact that most vocational schools do not prepare their students to work in a hotel or Resort setting, a considerable amount of time and money will be needed to rectify their problem.  This will affect the bottom line… most consultants avoid telling their clients this, mostly because most of them cannot do anything about it and some do not know enough about the technical aspect of the industry to realize this?  But in all cases they are misleading their clients.

3)    Fitness and Spa are one and the same!  Absolutely not…in fact with a few exceptions like a Health Club type of Spa, it is strongly recommended to separate the two activities.  Some forms of fitness is compatible with a Spa environment: Yoga, Tai-chi, Chi-Kong, Pilates, while others such as aerobic, anaerobic, weights, spinning and the likes are totally a nuisance to the Spa Ambiance which should be serene, quiet, immersed in scents of essential oils, not sweat!  To integrate fitness with a Spa to save money (using the same locker rooms for instance) will actually be a major impediment to success.

4)    Many professionals do their homework well.  They study industry statistics and use them to make decisions!  Sounds good, but statistics can be misleading and to be able to interpret them well, one needs to know the industry from the inside out.  This is when a good consultant will help his/her client make sense of the numbers as they apply to their particular situation.  National statistics need to be broken down by regions to be of use in a decision making process.  Some statistics are plain misleading either because they report answers to “loaded” questions or because it is to the advantage of the organization that distributes the information….

Examples: ISPA recently surveyed its service provide membership.  61% indicated their satisfaction and 69% of the “rank and file” also showing their approval.  Any business analyst would be alarmed at these results!  But not the management company that is in charge of running ISPA!  In a self-admiration society bad news is not bad news until it affects the bottom line…and due to the strong expansion of the Spa Industry new members exceeds those who are dissatisfied and the numbers do not show the reality of the situation.

Another survey taken in Canada reports 98% of the people who were asked said they were satisfied with the service they received in their Spas!  Anyone familiar with statistic gathering knows that when it comes to a “Service Industry” it is quasi-impossible to obtain a 98% satisfaction index, particularly since some 6-10% of people quizzed will have “No Opinion!”  So, where is the problem?  Assuming that the reporting of the survey results have not been tampered with, you need to examine the questions to find that the choice of answers did not allow anything but the stated approval!  In both these cases the numbers are either willingly badly interpreted or simply misleading and could cause serious problems for those trying to use them to implement a decision.

5)    When it comes to hiring a Consultant, cost of services should drive the selection process!  Not a good idea!  Consultants bring to the table their knowledge and experience.  Some have a little; others have a lot.  You pay for what you get!  The important thing is to compare objectively what is proposed.  Some consultants see their role as identifying a concept, a product line; others will do all this and also provide general information about the Industry to support their choices.  Others will do all of the above but also provide architectural layouts, ambiance perspectives, engineering guidelines on electricity, plumbing, HVAC, Acoustics; they will identify the needed FF&E and find the best quality/price ratios, create a Menu, create signature treatments, do staff pre-selection, staff pre-selecting testing and screening, staff selection, staff training, will put in place business systems, create Marketing strategies, Assist in pre-opening and grand opening, offer Management contracts!

It is evident that the cost of the latter will not be the same as the former!  And when all services have been priced individually, what may have appeared as the most expensive…ends up being the cheapest!  I always encourage my prospective clients to get full disclosure of services rendered from the competition.  It is the only way to be able to make an objective analysis and proceed with the best choice.