ITP Business group editor - hospitality Louise Oakley ITP Business group editor - hospitality Louise Oakley

I have been interviewing spa managers and using spas for eight years now and while I have been spoilt for choice by the options available to me in Dubai, there is one operational issue that continues to both baffle and bug me. It is the complete lack of understanding and focus on spa retail in the vast majority of hotel spas.

This is despite the fact that spas are increasingly dedicating more space to retail, with boutique areas and extended product ranges, including candles and clothes as well as skin and body care.

Yet, this more often than not ends up dead space as therapists are still not being trained to find out clients’ skin and body concerns and educate them as to the solutions — available to purchase right there in the spa — that will enable them to continue their spa experience at home.

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A spa treatment at a major brand — which should know better — highlighted this last month. I booked a facial and my first disappointment came when my therapist didn’t analyse my skin at all.

Not only did it lack that tailor-made touch — which is actually meant to be a core part of this particular facial — and subsequently make me doubt the therapist’s skill level, I realised she was on the back foot when it came to later selling me anything. But I needn’t have worried — because the therapist made absolutely no attempt to recommend any aftercare, let alone actually sell the products used by the spa.

To put the other spa staff to the test — there were four in the reception — I hovered around in the extensive retail area afterwards trialling testers, slathering myself in various moisturisers, oils and sprays.

No-one came to see if I needed assistance and after 10 minutes, I left. If only they had known that I had gone to the spa with the very aim of treating myself to some new skincare. Of course, had they asked I would have told them — what a missed opportunity.

I was grumbling about this experience to Geraldine Howard, one of the world’s foremost authorities on aromatherapy and co-founder of the Aromatherapy Associates spa product line, and was alarmed to find this is something she is still experiencing worldwide too.

According to Howard, it’s one of the biggest problems spas pose to hoteliers and the main reason, therefore, that spa sadly gets bumped to the bottom of the priority list. But there is a solution — and it lies in refocusing sales on body care.

The maths behind this is simple: around 80% of treatments booked at spas are massage and 20% facial but, 80% of retail will come from those 20%. “So what spas really want is to start selling retail off the back of body treatments,” says Howard, whose own Deep Relax Bath and Shower Gel is Aromatherapy Associates’ best selling product.

Success will come down to the real benefits offered by massages and body wraps — smelling and feeling nice isn’t enough, they must identify a need and work to address it.

That way, the aftercare pitch will serve a purpose. Ultimately, this will be critical to make spa a viable proposition for hotels — and it’s the responsibility of general managers and spa managers to work together to achieve it.