What Has That Therapist Been Smoking? Her Peace Pipe?

You train, you train, and you train.  You have staff and employees for years, and yet, just when you think everything is going well, your very best therapist decides to share her recent medical maladies.  You wish you could take it back, but the damage is done.

I was so looking forward to my 85 minute Indian Body Wrap and Massage, and was on the table in seconds.  The therapist held up the Indian peace pipe and explained that the ritual would include ancient Indian peace rituals—I can not get enough of this.  She then gave two little coughs. I expressed concern and she replied, “oh it’s nothing but my gall bladder”.

Alarmed, I said-”your gall bladder”—she replied, “it’s been acting up lately and it makes me cough”.   She then started the massage, but the Indian magic was over.  As she continued the massage, she kept up the little cough and kept leaving the table to get sips of water.

Finally, after 30 minutes, I gave in to “this massage is over,  Thank you.”  Putting on my robe, and leaving the treatment room, I was met at the door by the spa director.  “What is the problem?  What happened?”  I explained what happened.  She said that this therapist had been with her for over 10 years and she was very good and never had a complaint.  Great,  I thought, for ten years, this woman has been telling everyone her ailments and inflicting her bad mojo energy on guests. 

What part of zip your lip did this therapist not get?  Even after I ended the massage, I still don’t think she fully understood why I was ending the massage.  It’s no fun to listen to other people complain, especially when you are paying for it.

Three little rules for all therapists: 

1. If they ask a question, answer with one word. 
2. Keep the chatter to a minimum.
3. Unless you are having heart failure (or something similar), don’t ever let the guest see you sweat.

Three Key Areas of Designing the Spa (or the deal breakers)

Impressions of the spa come from the 3 key design areas which include the entry or reception area, the locker areas (could include water therapies), and the relaxation area and treatment rooms.  

The entry and reception area is absolutely a deal breaker if it is not done correctly.  The reception area sets the tone, the theme and the brand of the spa.  Is it contemporary, hip, meditative, eastern, greek, or classic?  Do you touch the senses-seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling.?  Is each sense engaged?  Is there an ah-ha moment here?  Does your guest feel welcomed?  There also must be an area to depressurize the guest.  They are coming from outside the spa, where the world is buzzing and moving fast.  They need an area to start the process of relaxation.

The second key area of the spa is the changing area or locker room.  This area needs a sense of privacy and protection, plus this is the key moment for sanitary evaluation.   From steam room to sauna to showers or pools, this area is the one place where the guests will check out the dust, the mold, the grout lines, and bathrooms.  The attention to detail in a spa can never be understated, but the changing area is a key area in design.  Wherever possible, the least amount of grout lines, or any ideas or equipment that you can implement that provides sanitation, and future preventive maintenance, the better off the spa is in terms of sanitation and ongoing housekeeping.

The third key area are the treatment rooms and relaxation area.  The major key here is peace of mind, safe, and comfortable.   People could be disrobing, and will they feel comfortable in the atmosphere?  The area must impart a total sense of peace, while allowing for guests that are experiencing the spa together to have alcoves or areas to sit together.  In the treatment room, please give the client a place to sit to disrobe, and enough room to not feel claustrophobic.  The treatment rooms can either be too larger and canyon like or too small.  Too large, and you do not feel warmth, and protection vs. too small, and you feel closed in.

These three areas are considered to be the deal breakers in designing a spa.  Each area must be considered very carefully and with key attention to the details.  We have all been to a spa where the feeling was not cohesive, or the design did not carry through–deal or no deal–don’t mess up the deal breakers.