CRASH-When the Spa Meets Technology

How do you master the fine line between technology, relaxation, and the insatiable appetite for staying in touch?  It is a new tech world out there and how does the spa fit in?  Some spas are very hard line…no Cell Phones, no TVs, no WiFi Access, but as technology creeps up on the horizon, you start to show your age with all of the No Phones, –No, NO, NO.

When we were planning the new spa, this new technology line was something to consider.  Where do you put TV’s?  Do you have Wi-Fi?  Are cell phones okay if you do not talk on them?  Each spa has a different experience, and a different feel.

What is your policy at your spa? 
Do you have TVs?
Do you have Internet Access? 
How do you balance technology crashing into relaxation?
Should technology be a part of a spa?

The Treatment Room Has the NEED for SPEED

When you are working (yes, being a massage therapist or esthetician is a job) the room needs to be set up with thought and understanding of how you work and the need for speed.  Although your client should never feel your speed, everything should be within reach, organized, and setup for easy access.  If you have never been a therapist before, it is very obvious when an architect or interior designer is clueless about room setup.

Setup of the treatment room should allow for the following and I think everything should be hidden (it looks clean, uncluttered, and you never see the “trash”)

1. Mobil Cart that moves around the room (great for esthetician & for body treatments) (3-4 drawers)
2. Hot Towel Cabinet
3. Cold Refrigerator
4. Towel Storage
5. Laundry Storage (Under Table)
6. Back-Bar Organization (at least 3 drawers)
7. Sink
8. Under Sink (paper towels)
9. Any machines or equipment should be on carts (preferably enclosed)

There are of course other very important items needed in the treatment room, but the list above are the key items.  Treatment room setup and design needs to be a joint collaboration with your management team of therapists.

 

Mix the “Colors” In Public?

It used to be that all of the hair color was mixed behind the scenes, in a little closet type room, that was a mess, with color everywhere, half filled tubes, cracked tubes, and color charts everywhere. 

In some of the new spas, it is fascinating to see your hair stylist blend the colors right before your eyes.  At The Grand Beauty Spa in Tampa, Florida, Elz and Carmen created the most fabulous color blending bar.  The clients can sit and watch their color being mixed.  Just like you watch an artist, you can now watch your stylist blend away. 

Years ago, you would have never dreamed of mixing the color in front of the clients, but today, we do all kinds of things in front of clients…some good…some not so good.  But this idea of blending your color in front of the clients…now that is a winner.

Now, the only thing missing from this picture is my little gray hairs.

 

Light the Night..No, I meant Light the Highlights!

After talking with 5 lighting designers, the architect, the interior designer, and the true Guido to lighting–the chief electrician himself, we still  had clients sitting in shadows.  Now, these were not just any old shadows, clients would remark, “I think I look older”, “I am looking very gaunt”,  “Well, I know I don’t look that good, but my hair…I just don’t know.  It became almost a daily occurrence.  Now, lighting to a massage therapist is ho-hum, but lighting to a hair stylist or a nail technician is the world.  And you certainly know when you just don’t have it right.

The original specifications for lighting drew upon this new type of “work” bulb that came in a pair or in quads.  When tested, it looked like you could light up the night, but when it came down to actually cutting hair or putting in highlights, the lights put off shadows that crept across the client like ivy on a brick wall.   The solution was to add in very tasteful track lights that allowed the hairstylists to angle the lights to fill the shadows.   
Lesson Learned #1:  Lighting is super important, not only to see your work, but to have clients feel great about how they look-highlights & all.
Lesson Learned #2: Even the experts sometimes make a mistake.  We had all of the experts and nobody caught the lighting issue.

Luckily, after each time the client would complain about how they looked, we would rush them over to the makeup chair and touch up their color.  Well it sure helped to increase makeup sales. 

Need to Know the Way to Go.

Yes, you need to know the way to go.  No matter how small or large, unless your clients will have a full time spa attendant, they will be left walking around wondering
where is the steam room?
which way to the relaxation room?
how did I get in here?
for your therapist – which treatment room do I go in?
how did I end up in the mechanical closet?

So, give your clients some directions…they need to know where to go.  You first want to contact a signage company that does “wayfaring concepts”.  Just like an interior designer, they will spend time asking you questions about colors, concepts, and your ideas of how the signs should look.

The concept discussion will be presented in 3-5 ideas of signage design.  The design will include a 3-D rendering of how the sign will be made and its appearance.  Once you have agreed on design, the architectural plans will be blanketed with markers for the signs–where do you need a sign?   This is also known as wayfaring package instructions.

You will need to walk the space for determining whether you really need a sign.  This is really important–your clients need to know where to go and so do your staff.  Also at this point, you need to determine what the sign says.  Keep it clean and simple, but show them the way to go. 

Signage is key to client communication and controlling the flow of the spa.  It also will assist you with quiet zones, relaxation and wet areas, no smoking, and rules…don’t you just hate having rules.

 

Off Stage- Design The Salon Prep Room for Great Performances

I equate the prep rooms of the spa or salon to being off stage at a theatre performance.  You never know what goes on behind the scenes, but when the actors appear on stage, it is as if the show never had a problem–the show must go on.  The same should be said for all spas and it starts in the preparation area.  There are some key elements and things to consider for a great prep area as follows.

 

1. You need a preparation area for staging for salon, and for spa.  These areas depending on the size of your spa may require 2-3 staging areas, not including your spa attendant prep room.
2. Laundry facilitator with room for new laundry (towels, etc) and removal area for used laundry
3. Trash facilitator with each room or station containing trash receptacles to empty in prep area
4. Sanitation and Sterilization (Salon & Spa- for all instruments, brushes, tools, etc.), Autoclave, packs, and sprays used to sanitize.
5. Sinks (deeper) for washing brushes, mixing bowls, manicure bowls, and other items used in services
6. Temporary storage for re-stocking each station, whether nails, hair, or spa.  This temporary storage is a great facilitator for controlling professional inventory with large drawers for back bar supplies.
7. Refrigerator
8. Large Hot Towel Cabinet
9. Telephone
10. Computer
11. Microwave if needed for spa/salon protocols

In designing the preparation rooms, it is important to note which service are you staging for?  How many therapists will be utilizing this area?  When you watch the therapists prepping for services, what can facilitate speed and ease of preparation.  Lastly, my ergonomics….is the computer at the right height…can everyone reach the hot towel cabinet….and can the client see your preparation area?? 

You see that is why they call it on stage and off stage.  Preparation area (unless you are creating a visual show like mixing color) should be off stage.  Great performances are created by having a prepared staff off stage.

 

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.

 

Brand Your Spa Interior

What? Brand the spa interior?  What does that mean?  Well, don’t look at me, I didn’t know either until after Rome was built.  You see, first you create the brand in your head, your brand has a heart, it has emotions, it has color, your brand has all the feelings and emotions you want your spa guest to experience–both intangible and tangible. 

• Spend hours with magazines, books, and the internet looking at interiors.
• Look at colors, designs, and feelings that emote your brand. 
• Visit other spas and visit hotels, especially boutique hotels.
• Start files of information of your likes and your loves.
• Then pretend you are at the front door of your spa, walking in the door.
• Take your plans and slowly walk from room to room-What do you see? How do you feel?

The next step involves sitting for days and days with your interior designer.  And if they are not a spa interior designer, they need to have experience with a similar type structure–preferably commercial.  Building a spa is such a unique structure that not just any interior designer can know the right questions to ask.  Your interior designer can guide you through the colors, the feel, the space concepts and branding the spa interior.  The interior needs the same branding as the brochure, the bags, the uniforms—it is all one spa experience from the treatment to the walls. 

What is your spa brand?  What are your spa colors?  If your spa had a name, what would it be?  If your spa had one emotion, what would that emotion be?  By starting to answer questions, you start to plan and brand your spa interior.

Over the Top Locker Room or Lounge – What’s on Your Amenity List?

You have started to envision your over the top spa with all of the water features, when you start to ponder the locker room.  You start an amenity list like the one below, but it keeps going and going and going.  Unless you have built a spa before, the locker room area is where you need to attach yourself to fabulous spa consultant that knows what they are doing.

PARTIAL LIST OF LOCKER ROOM AMENITIES

Free-standing (on counter) soap dispensers

Sufficient space for clean/soiled linen; refuse disposal

Finishes to be durable, natural materials that are easily cleaned

Women’s- Body Lotion, Mouthwash w/cups, cotton balls, swabs,

hand soap, sealed brushes, combs in sanitizing solution, Makeup

remover, tissues, trash receptacle

Other:

Wall mirror

Wall lights

Faucets (on sensors)

Soap dispensers (on sensors)

Amenity trays for cleansers

Consumables: razor, shaving gel, q tips, tooth brush, tooth paste,

mouth wash, paper cups

Trash bins

Tissue dispensers

 

The locker room area is where your clients can see the dirt, the housekeeping, the attention to detail, the defects, the surprises, the down and dirty.  The locker area requires an expert, because if one thing is not done correctly, your spa will not recover from this defect.  Why, you ask?  Because, think of the time that the client spends in the locker room.  Think of all the things that they have to break.  Think of the baseboards to clean.  Think of the mold in the steam room.  Think of the slippage in the water area.  Did the drain slant the right way? Is water pouring out of the shower?  Did they order clear glass for the shower doors instead of opaque?  What brand of steam generator do you purchase and why?  Are the fixtures commercial?  Is there a place for towels? 

The amenity list for the locker area is so endless that you need an expert to guide you through the process.  Don’t wait another second–it will be the best money you have ever spent.  Need a recommendation? 

When Do You Know You Have Bad Floor Plans?

Part of owning a spa does not make you a designer, engineer, architect or spa consultant  unless you were one in a past-spa lifetime.  Okay, sorry to bust your bubble, and you may be a spa visionary, but your expertise is in either business, or spa, but not design.  So, how in the hay, hay, are you suppose to know if your floor plans are bad?  Gut?  No. 

A.S.B., yes “A Spa Brain”.    What is a spa brain?  Someone who has already made all of the mistakes you are getting ready to make, but they learned from the mistakes, so they can help you not make the same mistakes.

Take your ideas: 1. hire an architect that knows spas or 2. take your plans to a spa consultant that has built many spas.  Just because you think you can build a hotel, a restaurant, or any other fabulous structure because you’ve done them so many times before…doesn’t mean you can build a functional, perfectly operational spa. 

Don’t worry, A.S.B. will know if you have bad floor plans.  They know how much space it takes for a hair stylist to move around  the chair.  They know the pedicure thrones with the smallest footprints.  They know the size of the pipes to plumb the rain showers.  So when you are building your spa of your dreams, it’s okay to hire your local architect, but you need “a spa brain” (A.S.B) to review the plans. 

You see with without A.S.B., your clients could be bathing like this!