or procedures, including: making hand sanitizer available
to all guests, posting visible reminders about hygiene and
sanitation standards, and welcoming guests with touchless
greetings. By the time the April Snapshot Survey
closed a month later, 99 percent of all spas had closed in
response to the pandemic.
As time passed, local, state and national governments—along
with organizations such as the CDC and
WHO—issued more defined guidance on how best to respond
to COVID-19’s spread. The April and May Snapshot
Survey results indicate that spas were quick
to integrate this guidance into their
policies and procedures.
For example, in April, 49 percent
of all spa respondents
said they would offer guests
the opportunity to bypass
locker rooms and go directly
to treatment
rooms. By May, 73 percent
of spa respondents
planned to institute this
procedure upon reopening.
Similarly, greater percentages
of spas planned to
remove items from communal
snack and beverage areas (April:
63 percent; May: 90 percent), reduce
the number of items on treatment menus (April: 36
percent; May: 69 percent) and require estheticians to
wear face shields during services (April: 51 percent; May:
81 percent).
By the time ISPA’s
May Snapshot Survey
closed, certain policies and
procedures—especially those
involving sanitation practices
or the use of personal
protective equipment
(PPE)—had become
all but standard.
Those rising figures are indicative of an overall pattern
that emerged as spas received increasingly (though not
entirely) consistent guidance from governments, organizations
and professional associations. By the time ISPA’s
May Snapshot Survey closed, certain policies and procedures—especially
those involving sanitation practices or
the use of personal protective equipment
(PPE)—had become all but standard.
For instance, 86 percent of spa
respondents planned to allot
more than the typical 15 minutes
to sanitize and prepare
treatment rooms between
appointments upon
reopening, 81 percent of
spas anticipated offering
face masks to employees
and guests and only six
percent planned on not
screening the temperatures
of either guests or employees
when they enter the spa.
The May survey suggests that
policies like these have coalesced into
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