TOWN HALL

PRICING WITH PUROSE ISPA’ s May Town Hall—” Spa Pricing and Promotions: Trends and Tradeoffs”— explored how spa leaders can use dynamic pricing, value-add promotions and smarter data to protect margins without eroding guest trust. Sponsored by Eminence Organic Skin Care, the member education event brought together moderator Kenneth Ryan with Shane Bird of Skana Spa at Turning Stone Resort Casino, Jennifer Holzworth of Montage International, Linda Townsend of Release Well-Being Center and Gary Virden of The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island. The conversation was practical and specific: Pricing is no longer a once-a-year menu exercise. It is a leadership tool.

DYNAMIC PRICING MOVES FROM IDEA TO ACTION Most panelists described some form of variable pricing, often with a weekday rate and a higher Friday-through-Sunday rate. At Montage International, Holzworth said about 60 percent of locations use variable pricing, while one property is piloting full dynamic pricing based on capacity.

Virden shared one of the clearest examples: His spa layers dynamic pricing on top of weekday and weekend rates.“ As our books reach 50 percent capacity, we start going

TOWN HALL RECAP

up $ 10 at a time,” he said. The result can add“ another $ 50 or so onto the price at the end.”

The impact has been significant. Virden said the spa is doing“ about $ 60,000 a month on average, just in dynamic pricing,” with“ no extra labor, no extra product, no extra anything.” For smaller spas, he noted, even“$ 3,000 or $ 4,000

more a month” can represent meaningful margin.

THE COMMUNICATION CHALLENGE Panelists agreed that guest communication matters, but internal team confidence may matter even more. Virden recommended menus with“ starting at” pricing and strong front desk training so team members can explain options clearly:“ If you want the base price, then let me look for Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.”

Townsend said her team reframed the conversation by presenting weekend pricing as the base, with Mondaythrough-Thursday as the discount. That language“ seems to resonate with the community and take the sting out of it a little bit.”

Holzworth added that spa teams are often more nervous than guests:“ It seems like our teams are more apprehensive about our pricing than our guests are.”