“ We don ’ t have enough staff to run at full occupancy for the summer while also allowing the staff to be able to take care of themselves .”
through Saturday ) O ’ Rourke says , “ has not affected our service revenue , but has decreased our payroll costs ,” leading to an overall rise in profit . And because the service providers are only working hours when their time is likeliest to be booked , their earnings have remained stable . Additionally , O ’ Rourke notes that the spa is in the process of adding some providerfree services to provide an outlet for the high levels of demand the spa is experiencing and bring in more revenue .
Though these decisions have thus far worked out well for O ’ Rourke and her team , she concedes making such adjustments is not easy and must be handled with honesty and transparency . “ If you are going to change the hours and you are afraid of your team ’ s reaction , just make sure to be 100 percent transparent with the reasoning , whether it be financial or payroll reasons or because the demand [ during particular time periods ] is not there ,” she says , adding that , as far as guests are concerned , those who truly value the services the spa provides will typically find a way to fit an appointment into a new schedule . “ I would say [ the guests ] adjust . If they truly want to visit your location , they will find a time within your operating hours to come see you .”
LESS IS MORE
— BROOKE BUCHER
For Brooke Bucher , director of spa and wellness at Sage Lodge in Pray , Montana , near Yellowstone National Park , making decisions around the spa ’ s hours of operation was a little different . Rather than determining whether hours should be reduced , she had to determine whether she would expand hours during their peak season ( which begins around Memorial Day each year ) or maintain an off-peak schedule in light of reduced staffing ( and , of course , high demand for appointments ). Ultimately , she made a choice that seems like a negative on the surface but that has been a success in practice . “ We ’ re not operating with extended hours like we were last summer . We ’ re not going to be able to do that this year ,” says Bucher . “ We don ’ t have enough staff to run at full occupancy for the summer while also allowing the staff to be able to take care of themselves .”
It ’ s a decision that she did not take lightly , in no small part because she had to make a strong case to resort leadership that restricting hours during the busy season made sound fi- nancial sense for the spa and the resort as a whole . “ I definitely had pushback . I had to fight to operate this way , but I looked at last year ’ s business and looked at the number of therapists that we had and asked , ‘ Do we really need the same number of therapists , or can we operate with fewer therapists and maximize their schedules ?‘” she says .
After undertaking a careful evaluation of last summer ’ s bookings , Bucher felt that the spa could manage to meet their goals without extending hours and keep service providers from feeling overworked . However , because demand for services varies on individual days , Bucher says that her team ’ s flexibility was key to making this approach work . “ We are more than willing to open early [ on a given day ] if we have a group coming in ,” she says . “ I don ’ t know how I got to be so lucky to work with this team that I have . They make it possible .”
In Bucher ’ s view , the team ’ s willingness to be flexible is due in part to the insistence on transparent communication echoed by Kacey O ’ Rourke . “ I ’ m very open with the team about financials . I ’ m open with the team about goals . I ’ ve included the team so they have more of an idea of what ’ s coming , what I ’ m being pushed to do and why I ’ m being pushed to do something . They seem to be more willing to help and to be part of it because they feel a part of it ,” says Bucher . “ It ’ s also me showing them . I can tell them that everything is going to be okay , but by showing up and being in the operation with them , jumping into a treatment room if I need to let somebody go home early — that ’ s how I ’ ve gotten the buy-in from the team . They know I have their back , and I know they have my back .” n
FEATURED SOURCES
SHAIRSTIN RAYMOND Spa Director SEGO LILY DAY SPA MIDVALE , UTAH
KACEY O ’ ROURKE Spa Director BAMFORD WELLNESS SPA NEW YORK CITY
BROOKE BUCHER Director of Spa and Wellness
SAGE LODGE PRAY , MONTANA
JULY 2022 n PULSE 27