“All of our events have an impact on our bottom
line. Clients are able to bring guests to the
events, and we’ve seen an increase in booking
from both the participants and the guests.”
—Jeannine soWers, owner, fusions sPa & Wellness
TallGrass garb on. for us, it’s about giving back. The whole
point is that we’re there, people see us and it inspires
people to visit TallGrass.”
secrets to success
When designing an event, Prescott advocates a flexible
approach, saying, “Sometimes we’ll start with a theme and
build from there, but other times we may develop an event
around a treatment that we like.” Prescott also views
events as a way to “sample something or try something out
that we’re considering putting on our menu.” it’s important
to listen to staff, guests and outside sources when planning
an event: all three iSPa members featured here cited brain-
storming sessions with staff and direct discussion with
spa-goers as regular contributors to their decision-making
process.
rackliff believes that an event must be aggressively
marketed to be successful: “you have to put it out there in
every way that you can, otherwise nobody will know about
it.” She further added that all of their best-attended events
have a philanthropic angle, a sentiment echoed by other
iSPa members. The Biltmore hotel includes all of its events
in its e-newsletter and markets them via social media. Says
Prescott, “Events take time, and for them to be successful
you have to market them, you have to plan for them.”
Location is important, too: TallGrass aveda Spa & Salon
has struggled to host successful seminars and classes for
guests due to its relatively remote location, so it’s
important that their events feel significant enough to make
the spa a destination.
any number of complicating factors can make an event
unsuccessful, says Bowers. The least successful event at
fusions Spa & Wellness, she says, was a meet-and-greet for
a new staff member: “There wasn’t an agenda or targeted
information, and inclement weather was also an issue.”
Each factor added up to an event that underperformed.
“Who you partner with is important,” Prescott says,
“because they have to be engaging.” once your spa has
found an ideal partner for the event, timing is everything.
The Biltmore hotel threw a holiday bazaar one year that
was a tremendous success. The next year, Prescott threw
an almost identical event, yet it was poorly attended. The
only difference was the date. “it came down to finding the
right day to do it. it had to be early enough that people are
still excited to shop for the holidays, but also avoid
Thanksgiving and other events.” Prescott adds that she has
had similar experiences when planning events around
other major holidays.
a successful spa event comprises many moving parts: a
great topic, the right date, involved partners and sufficient
marketing are all essential. Even then, some events may
not go well due to circumstances beyond control. But when
executed properly, as these three spas do more often than
not, one-off events at your spa can be major revenue gener-
ators and brand builders. n
f e at u r e d s o u r c e s
charlotte
Prescott
Director of Spa, Fitness
& Retail
the Biltmore hotel
melissa rackliff Jeannine soWers
tallgrass aveda fusions sPa &
sPa & salon Wellness
Spa Director
Owner
MAY
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PULSE 2019
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