service” but also to carry over that passion to hospitality. He advised the spa leaders attending the Power Session to invest in people, even when the return is difficult to quantify.

“ Hospitality is the most selfish pleasure,” Guidara said.“ It’ s the look on the recipient’ s face, the loyalty you earn from a customer— but also from your team.” He shared a lesson he learned from his wife’ s approach to hospitality during the pandemic. Milk Bar never called its e-commerce business an e-commerce business, he said, but rather a“ care package business,” driven by the intention to make people feel loved and cared for. That, he said, is because“ the best way to love on people is to love on the people they love.”

The keynote ended with Tosi thanking the audience for accomplishing everyday hospitality.“ What you do is solace for me. I hope you know the power and depth of what you do.” Guidara echoed her sentiment, reminding attendees that, in their hands, a simple experience could become a core memory for a guest— something truly extraordinary.

THE“ MIDDLE DAY” POWER SESSION kicked off with a testimonial video from session sponsor BABOR and a celebratory video marking ISPA’ s 35th anniversary before ISPA research partner Colin McIlheney took the stage to“ High Hopes.” McIlheney shared record-breaking insights from the newly released ISPA Consumer Study, highlighting a nearly six percent increase in U. S. spa industry revenue, surpassing $ 22 billion for the first time. Revenue per visit also hit an all-time high of $ 120, but he cautioned against over-reliance on price increases, emphasizing the importance of growing visitor numbers for long-term success. Spa employment trends are improving, with unfilled positions dropping from 40,000 to 25,000, and McIlheney credited ISPA efforts for the positive trend.

ISPA Foundation leaders Todd Shaw and Ella Kent followed, encouraging attendees to leverage industry data in their own businesses. They underscored ISPA’ s commitment to research through economic highs and lows, before introducing ISPA’ s speaker agent of many years, SpeakInc’ s Tim Mathy, who offered insight into curating compelling conference speakers.

Before the keynote conversation began, Will Guidara was presented with the 2025 ISPA Visionary Award. Reflecting on his journey while accepting the annual honor, he spoke of the“ nobility in service,” sharing his father’ s wisdom that the greatest among us answer the call to serve.“ We all have this ability to make the world a slightly better place,” he said.( See page 25 for story.)

DAY TWO POWER SESSION SPONSOR

Scan the QR code to view BABOR’ s Power Session video.

MAY 2025 n PULSE 31