TONY ANGEL
The Ritz-Carlton Orlando
HEATHER HANNIG
Mandarin Oriental Boston
BRISA HUEZO
Nobel House Hotels & Resorts
KENNETH RYAN
MODERATOR
ISPA CHAIR
ERIC WILKINSON
Polo Club of Boca Raton
TOWN HALL RECAP
THE AUGUST TOWN HALL was sponsored by Oakworks, and Kelsey Costanza, director of global brand experience at Hard Rock Hotels, was selected as the winner of a complimentary registration for the 2026 ISPA Conference. Members who missed the live session may view the full recording by visiting experienceispa. com.
Mastering Spa Budgets and CapEx Planning
Key takeaways from ISPA’ s Town Hall offering financial strategies every spa can apply
BUDGETING AND CAPITAL EXPENDITURE planning are the foundations of sustainable spa performance. That theme anchored ISPA’ s recent Town Hall, moderated by ISPA Chair Kenneth Ryan( The Estate) with panelists Tony Angel( The Ritz-Carlton Orlando Spa, Grande Lakes), Heather Hannig( Mandarin Oriental Boston), Brisa Huezo( Noble House Hotels & Resorts), and Eric Wilkinson( Polo Club of Boca Raton). Across resort, corporate and private club settings, the group emphasized disciplined budgeting rooted in history, rigorous KPI tracking, savvy pricing, compelling CapEx storytelling and team-first staffing strategies.
Budgeting and financial planning l Anchor your budget in history— then pressure-test assumptions. Use multi-year pre- and post-2020 comps to spot reversion to norms and recent trends. Build your plan on facts( not optimism), and run upside / downside scenarios for volume, rate and labor so you’ re never caught flat-footed. l Make budgeting a cross-functional sport. Finance, marketing, operations and the hotel GM should all shape the spa plan. Align campaigns, room-night expectations and menu strategy so revenue and expense lines tell the same story. l Never“ save” your way out of revenue. Stock the essentials even late in the month; a product outage kills sales and guest trust. Prioritize purchase timing, partial orders and accruals so supply never blocks revenue. l Standardize a monthly“ leaks and lifts” review. Ask: Where did we
“ We created a summer menu, which had most of our services, but not all of them. Our volume has increased, and it’ s been beneficial for us.”
— TONY ANGEL
leave money on the table?( skills, scheduling, inventory), and Where did we outperform?( pricing windows, packages, retail). Turn each insight into a 30-day test with a defined metric owner.
Performance measurement and analytics l Track a handful of KPIs relentlessly. Prioritize treatment-room utilization, therapist productivity, labor-to-revenue, revenue per treatment room and spa spend per occupied room. Review weekly“ flash” snapshots and take same-day corrective actions on staffing and retail promotions. l Audit your true revenue drivers— and the bottlenecks. Massage is often highest-margin and highestvolume, but it stalls if skills or scheduling limit availability. Cross-train for top-yield services and check how many qualified providers you have for each bestseller.
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