guest who just lost a loved one , or someone who just got married , or someone who had their first facial and never felt more confident . I ’ m constantly reminding the spa providers that we ’ re seeing a new person every hour . We can ’ t become transactional and lose sight of all touchpoints .
Pulse : You studied business while you were working in your first spa . How did the experiences complement each other ? TF : I think one of the biggest challenges for many spa leaders is having business acumen and the ability to read financials to identify opportunity . Often , people come up through the ranks with single specialties . Spa leaders juggle so many things : You ' ve got to master being the financial , marketing , HR and retail person wearing many hats ! It really encompasses so many different aspects of business . Basic business courses in accounting and HR can help . I was fortunate to learn skills in business school that I could use right away in my day job .
Pulse : What kinds of things do you offer your team members to help develop and grow ? TF : We ’ re fortunate to have a corporate director of learning and development who has created PCH University , an online training platform . Say I ’ m a new supervisor , I can go to this training catalog and see what ’ s out there . The supervisors are the company ’ s biggest investment opportunity . If they aren ’ t not given those learning opportunities , you ’ ll see a lot of turnover in that position .
I occasionally have a massage therapist say to me that their goal is to become a spa director , and I always love hearing that . But then my challenge is , how do I even start this ? This provider is busy in the treatment room . How can I help them carve out time for training ? I don ’ t want someone ’ s interest to go unnoticed and for them to then end up staying in the treatment room or , worst case , quitting .
Pulse : I think you ’ ve put your finger on it because a lot of service providers are usually compensated on a fee-for-
PCH Hotels & Resorts team members take part in ongoing training . service basis . It is a conundrum to figure out how to compensate somebody for development time , so they don ’ t end up losing money . TF : Our leaders have done a great job structuring training in these cases . It doesn ’ t have to be long , but just taking 20 minutes and going through the monthly financial statement and highlighting different key points or discussing goals for the year helps keep them engaged in the broader picture .
Pulse : When someone is hired or promoted into to a supervisory role at PCH , are there course requirements ? TF : Yes , when someone ’ s promoted the department head assigns that person to the initial coursework . We have a variety of training opportunities including our Level Up Mentoring Program .
Pulse : If you were asked to participate in a career day at a local high school , what would you tell the students ? TF : That there are two specific questions to ask yourself to help you discover your passion . And the first one is : If you had all the time and money in the world , what would you do ? Second : What makes you happy and brings you fulfillment ? Also , for students , it ’ s important not to be afraid , if you get into a job that you do not enjoy , that you are stuck . Nothing has to be permanent .
And then I ’ d tell them that the world of hospitality is unique because it encompasses so many different areas . The hotel has everything from the rooms , the restaurants , events , food and beverage . And then there is the spa with all its different specialties . I think the learnings and experiences in hospitality can be fulfilling and can be applied , no matter what you might do or where you might go .
Pulse : I ’ m listening to my colleagues in the spa industry complain these days about recruiting and retaining people . Have you had that experience yourself and do you have any advice for other operators and owners ? TF : One pain point in our spas is that they are always looking for at least one more provider . But some of our greater challenges have been finding front desk and spa attendants . We have to get creative . We need to be getting into high schools and spreading the word . As far as recruiting providers , one of the new post-pandemic demands is building their own schedule that fits their lifestyle . I ’ ve seen many of our properties go from full-time rosters to having a lot of part-timers . Our operators have learned how to get creative with scheduling flexibility .
One of our big initiatives to is to be more present in massage and esthetics schools . Students are often taught to focus on being an entrepreneur , to leave school and open their own places . That ’ s great , but I don ’ t think people
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