BY PULSE STAFF

TWO YEARS AGO , Pulse explored revenue management in the spa industry . It was a time when many facilities were emerging from the darkest days of pandemic closures and trying to reimagine income models and new prospects for profitable practices . Now , as many spa leaders plan their operational budgets for 2024 and look for creative opportunities to become more efficient and more in tune with market demand , this is an apt time for a review of revenue management .

The general premise of revenue management is simple : Customers are willing to pay more for services during peak periods and — conversely — they may be tempted to alter their schedules to take advantage of special-value pricing in non-peak hours .

The airline industry is the go-to example of a service built on the revenue management model : Try booking a flight for Sunday afternoon or Monday morning , when you ’ re competing with business travelers , and you ’ ll find your ticket price is as much as double the fare for the same trip on a midweek evening . Likewise , a summertime excursion to a family vacation destination will almost always be more expensive than the same flight during the school year . So you , as the traveler , have a choice whether to pay more for convenient scheduling , or to rearrange your timetable to take advantage of bargain pricing .

The hotel industry adopted revenue management practices decades ago , but the spa industry has been slow to follow suit . ISPA member surveys consistently indicate the majority of spas operate on a static price schedule or institute only the most basic variable pricing with adjustments by season or day of week .

The spa industry ’ s hesitancy to fully embrace the strategies of revenue management may be rooted in several factors , from the perceived — and actual — complexity of developing a revenue management system to concerns that guests will respond unfavorably to any such changes . Those concerns are certainly valid , but they can also be overcome through education and careful

16 PULSE n OCTOBER 2023