“The enormous amounts
of effort that spa leaders
and staff poured into
developing new
sanitation protocols,
operating procedures
and guest journeys was
met with widespread
approval.”
end of June, while 16 percent reported having to permanently
let some staff members go. Meanwhile, 28 percent
said some staff members remained laid off and 21
percent said some staff members remained on furlough at
the time they completed the survey.
On a brighter note, the enormous amounts of effort
that spa leaders and staff poured into developing new
sanitation protocols, operating procedures and guest journeys
during their closures was met with widespread approval
from guests and returning employees alike. Asked
to rate staff response to reopening, 83 percent of respondents
said the reaction had been “favorable” or “highly favorable,”
while the reaction to new spa policies and
procedures was even more positive, with 89 percent saying
staff response fell into one of those two categories.
Guests appear to have been similarly pleased to see spa
doors open once again, as 93 percent of respondents classified
guest response to reopening as “favorable” or “highly favorable,”
to go along with the 84 percent of guests who
reacted positively to their spa’s new policies and procedures.
The data also suggests significant demand for spa services
upon reopening, as more than three quarters (76%) of respondents
rated the volume of appointment bookings as
“favorable” or “highly favorable,” compared to just 13 percent
who rated booking volume as “unfavorable.”
As has been the case for most of 2020, constantly evolving
circumstances make it difficult to draw solid conclusions
from data of any sort. Still, the spa industry will
remain hopeful that some of the developments highlighted
here—unexpectedly robust treatment menus,
strong demand and enthusiastic guests and staff, to name
a few—will hold steady for the foreseeable future. n
SEPTEMBER 2020 ■ PULSE 41