There are more than 150 international spa consultants in the Global Wellness Institute’s (GWI) database, and many more who haven’t yet registered. However, there’s no specific degree or certification programme to qualify a spa consultant, plus spas come in so many shapes and sizes that no one consultant typically has the same skill set.

To drill down into these varied skills and to give some definition to the size and scope of our field, the GWI’s Spa & Wellness Consulting Initiative has released the first-ever spa/wellness/fitness consultancy survey results in the form of an infographic.

Sixty-plus consultants were interviewed worldwide and key findings show that more than half of the projects underway cost over US$1.5m (€1.3m, £1.2m) and take between 12-18 months to be completed. The benefits of using a consultant include decreased operational costs; cost savings in design, procurement and training; and expenses outweighed by increased speed to profitability.

The overall aim of the initiative is to aid prospective hoteliers and spa developers and connect them with the best consultant for their particular situation – especially those who can give proper guidance on creating optimum experiences and consistent advice on revenue and profit margins.

In the future, we plan to explore return on investment in projects that use consulting more deeply, especially in terms of speed to market and profitability.

globalspaandwellnessconsultants.com

A new infographic outlines the size and scope of the spa consultancy field

Kamillya Hunter

Spa Business’ article on the gender pay gap (see SB18/4 p52) brings up some excellent points. The idea of a fair compensation is subjective at best.

It’s important that spa owners have a firm understanding of how much they can reasonably pay their staff in wages and contribute to training. They also need a reliable feedback loop, so that any concerns about wages can be addressed.

Speaking as a former spa therapist and manager, the extent of many therapists’ contribution begins and ends in the treatment room. Yet many want higher wages with no additional responsibilities like upselling retail and memberships, encouraging rescheduling or marketing.

This leads to responsibility shifting dramatically to the front-of-house team, who also take on administrative tasks, cleaning, laundry and much more. Those employees, then rightfully complain of being overworked and underpaid – and need to negotiate a salary based on additional revenue generated and tasks that would otherwise need to be absorbed or paid out to someone else.

Reasonably, therapists will always want more money, especially if they feel they’re overworked. But sometimes the bare minimum contribution is deserving of a baseline pay.

spa-analytics.com