The Spa Management Career Trends Survey has been released in response to a Global Spa & Wellness (GSWS) report which raised issues around a lack of trained spa managers, spa specific training courses and investment into training.

The initial report, released at the 2012 GSWS entitled Spa Management Workforce & Education: addressing Market Gaps, said that there are currently 4,000 students worldwide enrolled in spa management degree programmes. However there are 180,000 spa managers working in the industry worldwide, and this figure is growing, indicating that the number of spa management degrees available are not meeting the industry’s hiring needs for well-trained personnel.

The follow up survey, carried out by a sub-committee led by vice president of spa & wellness at Six Senses Hotels Anna Bjurstam, came to several conclusions after surveying 548 participants of whom hold various managerial roles in the spa industry.

The findings of the non-scientific survey suggested that spa associations from around the world should have a hub for mentor/mentee connections, which are severely lacking at present.

When asked about formal training, 32 per cent of respondents said they had not taken a single spa specific management training course and 37 per cent said they felt the majority of their spa management education came from on-the-job learning. Fifteen per cent felt that education came from conferences and association membership.

Although 94 per cent of respondents said that having a mentor is important, they associated mentoring as most important in developing two specific skill sets: leadership and HR aspects.

Respondents prioritised financial management as the most important skill set for a successful spa career ahead of understanding spa treatments, leadership and HR aspects, but ranked themselves below those three aspects on skill attainment, indicating a huge gap between what spa managers know is important and what they feel has actually been attained.