If you manage a hotel or resort with spa facilities as a popular attraction for guests, you need to make sure they feel pampered, luxurious, and refreshed, so they’ll want to book – and come back. And that’s just the start. To increase the chances of your guests returning, and spending more on extras and services on their next visit, you need to meet their expectations while making the experience easy and relaxing for them, from booking, to adding extras, to cancelling.
Here are 4 steps you can take to enhance the guest experience at your hotel or resort spa and watch your profits soar:
1. Give staff and guests clear visibility over available slots
Picture a group of guests who have already reserved entry to your spa, and once there, they decide to try out a manicure and hot stone massage. If you’re using separate systems to manage your business, the staff at your reception may not have the visibility or access they need to find this information on the spot. And there’s nothing more disappointing for your guests than having to hear the words, “I’m not sure…let me call them.” Either they may have to wait a while to get an answer – “Nevermind, I’ll do something else.” – or may not even get the information they’re looking for – “Sorry, my colleague isn’t picking up the phone.”
Making sure you have real-time visibility across all your services is key. Ideally, this transparency should be available to both your staff and guests. Your front desk employees should also be able to see all the available slots at the spa and book them easily when a guest asks. To increase the chance of impulsive reservations, you also want guests to be able to see and book available slots online without having to call or go down to the spa. Not only does this make things simpler for them, but it also allows you to have multiple channels with the potential to generate more revenue.
2. Reduce manual work for canceled bookings
Typically, when a guest – or even worse, a group – cancels their booking, an employee will have to go into the reservation, and manually cancel all booked add-ons: dinner, golf course booking, horse riding tour, spa treatments… this can be a huge hassle, and your staff may not have the time to perform all cancellations immediately, leaving some services unavailable for long, and hence harder to resell. On top of that, it can be easy to forget to change one (or more) booking status to available once it’s no longer occupied. All of this diminishes your opportunities to resell canceled services, costing you who knows how much valuable revenue.
By using a system that can manage both room and service reservations, and that links amenities to the room (and guest), you can remove all the manual work and risk associated with it. The software makes sure that all bookings tied to a particular room reservation get canceled automatically if the room reservation is cancelled. This means slots at your spa free up automatically in your system, allowing you, and any interested guests, to book it online or at the hotel. This kind of automation is necessary for resorts and hotels that manage services, as it allows you to reduce the risk of errors and delays, while also maximizing any opportunities you have to fill empty appointments. Did someone cancel their one-hour pedicure the morning of? Why not promote it at a special discounted price and identify guests in your system who might benefit from the offer to let them know.
3. Provide self-service and contactless options
Convenience is everything for your guests. If they’re trying to check in for their appointment or standing in line at your pool bar, you don’t want to keep them waiting. We’ve all been there – “What’s taking so long?” “I’ve been waiting ten minutes already!” Longer wait times could be costing your business more than you expect. According to the “2022 State of Waiting in Line” study by Waitwhile, 70% of customers will often abandon a physical line before it’s even their turn. If your spa has slow service, chances are your guests are going to get impatient, and they may even get fed up and leave altogether if they aren’t being helped on time. Sometimes it’s impossible to avoid long lines if it’s your busiest time of day with only so many employees to be able to assist, but there’s a solution. With self-service and contactless payment options, you can serve guests quickly, reduce waiting times, and complete purchases faster.
Take resort Vök Baths for example, the only geothermal floating pool spa in Iceland. As a popular attraction for tourists and locals alike, they need to make sure they can offer guests the speed and convenience they demand. “Some customers like to speak to an employee. Others prefer to get to the baths quickly so they can relax,” Adalheidur Gudmundsdottir, CEO of Vök Baths told us. Not only do they offer self-service kiosks to simplify the check-in process, but they also use contactless bracelets to help guests make purchases easier and faster, for example at the pool bar. “Because the sales at the bar connect to the bracelets, we can create reports to see what drinks are most popular with certain genders or nationalities, or with groups,” says Gudmundsdottir, making it easier to track what their customers are buying and encourage purchases.
4. Personalize packages and bundles
We’ve all heard these exact words from a guest before: “I could get this cheaper at x place.” It may sound unfair, but in truth, your guests just want to be sure they’re getting value out of their booking. So how can you make sure you’re giving them the best deal? Well, research from Expedia found that guests who book hotel packages also tend to book earlier, stay longer, and spend more than travelers who only book rooms. Providing special packages for your spa, especially during periods of low demand, is a great way to show your guests they’re getting something exclusive for a great price and entice them to book.
Try to mix and match different components from your hotel to create the kind of spa package your guests will really love. How about a 2-day “relaxation” stay with entrance to the spa included? Or a spa ritual package including one treatment, an in-water massage, and entry to the sauna? When you have the ability to create special offers for your guests and set reasonable pricing structures based on demand, you can be sure you’re creating a bundle they’ll really love – and jump at the opportunity to book.
Want to know more about how you can increase profits at your spa? Discover how you can run your rooms, dining, ancillary services, staffing and more, with just one single system and never lose another guest to poor customer service again. Contact our experts.
