November 2009’s Featured Article:

Festive Treatments

Smart services to prepare clients for seasonal events

by Millie Haynam

The holidays are a busy time of year. Reminding guests to take care of themselves can ensure a profitable season for your business. Early planning is crucial to getting as much as you can out of the few weeks that encompass the holiday season. Marketing a variety of holiday-themed packages helps to get clients and coworkers into the spirit. Brainstorm with staff to come up with creative solutions for time-pressed shoppers and catering to harried holiday party goers. Fill up your spa during this stressful time and hear your bottom line jingle.
Howard Kohlenburg, co-owner of Chill Wellness and Medi Spa, New York, NY, has put together some treatment gems for the upcoming holiday season. The 24 karat gold facial and body treatments are very popular. These services actually have real micronized gold in all of the creams and powders, leaving the client with a beautiful gold sheen for that special holiday event, office party or New Year’s Eve celebration. There are also a wide range of chocolate treatments, including the chocolate body wrap and waxing. The spa offers packages that include a compilation of some of the best of its holiday treatments. The Holiday Jewels and Treats package begins with its signature 24 karat gold body treatment, followed by the milk chocolate facial and concluding with a hot stone chocolate cherry manicure and pedicure. The package takes three and a half to four hours and costs $345.00.

Fresh skin, balanced mind

Spa Shiki at the Lodge of Four Seasons on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks, Four Seasons, MO, is one of the largest resort spas in the Mid-west that offers very special seasonal treatments to get guests ready for the holidays. Spa Shiki recommends certain treatments and special packages to holiday guests during the winter season to keep skin fresh and the body and mind balanced. Guests can also use the coed whirlpool, steam room or sauna during spa visits. The Spa Shiki sauna’s infrared heat stimulates the body’s immune response, lowers blood pressure and reduces stress. What could be better during the hectic holiday season?
The Cranberry Facial is a perfect treatment for giving dull skin a boost. The energetic service brightens, tones and tightens the skin. A cranberry enzyme helps to exfoliate, bringing about a beautiful glow to show off at holiday parties. This exfoliating and hydrating facial leaves skin looking so radiant, your client will be the envy of everyone. It lasts 80 minutes and costs $150.
The Winter Spa Fix Package is the perfect pampering treatment to indulge in before a party. Spa Shiki’s marketing brings in clients with its stress relieving angle. “When the stress of the holidays set in, you feel it in mind and body. This special half-day winter package addresses issues specific to the season to get you up, going and glowing.” The package includes an 80-minute Cranberry Facial to brighten, exfoliate and tone skin, a Hydro Tub Soak with invigorating rosemary essential oil (25 minutes) and a Seaweed Detox Body Wrap (50 minutes), rich in white and green laminaria to promote cellular metabolism, rebalance and remineralize the skin, fortify the immune system and activate circulation. Get ready for a night on the town or perhaps New Year’s Eve on Times Square. The price for the package is $275.

Aroma-therapy Massage, a Spa Shiki signature treatment, is the perfect treatment to help the client slow down and get back on track during the busy holiday season.

Lymphatic massage and chromalight

Do not forget the pampering luxury of massage to rebalance before the big event. Aroma-therapy Massage, a Spa Shiki signature treatment, is the perfect service to help the client slow down and get back on track during the busy holiday season. A light, rhythmical touch, lymphatic drainage style massage (no muscular manipulation) and a custom blend of pure and natural essential oils (chosen based on your specific constitution and personality) calm the nervous system and generate a high state of relaxation. The 80-minute service includes reflexology to enhance whole body health. A 50-minute version of the massage is $90. The full 80-minute massage service costs $130.
And just for good measure, guests can indulge in the Hydro Tub Soak and chromalight therapy. This add on treatment is the perfect prelude to a massage to help guests ease in from a harried schedule or a soothing finish to get back to reality. The state-of-the-art hydrotherapy tub has more than 200 air and water jets that target six body zones and fiber-optic color light therapy that calms and soothes. Spa Shiki uses essential oils for its Hydro Tub Soaks. Stressed holiday guests can select one of the following baths to best meet their needs: balancing lavender (for fatigue, nervousness and stress), invigorating rosemary (addresses low energy, feeling weak and tired) or stress-reducing valerian and hops (for insomnia, nervous anxiety). The treatment lasts 25 minutes and is $55. Spa Shiki’s unique hydrotherapy tub offers guests the cutting edge of energy therapy through chromalight therapy, which can stimulate physiological changes within the body.

Harrah’s also fills the difficult to book mid-day, mid-week appointments with discounted services to keep the spa humming.

Discounted services

The Spa at Harrah’s in Valley Center, CA, offers a wide variety of holiday-themed treatments, and they are typically offered at a discount. Come December, they will be offering three discounted packages tailored to the season. Pumpkin is the theme this year, with several treatments designed with the holiday favorite. The Pumpkin Latte Hydration Facial fights the dry skin that Southern California winters often bring, with a 50-minute hydrating mask. A puree of fresh pumpkin, rich in beta-carotene, can help fight the effects that environmental stress can have on skin for $79. The Pumpkin Herbal Spice Body Scrub is a 20-minute body scrub that smooths skin while filling the room with the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg.
The 20-minute Neck, Back & Shoulder Massage is intended to help remove unwanted holiday stress and leave guests feeling very merry for $89. Last but not least, the Pumpkin Spice Spa Pedicure invites guests to warm up with a complimentary cup of hot cocoa while they enjoy a luxurious 50-minute pedicure. Priced at $49, the service includes a foot scrub, foot massage, paraffin dip and a callus treatment to get feet ready for those upcoming holiday parties.

Leslie Christin, owner of Studio Cara, Maitland, FL, designs specials to keep her clients looking fabulous throughout the holiday season.

Harrah’s also fills the difficult to book mid-day, mid-week appointments with discounted services to keep the spa humming. They created mid-week specials to help ease some of the holiday stress and cash-strapped wallets, such as the 50-minute Classic Swedish Massage for $39. At a 66 percent discount off of the regular price the offer is valid Mondays through Fridays in December. Guests taking advantage of the savings have full access to spa amenities, including the sauna and steam room.

Social media matters

Publicizing the holiday events is the job of Elizabeth Liemandt, events, promotions and public relations manager at The Spa at Harrah’s. Liemandt uses a variety of strategies and tools to get the word out. Since the spa is located on the casino floor, many stressed out visitors end up sneaking off for a relaxing massage. Monthly mailers are sent out to the community with news about all of the events and specials taking place at the casino, and press releases are constantly sent to the local media. The spa has also joined the social media bandwagon listing special discounts for Facebook fans and Twitter followers.
Leslie Christin, owner of Studio Cara, Maitland, FL, designs specials to keep her clients looking fabulous throughout the holiday season. The Holiday Glam treatment is the perfect package to get gorgeous for an event or just for a night out on the town. It includes a makeup application and holiday lash glam application for $190. The New Year, New You is the Rolls-Royce of packages, as it encourages guests to “relax in the hands of our wonderful staff.” Clients receive a Prestige Moisturizing Facial, brow design and last but definitely not least a makeup lesson—all for $185. The salon uses social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to promote the packages to clients and “fans.” The spa also reaches out to the business community with flyers.

Gift away

Do not forget to ease your guests’ shopping hassles with easy to purchase gift cards, gift certificates and retail items. Open houses are still a great way to get the word out—be sure that your shelves are stocked with grab and go gift items throughout the holiday season. Pre-wrapped gifts in a range of price points with recommended gift giving ideas helps guide the spa guest in the right direction. (Make sure you display what is inside the wrapped gifts!) Point of purchase signage reminding guests that you offer gift cards should be at each station, in every treatment room—even in the bathroom.
There is much to be said for the power of suggestion. Rewarding guests that are big spenders is a great incentive for them to spend even more. Partner with your distributor for their professional sales hints and tips to help boost holiday profits. Why not start the coming year with some extra revenue? Marti Morenings, founder of Universal Companies, tells spas, “It is an important concept to remember that the holiday season is a golden opportunity for spas to solidify and enhance their businesses.” With smaller margins in today’s economy, the add on retail sale can be offered either as a take home product or a gift item.

Successful holiday retailing can improve the bottom line in the long term, especially with the slow winter months that follow.

De-clutter

Universal Companies sends out a special holiday flyer with its holiday retail catalog. Designed for skin care and spa professionals alone, this publication is brimming with retail and merchandising ideas from sales strategist Carol Phillips. Some of her suggestions include taking down all other promotional posters and to “clean up the clutter before stringing up the first set of twinkle lights.” Too much visual clutter will hinder clients from finding holiday offerings they may be interested in buying. Organic bath salts, plush chelour robes and throws, candles, herbal wraps and the like are too difficult to resist when clustered and creatively arranged on display tables. Make sure they are clearly marked with large, easy to read signs.
Put together gift sets with themes to pamper new moms, your favorite man or even man’s best friend. A pampered pooch gift basket will be attractive to many of your dog loving clients. Offering a spa retail item as a “free” gift with the purchase of a gift certificate is a great way to entice guests to try items they might not have otherwise purchased on their own. Once clients try these amazing spa treatment products, they tend to purchase them later as a reminder of their spa experience. Successful holiday retailing can improve the bottom line in the long-term, especially during the slow winter months that follow.

You are the solution!

The holidays are a great time of year to be the “go to” holiday resource for your clients. Whether it is to offer to plan their holiday spa party, solve their gift giving challenges or to help them look great for the office bash, your spa can be the calm in the storm—the solution to their stress. Take time to coordinate treatments and packages that reduce holiday stress with your staff. Create a synergy in your retail department that continues the holiday theme with spa gift sets, gift cards and packages that are easy to purchase. A well planned out holiday season creates loyal customers that will continue to support your business in the year ahead.

Millie Haynam has been a skin care and spa industry professional for more than 30 years. She is president and creative director of Natural Beauty Salon and Academy in Twinsburg, OH. Haynam’s awards include Who’s Who in America/Business-Marketing and the first runner up in 2004 in the AVA Salon of the Year.