Do you use a Spa or Salon Opening Checklist? On a recent mystery shop, like another one I encountered last year, there was no music playing in the spa. It really makes such a difference to the spa experience, as the sounds we don’t necessarily want guests to hear, such as air conditioners, talking outside the door and tummy rumbles, are all heard and disrupt the treatment.
Why would a spa not play music? It’s standard practice so a guest may notice something is different when they enter the spa – perhaps they are welcomed with a more clinical feel and/or find it harder to relax into the treatment, which negatively impacts their customer journey?
The Opening Checklist in our Spa Operations Manual and our Salon Operations Manual and includes turning music on before any guest arrives. During one of my spa experiences last year, the music came on suddenly half-way through my treatment, which startled both myself and the therapist. We both had a giggle and continued the treatment. However, the interruption negatively affected the experience and embarrassed the therapist as she apologised for the interruption, saying they must have forgotten to turn it on.
The most recent mystery shop was also awkward because there were a variety of noises during the treatment, including the outside playground with children delighting in frequent screaming. Of course this is expected behavior in a playground, however the spa may receive negative reviews from other customers complaining about the noise. At the end of the treatment, the therapist apologised about having no music, saying the system was broken. As this is an integral part of the spa experience, in this modern age a back-up system shouldn’t be too hard to find, such as playing music on a smart phone?
I suggest spa owners, managers and designers review their environment as it relates to the spa design to understand which treatment rooms may encounter more outside noise and find a way to resolve this in order to maximise the guest experience.
A few other things on our Spa Opening Checklist include:
- Cancel call forward or voicemail setting on the telephone
- Retrieve client profiles and understand which guests are existing clients versus new clients
- Set the door sign to open
Our Spa Opening Checklist is available in our Housekeeping & Spa Presentation Manual which may be either purchased separately, or as part of our comprehensive Spa Operations Manual and Salon Operations Manual.
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