A few years ago, I spent a few days with a friend at a spa that has received lots of good press and magazine reader awards. My expectations were high. However, my experience was one of the poorest I have ever had at a spa. What went wrong? Each time I think about what would have made this experience a good one, one word comes to mind - consistency.
There are too many examples of inconsistency at this spa to share here, so I will relate just one. Before my first spa treatment on the first day, I elected to have a relaxing bath. The bath was something this spa offered complementary with all spa treatments. All I needed to do was request it. At the appointed time, a young attendant escorted me to a small, private room containing a large hydrotherapy tub filled with perfectly heated water. Rose petals floated on top. She lit candles, added bath salts, and helped me get into the tub. Then she turned on the hydro jets, adjusted the volume of the soothing music, asked if I would like a drink of water, pointed out a bowl of ice water with rolled up wash cloths to place over my eyes then left. 20 minutes later, she returned to help me out of the bath and escort me to my body scrub. I enjoyed the bath so much that I scheduled another for the following day before my massage. I also recommended that my friend do the same. She did. Here is where the trouble started. The next day, a different young attendant escorted me to a different room containing a hydrotherapy bath. She helped me into the tub and left. The candles were unlit, no rose petals floated, no bath salts were added, no music was playing, no bowl of chilled washcloths was prepared, no glass of water was provided and, most importantly, the hydro jets were not turned on. Fortunately, I knew where the switch to the hydro jets was having watched the attendant turn them on the day before. I climbed out of the tub, flipped on the switch and got back into the tub. While the bath was still relaxing, I felt shortchanged. All the little touches the day before made the experience so much nicer. I didn't understand why it wasn't the same. I wrote it off to poor (inconsistent) training. My friend was taken to the room I had gone into the first day. No candles, no rose petals, no bath salts, no music, no chilled washcloths, no glass of water and, most importantly, no hydro jets. She spent 15 of her 20 minutes looking for the hidden switch to the hydro jets and never found it. Needless to say, she wasn't pleased with her bath. When she asked the attendant why the jets weren't turned on, the reply was, "You have to pay extra for that." Of course, that just wasn't true. So I compared my first experience to my second, and my friend and I compared our experiences and added this experience to a long list of problem experiences we had at this spa that could be attributed to inconsistency.
Don't think for a minute that inconsistency exists only in large destination or resort spas. I was having a manicure at a day spa near my house a few months ago. A woman who had clearly been mid-haircut came running up to the nail station and demanded to know what was in the bowl my hands were soaking in. Her bewildered stylist followed with scissors in hand. My nail tech replied that it was just soapy water. The woman wanted to know why, when she had a manicure at this spa the previous week, she did not get to soak her hands. What had she missed? Was there a therapeutic value that her hands were not treated to? My nail tech could not explain since it was another technician that had given her the manicure. This answer - or lack of a satisfactory one - did nothing but frustrate her. She was clearly upset, and it was clear that she felt shortchanged - all over a bowl of soapy water. Had the spa used a set procedure for giving a manicure that all nail techs had been trained in and followed, this would not have happened.
Inconsistency is the enemy of quality. It has serious consequences. Do you think my friend or I will ever return to the spa with the complementary bath? Not in a million years. I suspect the 20 or 30 people we have shared this experience with won't be spending their money there either. How about the woman looking for a soak during her manicure? I'll bet she never has a manicure there again. Possibly no hair cuts either.
So how does a spa root out inconsistencies or, better yet, prevent them from ever appearing? Having a formal, systematic approach to the spa operations is the answer. The spa needs to be consistent with what it offers each guest. They pay for the same thing, they should get the same thing - each and every time and with each and every service provider. Envision what the Guest experience should be, then write a procedure(s) for every step of that process. Be specific. Include who does what and when they do it. Include what is used and how much. If it matters, write it down. Review the procedure. Test it. Approve it. Use it to train staff. Once the procedure is created, it only works if it is followed and maintained. If a change is ever needed to any part of it, be sure to update the procedure and retrain the staff. That, of course, takes discipline. However, it's worth the work. Remember, when processes and systems fail, it is usually the client that's the first to notice. By collecting meaningful guest feedback, having a comprehensive and well functioning preventive and corrective action system and regularly sending independent, anonymous testers though the spa to see how well the procedures are working from the Guest's point of view and having them provide a detailed report of their experience to management, management has an opportunity to identify and correct small problems before they turn into large ones.
The following is an example of a written procedure that the first spa could have used. The use of photos would make the procedure even more useful. Of course, if both attendants are not trained to follow the same procedure, then it has little value.
(See The Importance of Document Control for Spas)
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