Pulse August 2019 | Page 60

s n a P s h ot s u rv e y THE EVER-CONTINUING BATTLE OVER GRATUITIES and service fees/charges was examined in the May Snapshot Survey. Respondents were asked a variety of questions about their practices for tipping, gratu- WHAT IS YOUR COMPANY’S GREATEST CHALLENGE WHEN IT COMES TO GRATUITIES? ities and automatic charges. Notably, resort/hotel spas and day spas often differed greatly on how exactly they handle tips and service fees. Among resort/hotel respondents, 65 percent charge an automatic service fee, while only 20 percent of day spas do the same. The amount charged by respondents ranges from a small fee of 1 percent up to 22 percent. Generally, a 20 percent fee—with 15 to 18 percent going directly “Explaining to colleagues that sometimes there isn’t a method or reason for a guest’s gratuity. They leave what they do and we need to graciously accept that.” to the service provider—was the most common service fee structure. The communication of a spa’s service fee and gratuity policy continues to be a major hurdle, and is handled differently by day spas and resort/hotel spas. Among day spa respondents, 93 percent simply ask guests to pay a gratuity at checkout, compared to only 46 percent of resort/hotel spas. However, hotel/resort spas were far more likely (42 percent versus 4 percent) to automatically populate gratuity options on guests’ receipts—either on a printed receipt or via the POS system. When asked what the biggest challenge is vis a vis gratuities, most respondents cited some form of customer misunderstanding or confusion. “Explaining the concept of a service charge to overseas guests.” “Service providers feel the front desk doesn’t advocate for the gratuity enough.” “We would like ideas on how to implement therapists doing a tip-out for support staff.” Many responses cited that guests do not understand the difference between a service fee and a gratuity, and that this distinction is particularly difficult for the international clientele serviced by resort/hotel spas. It is noteworthy, however, that it seems that spas themselves struggle to differentiate between the two: when asked to share their gratuities policy word- for-word, approximately a quarter of the shared policies were for service fees instead. 58 PULSE n ■ aUgUSt 2019 ISPA SPA MEMBERS Does your spa have automatic service/fee charges?