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something resembling a common approach across the industry.
With these new procedures in place and the goal of
reopening safely front-of-mind for spa owners and operators,
attention seems quickly to have turned toward ensuring
that staff are adequately trained to effectively
implement them. More than half of spa respondents yet
to reopen (54 percent) planned on conducting virtual
trainings with spa leaders, 38 percent planned to conduct
similar trainings with vendor partners and 75 percent
planned to conduct in-person training or mock services to
give employees critical hands-on experience prior to welcoming
guests once more.
When, exactly, those guests will be able to return continues
to vary widely, as local, state and national governments
unveil their own particular sets of guidelines for
reopening spas. But no matter when they will eventually
be able to open their doors again, spas anticipate facing a
number of significant challenges. Chief among them?
Making guests and staff feel comfortable upon their return,
which 41 percent of respondents cited as the biggest
obstacle they face. That concern with guest and staff wellbeing
is perhaps also evident in the next most common
responses: 18 percent of spas surveyed cited sourcing and
stocking adequate sanitation materials as their biggest
challenge, while the same percentage cited maintaining
social distancing outside of treatment spaces.
When taken together, these three surveys reflect both
the suddenness with which the spa industry found itself
confronted by the threat of COVID-19 and how swiftly
many spas adapted their operations to prepare for a
“new normal” that itself seemed to change almost daily.
To revisit the March survey, for example, and find that
half of all spas optimistically expected to be closed for
four weeks or fewer due to COVID-19 is almost amusing.
At the same time, the May survey suggests that, in the
course of a couple of months, the industry had rushed to
align itself with the best practices being touted by public
health officials not simply so that they could reopen, but
so that they could once again serve guests as safely and
effectively as possible, despite a level of constraint that
would have been unimaginable prior to the pandemic.
In the coming months, ISPA will continue to use Snapshot
Surveys to track the spa industry’s ongoing response
to COVID-19, with a particular focus on the reopening experience
and the lessons it will undoubtedly teach. n
Percentage of Spa
Respondents Planning to:
90%
APRIL
MAY
81%
69%
63%
51%
36%
Remove items from
communal snack and
beverage areas
Reduce the number of
items on
treatment menus
Require estheticians
to wear face shields
during services
For more insights from the May 2020 Snapshot Survey,
turn to this month’s “Snapshot Survey” feature on
page 58.
40 PULSE ■ AUGUST 2020