Originally Posted by slygirl
hwilson18 is right about the drama--it does depend on the spa/salon. 95% of the time, my spa is drama-free, as long as the therapists have a full book. If your book is full you really don't have much to complain about 
Because of the Inauguration, it was super busy at the hotel, so the numbers for January were up. Valentine's Day, we are fully booked, and we have 8 treatment rooms, a nail studio, and are open 9am - 9pm. But the upcoming months are going to be sparse until the tourists come for the Cherry Blossom Festival. But it definitely depends on the type of spa... as I said, I work for a luxury hotel, and in these times, people are not as inclined to pay $300 for a massage when they can go to their day spa and spend half that. On the other hand, people are looking to do "staycations" instead of traveling, so we do get people who come in because they're so stressed out and they just need a place away from home but not too far from home. Also in DC we have a lot of spas and salons. You can get services in the city or go to the suburbs. I recently went to the Aveda Institute to get waxed--it was cheap and hey, student estheticians need all the practice they can get! And the Aveda Institute was busy! They have a salon and a spa. There is even a Korean spa called SpaWorld USA. It's all the way in VA but they have saunas, pools, fitness center, and it's open 24/7. They offer scrubs and massages, too. So lots of competition all around. At the last spa I worked at, the company did no advertising whatsoever... people don't even know the place exists. I have a co-worker who still works PT over there, and she hardly ever has any appointments. The company had to advertise $59 for a 50-min facial or massage to get people in. Even then, the majority of the appointments booked were massages. All the dual therapists I know went to two different schools, PMTI (a really good massage school here) and Aveda Institute. Those will run 10K each in tuition. But even with all the training, they still have to work really hard to build clientele. Another thing about working in a hotel spa--we don't get many regulars. A "regular" to us could be someone who comes in once a month or twice a year. At my spa, the most bookings we get is for an 80-min massage that runs $225 on weekdays and $250 on weekends (Fri-Sun). We add automatic 19% gratuity. Another popular booking is where the guest books blocks of time, like 2 or 3 hours and they can pick and choose 2-3 services from our menu. That one is more expensive at $330+. When I go to a spa/salon, I'm more looking for maintenence, specifically waxing. One girl who waxed my eyebrows said business wasn't so bad, but she felt bad for the hair stylist. "At least I still get my eyebrow appointments." |
| Originally Posted by Sabrunka
You should go for it!! Even though the economy is bad, a lot of people still come in to get their stuff done!! It's very busy at the spa I work at, and surprisingly, they still leave giant tips too!! I guess ladies like to look great all the time, whether their money situation is good or not! |
