DAYSPA is the business resource for spa & wellness professionals! Each issue covers the latest in skin care, spa treatments, wellness services and management strategies.
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PROFIT CENTER 74 DAYSPA | AUGUST 2016 Sweet Retreats Step outside and look around. Your most lucrative clients may spend their days in a nearby offi ce. By Heather Larson The term "corporate retreat" once summoned visions of chest-puffi ng, champagne-quaffi ng business types having their palms read or playing trust games en masse, but a new iteration of these communal bonding sessions is taking over. Tapping into the overall theme, —and growing trend—of "workplace wellness," these modern-day get-togethers are in- creasingly likely to take place in a neighborhood day spa, rather than a glitzy destination resort. Accord- ing to recent Spafi nder Wellness research, executive retreats and corporate meetings currently account for around 4% of day spa business. Whether the day's agenda says corporate retreat or off-site meeting, businesses have begun to recognize that day spas offer the ideal environment for privacy, stress relief and boosted well-being—but typically on a more local, accessible and affordable scale. However, allowing a crew of business folk to take over your spa for a day involves a great deal of work and can be daunting. So why should day spa owners consider it? In a word: profi t."You can charge a tre- mendous amount of money," says Leah Komaiko, a brand story and strategy specialist based in Los An- geles. "Ideally, you'll triple or quadruple the business you do on a typical day." Plus, points out Heidi Lamar, owner of Spa Lamar in Scotts-dale, Arizona, when guests' services are covered by their company, they tend to splurge on retail products. Other benefi ts include brand building and boosted loyalty. According to Lamar, you can bank on repeat business not only from the company if the event goes well, but also from individuals who participated. Think your spa has what it takes to secure a slice of this potentially lucrative pie? Read on for tips and advice from day spa owners who embraced business retreats long before it was trendy. © GETTY IMAGES