Spa services

[DayDreamer]

I was wanting to also offer some type of spa services in addition to the tanning. Any advice?

[Din]

Do it!!!

[Ziti]

Are you lic. aesthician? If not, hire one on percentage or weekly room rent.

It costs a lot to get all the equipment in the beginning, but has been worth it for us. My daughter is licensed. She get's 35% of her services.

[DayDreamer]

I have an extra room that I wanted to add something, but someone mentioned it may be to loud and not very relaxing for masasge or facials. What do you think? Should I have that room built with full walls instead of the 8ft walls that the other rooms have?

[RonnieT.]

I have been involved with several store doing this. Massage and facials are more difficult because of noise. Full hight walls will be one thing that will need to be done. Here is what I have done.

Fully enclosed room with insulation and double sheet rock walls. (there is another material that will cut down even more noise that I was told about but can't remember the name of it) Solid heavy door with weather stripping on the bottom. I also located the room as far away from the from counter as possible and not next to a laundry room or mystic room. Mystic tan air compressor, people talking loud and laughing and doors slamming are the main problems we had. Also, if you have a floor that is noisy for walking on like pergo, throw rugs and hallway runners around the room will also cut down on the walking noise.

A private room for nails would be allot easier...but has its drawbacks too.

Let me know what other questions you have...I have allot of experience in this area..

RonnieT.

[Dmc5743@aol.com]

In the last year, I have been through 4 massage therapists, 3 nail techs, and 2 full service cosmetologists...and 3 martial arts teachers who actually worked for other gyms, said they were "looking for new situations, then undercut my prices and took my clients. they do not show up, and will not hesitate TO USE YOU TO BUILD UP THIER CLIENTELE for another LOCATION THAT MAY OFFER SIMILAR SERVICES. They will not and do not have to disclose to you where else they may have A BOOTH. And
many hair salons, etc, offer tanning. tHINK ABOUT IT. If you have a faithfull client of some months, they will use service providers YOU reccommend. At $75 or so per month, this is !/2 the price of a 2x4 inch ad in our local home town paper. Cheap advertising. They rent space at 3 or 4 places for a couple of months, then decide where to take your clients. And they will lie to you. I thought companion services would be significant revenue for me, and it has actually cost me clients because when the providers don't show up, or are unforgivably late with excuses like "I got hung up at Wal-mart, and this reflects on you. Think very hard about this is my advice, then have a cocktail and go lay down until the feeling passes. You would be better off stocking some new merchandise over which you have some form of control. Good Luck

[RonnieT.]

Dmc57...

Can't really disagree with you.....adding services means an entire different set of problems....sometimes.

A couple of the last stores I designed for people actually had areas designed for services. Such as.....10 tanning rooms, 2 hair stations and sinks, facial room and massage room. The store from ground up was built purposely for tanning and services. You have to represent what you do...sometimes just a room in the back won't do it.

Having someone with a good existing client base is alway always the best. Someone starting out and trying to build a client base from scratch....well...you will probably go through a few...

RonnieT.

[W8INLINE]

I couldn't agree more than what Dmc said.

[Uvangel]

I have a full spa. It's a pain in the a**!!!

[cfindley]

See my Alpha massage on ebay!
Item number: 260146285245

[maggietan]

Originally Posted by DayDreamer

I have an extra room that I wanted to add something, but someone mentioned it may be to loud and not very relaxing for masasge or facials. What do you think? Should I have that room built with full walls instead of the 8ft walls that the other rooms have?

I was told also that in order for it to be relaxing I would need to go to ceiling with wall and soundproof....

[maggietan]

Planet beaches and others are adding spa services with massage beds and hydrostations and calling themselves a spa now.

I see a tanning salon as a place to tan-fun and upbeat.

If I want spa services I would go to a "SPA" to a relaxed atmosphere.

I believe they are 2 completely different businesses but I do realize that some are making $ during JASON on them.

[Din]

I consider a tanning salon a SPA as people come to tan and relax, not dance and party.

If people walk in through my doors and they start yelling or talking to each other room to room across the salon....that shi't is not tolerated.

Look into adding a spa service that won't demand a full time specialized employee that you can only take a percentage of like esthetics or RMT's....look at getting something easy to operate and will bring in MAXIMUM revenue, but something that WORKS and would be in demand.

[DayDreamer]

Originally Posted by maggietan

Planet beaches and others are adding spa services with massage beds and hydrostations and calling themselves a spa now.

I see a tanning salon as a place to tan-fun and upbeat.

If I want spa services I would go to a "SPA" to a relaxed atmosphere.

I believe they are 2 completely different businesses but I do realize that some are making $ during JASON on them.

Well, the whole Planet Beach thing (and JASON) is why I was thinking of adding something. I don't have a Planet Beach within the actual "competition radius", but they are doing very well in my area and are spreading faster than the Idaho wild fires here. There are alot of smaller tanning salons in the surrounding areas, but only 2 that are doing very well... Planet Beach and Jamaica Me Tan. Jamaica Me Tan is only tanning and I have yet to find out why they are also spreading fast and doing very well in this area. However, I have had alot of people I know going to Planet Beach because they offer more services and thaught that may be why they are doing so well. (or maybe they are just taking advantage of all of the freebies that they seem to ALWAYS be offering) You know how they say "don't fix it if it isn't broken"... well that is why I want to try what the top salons in my area are doing, but do it even BETTER!

I also agree that a tanning salon is similar to a Spa experience. I feel that tanning is a very relaxing thing and not an in and out kind of a service which is why I am going to try to add a little extra Spa feel to the tanning experience and not just by adding services... I have a few extra touches in mind. (NO! not what you are thinking)
However, I also agree about it being up beat and fun enviroment.
There can be a happy medium. I am not going to have the candles and low lighting and soft music as a Spa would. It will still have a little flava.

Thank you all for the advice. I kind of thaught of the whole someone using me to get their business running kind of a thing, but I wasn't sure which direction I would take this if I decided to add a little something. Thank you for the advice it has been helpful in adding some options to the plate.