Spa Spending in 2009
-It's About Wallet Share-
In February/March 2009, Coyle Hospitality Group surveyed 916 spa goers about their plans for their spa budgets in 2009. Specifically, we asked them how often they go to a spa in a year and whether they intended to spend more, the same, or less on Spa services in 2009 than in 2008.
The majority of spa goers, 63%, reported that they would spend the same amount on Spa services this year vs. last year. Twenty-one percent of respondents said that they would spend more, which is just slightly higher than the percentage of spa goers that planned to cut back, at 16%.
We separated the spa goers into two groups based on their frequency of visits:
Frequent Spa Goers
We categorized the frequent spa goers into two groups: The Spa Lifestyle Group and The Spa Enthusiasts Group. Respondents in the Spa Lifestyle Group indicated that they visited Spas more than fifteen times a year, and respondents in the Spa Enthusiasts Group visit spas between 11-15 times a year. Of the Spa Lifestyle Group, only 6% indicated that they planned to cut back on their Spa spending. The majority of Spa Enthusiasts indicated that they were leaving their spa budgets unchanged, while the Spa Lifestyle Group had a larger percentage of respondents intending to spend more on Spa services in 2009.
Occasional Spa Goers
Coyle Hospitality Group separated the occasional spa goers into two categories: Spa Regulars and Special Occasion. Spa Regulars indicate they frequented spas 5-10 times a year, while the Special Occasion spa goers visits 1-4 times a year. (70% of the total respondents were in this category). The Special Occasion group had the largest percentage of respondents (18%) who indicated that they would cut back on spa spending. Compared with other groups, the Special Occasion spa goers were more likely to cut back on Spa spending, but the majority of this subset indicated no upcoming change in their spa behaviors in 2009.
Most respondents had at least some college experience. The respondents represented a wide range of ages, though few were over 60 years of age. Coyle Hospitality Group receives over 40,000 unique market research surveys a year through its evaluator portal.
What can the Spa do?
Spas can benefit by investing in marketing resources to increase visits and retention of the Spa Enthusiasts and The Spa Lifestyle Group, who already allocate a significant amount of discretionary spending to spas. The study suggests that discounting to increase traffic will not have a desirable outcome in the short-term, and there is a risk of losing price credibility in the long term.
If spas take extra special care of current guests, they will likely gain the best returns on investment. Value-added in both services and products provided to current customers will likely engender loyalty, and the increase in spending will be targeted and incremental.
The most cost-effective way to increase Emotional Commitment is by showing sincere appreciation and concern. Thanks is commonly expressed (often by rote) at the payment transaction, but much less so during Reservation Booking and Arrival. Using the guest's name is another gesture of respect/appreciation that is commonly missed by most service businesses, representing a market-distinguishing opportunity.
Consistency is the key to Rational Commitment; the customer's belief that a service provider will produce predictably high quality results all of the time.
In short, reward your guests' loyalty to increase the emotional connection and deliver results consistently to preserve trust.
For more information about Coyle Hospitality's Spa programs, please contact Jessica Zike at jzike@coylehospitality.com.
Or, visit our Spa Services page.
About Coyle Hospitality Group
Coyle Hospitality Group is a market leader providing mystery shopping and brand quality assurance services exclusively to hotels, restaurants and spas worldwide. Since 1996, Coyle has completed over 30,000 quality evaluations exclusively for hospitality clients. For more information please visit www.coylehospitality.com or call (212) 629-2083.
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