Americans want more spas. How can your hotel satisfy the needs of its customers?

What amenities are in most demand? A new study has shown that preferences have changed for US travelers since the coronavirus pandemic.

The Hotels.com 2022 Amenity Report highlighted that bathtubs were the most searched for hotel facility, and the number of people searching for spas had grown by 35%. This indicates that hotels should consider installing these facilities to meet customer demand.

Hotel income increases with a spa

In descending order of profitability, accommodation was top of the list, followed by F&B and conference services, with the spa in fourth place. There are instances of the spa and F&B providing similar revenue; somewhere, it exceeds restaurant profitability. There is also a noticeable decrease in the demand for MICE services (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions), which is one of the fallouts of the global pandemic.

The presence of a spa can also be the reason for guests lengthening their hotel stay, with the need to complete an entire massage course or spa treatment that lasts longer than two days.

Checklist for your spa & wellness PMS

The incremental nature of their income means that spa & wellness products and services must be fully integrated with all other hotel processes. This simplifies and speeds up the registration process. It also allows you to enter treatments and automatically send the schedule to the guest’s mobile.

Please note that any medical or spa center system must be fully compliant with all the latest legal regulations.

Your system should be easy to customize, work on different devices, and have no need for specialist assistance to add new forms or link to the required files or directories.

The way ahead

Most wellness & spa products are feature-rich and require technical knowledge to operate, so many hotels save money by not using them. However, times and technology have changed. Hotels without a front desk are becoming the norm, and the same thing is taking place in the spa and wellness areas. Hotel and spa operators should consider the following:

- Launch and promote a mobile app for staff and guests, allowing them to make online reservations and advance payments. The app would also enable ‘’chat’’ between the customer and provider, allowing detailed instructions and wishes to be part of the booking process before arrival, making your guest’s stay as comfortable as possible.

- Self-check-in and check-out using either a kiosk terminal (based on API) or, ideally, a mobile app.

- Ability to create a cashless payment system for your business based on loyalty or membership cards.

The solutions we offer at HRS have all the features and technical prerequisites required in the wellness & spa industry.

Our product is called TNG. It provides full support for all mobile devices, including Android, iOS, and browsers.

Author: Robert de Jong

Senior Implementation Specialist Support

HRS AMER