- by Adam Chatterley

In light of the most recent announcements from the government and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging that all nightclubs, theatres, gyms and leisure centres should close "as soon as they reasonably can" I think the time has come to advise all our members, indeed all spas in the UK, to cease performing treatments on clients as soon as feasibly possible.

The announcement was made at the 5pm daily briefing by the Prime Minister on the 20th March at around 5:30pm. Unfortunately spas were not specifically identified, however we at the UK Spa Association are in agreement that as an industry we need to do we can to support the effort to halt the spread of COVID-19, also known as coronaviris.

We must now focus our efforts on supporting the NHS, by doing whatever we can to slow the spread of this virus. In turn, the NHS may then focus their efforts on caring for those most severly affected.

Given that the announcement has come so late in the day on a Friday, it seems practical to honour those treatments remaining that you have booked in with clients on Saturday 21st March, however we are advising all spas to contact all clients with bookings from Sunday onwards that treatments will now cease until further notice.

By Jack Tang of Urban 

 There’s a question we ask ourselves a lot at Urban: as our business of providing wellness treatments at home grows, how does it fit in with the spa industry, a sector close to our hearts and aligned with our goals? The answer is still forming, but for the moment here’s how we see ourselves in the wider scheme. 

Cultivating a new mindset 

People who feel well often make the effort to keep themselves feeling well, and businesses can thrive on that self-sustaining appetite. But it’s not always easy for busy people to make that initial step into a world they’re unfamiliar with – that’s particularly true for newcomers to spas, where visits can (and should) swallow entire days. 

At-home treatments are powerful in that respect. They can reveal the wonders of a good massage to the full-time parent or busy CEO. And they can get those treatments regularly and at a reasonable price.

The UK Spa Association sat down with Andrew Hammond, Founder and Director of Spa Life UK and received the inside scoop on this very special, forthcoming anniversary conference. 

The Spa Life International UK Convention 2019 will be hosted at the Hilton DoubleTree Coventry, and will be celebrating its 10th year with a few exciting changes. 

Running over two days, with an average of 500 attendees, delegates will enjoy 1-2-1 product demonstrations and peer networking, showcases of the latest trends and innovations in the 50 strong brand EXPO arena, industry insights from a host of expert speakers, plus interactive education seminars and workshops to develop their skills. 

Andrew, observes “Spa Life is a true celebration of excellence and innovation in the spa and now the wider wellness industry, but still with a unique focus on education and self-development. We know wellness begins with the people delivering it. So we strive to provide what our audience needs to create exceptional wellness experiences for their customers”. 

“We help the Spa Life community grow their product offering, their networks and their knowledge and we pride ourselves on ensuring each attendee has actionable insights to take back and put into practise in their own business. And we pride ourselves on delivering all this in a relaxed, professional environment.” 

If you were to ask a typical business person or anyone who has ever studied economics the question “How do you grow your business?” you will more than likely get one of the following answers:-

• Decrease Your Costs
• Increase Your Turnover (or Sales)

and if you’re lucky you might get the odd response of . . .

• Improve Productivity

Ask a salon/spa owner the same question (and I actually did this) and you will get similar answers only worded in a more specific way:-

• Get more customers (which is a function of increasing turnover)
• Sell more products (also a function of increasing turnover)
• Sell more treatments [to existing clients] (a function of both increasing turnover AND improving productivity)
• Reduce your costs (clearly the same as decrease costs)

The problem with these answers is that they are all very vague, don’t actually give you ideas of what to do and also are slightly conflicting.

For example . . . 

The UK Spa Association is very pleased to announce the launch of their much anticipated new website to streamline what is a swiftly growing, member driven association.

Charlie Thompson, Chair of the Association, said "we have responded to our members requests and included more information and resources on the website as part of a growing membership community".

The board of the association are hoping to attract more members in 2017 with a focus on attracting smaller operators to the association by creating a reference library FULL of information answering all forms of business questions with advice on everything from recruitment through to managing stock.

Adam Chatterley, Treasurer of the UK Spa Association and behind the design of the new website said "We hope the new look website will become a resource hub for all our members. There is now a dedicated members section accessible only to our current members which will constantly be added to and updated by all our industry contacts. We have plans to boost the Industry Benchmarking Data facility to provide even more information to our members and there is also a brand new blog which will focus not only on what is happening within the association, but highlighting all sorts of news within the spa industry no only in the UK, but globally."