How to Create a Meaningful Spa Experience
It’s been a good year so far for Alistair Johnson, founder of spa design specialists SPA Creators, with projects completed, more underway and several in the pipeline.
Spas are now a prerequisite for all luxury hotels, and concept is king.
According to Alistair, good hotel spas need to be as unique as the hotel itself, giving guests new and memorable experiences.
We are grateful to Alistair for taking time out from his increasingly busy schedule for this interview.
GS: What makes a good spa?
AJ: It’s about what suits the individual. A good spa doesn’t have to be huge, and it doesn’t have to be one-size-fits-all. What constitutes a good spa is subjective and very personal. I think you need to ask the question “What do you want from your visit” before you can recommend a spa. And once you know that you can generally find a spa that is tailored to meet that requirement. So, in terms of creating a good spa, it’s a case of identifying your target audience, delivering the spa to meet their requirements, and delivering it well.
Archive images (above & below) of The Mere Resort and Spa, Knutsford, Cheshire. A first project for SpaCreators.
GS: How has the hotel spa evolved over the past twenty years?
AJ: Well, we started our business just over twenty years ago and I think that prior to that time, hotels didn’t recognize spas as being a revenue driver. They saw them as a loss leader and not as a profitable standalone business. Spas were often a token gesture in hotels: just a means to attract guests. I was a business consultant before I launched Spa Creators so I understood that whatever you do as a financial investment must be commercially viable. It has to make money. So, I knew that if I was to help people develop spas in hotels, they had to generate a new revenue stream and bring in new guests; that would help to increase occupancy levels and attract day guests too.
I think that hoteliers have now recognized the financial potential of spas and have started to exploit it. In the same way that many hotels developed fine dining restaurants with a celebrity chef, knowing that would attract guests to come and stay in the hotel.
What we’re seeing now is hotels becoming more creative in their spa offering, because of the competition. They’re looking for ways to make their spas stand out from the crowd. So, I think that the hotel industry now recognizes how spas can positively affect their business and how wellness can be a driver.
Salthouse Harbour Hotel & Spa, Ipswich
GS: How will spas evolve in the next ten years?
AJ: I think that guests will decide which hotel they go to based partly on their wellness needs. And as guests become more discerning, hotels will need to provide for them.
I also think that hotels will be serving a new customer: the Gen Z’s and the Gen Alpha’s. These are people with a different mindset, who are less keen to spend their money on cocktails but are looking for a new experience, and are happy to pay for it. So, hotels can create wonderful, physical and mindful experiences with their spa and wellness offer. I always say to hoteliers that they should take advantage of their geographical situation; if they have fabulous views and are near to a beach or lake then they should incorporate that in some way. That can be their USP; the thing that’s unique to them.
The industry is not going to shrink; it’s going to grow.
Donegal Boardwalk Resort Spa
GS: Is ‘touchless therapy’ in spas the way forward.
AJ: No. It’s the buzz word of the moment. It’s a fad. I know that many spas are having issues with staff, and recruiting good therapists is a challenge, so it might seem like a welcome solution. But it won’t replace the human need for the physical experience of touch. Any more than a vending machine could replace a good restaurant.
GS: What sets SPA Creators apart?
AJ: SPA Creators is a turnkey business. We offer a full spa package, utilizing fully trained and experienced staff who can help create commercially successful and sustainable spa businesses that are totally unique.
‘Social Spa’ at Ffolks Arms Hotel, near Kings Lynn
GS: Is the market buoyant now?
AJ: It is for us, certainly in the hotel sector. I think that there are still hotels who don’t have a significant spa or wellness offer and they recognize that they need to catch up, and there are hotels who have a spa but need to reinvest because they know they can’t rest on their laurels. The reason we’re so busy is because we take the commercial view, more so than architects or interior designers, or even some spa consultants. Our focus is on making the spa money.
Images (above and below) of Ffolks Arms Hotel spa
GS: Your website is showcasing several of your recent projects. Do you have any favourites?
AJ: I do enjoy creating spas that are different. Ffolks, near King’s Lynn, is a good example. The customer wanted to change the brand profile of his hotel, he wanted to take advantage of a market that wasn’t being served in his area, that being the 25- to 35-year-old market – the Gen Z’s. We helped to create something that was young and stimulating, which we called The House of Fun. It’s all outdoors as well so it’s a spa garden concept, but it’s great fun and high energy. That opened last year.
As a complete contrast, we also opened the Donegal Boardwalk Resort spa last year, which was a Scandi-style spa that sits in a beautiful bay in Donegal. This is a much more relaxing spa, designed for adults. We took a trip to Copenhagen the year before and came back with some really great design ideas for this spa.
Ffolks and Donegal are chalk and cheese. They target different audiences, but they were both great fun to do.
Images (above & below) Donegal Boardwalk Resort Spa
GS: What’s next for SPA Creators?
AJ: We’ve been very successful with a group called Hiddenwell, who have two properties called Hoar Cross Hall and Eden Hall Day Spa that we worked on, and we are now well underway with their next big project at the Ardencote hotel. It will be the biggest spa project we’ve ever done, with thirty treatment rooms and more than twenty experiences. We’re planning to open that next Spring. And, at the same time we’re working on the sister property to that, so those two projects will take us into next year. We’ve also got four or five pipeline projects that we expect to start in the new year. That stability is great news for us as it allows us to reinvest, train new people and grow the business. Our aim is to invest in new technology and to become a more efficient business.
The Lygon Arms Hotel spa, Cotswolds (above)
Mallory Court Country House Hotel & Spa, Leamington Spa (below)
GS: What do you see as the most important aspect of the business as it grows?
AJ: Keeping my staff happy. That’s the key. We’ve already got some great individuals here and I want them to grow and develop their skills within the business. My plan is to double the number of staff here within the next three to four years and looking after them will be paramount to the company’s success. I’ve got a lot of new and exciting ideas for the future, and plenty of project work to look forward to, so working with a motivated, skilled and happy team must be the way forward.
