By Vivienne O’Keeffe  Growing up in Ireland and being led all over Europe by my parents to the natural waters of places like Lourdes (France) and the stunning Italian Alps, I never doubted the therapeutic benefits of soaking in water. My most memorable demonstration of water’s restorative properties, though, was on New Year’s Day, 2013. I was boating with a group of friends up to Hot Springs Cove in the western Clayoquot Sound region of...

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Don’t let those online giants poach your sales.  By Vivienne O’Keeffe  Considering the worldwide scope of the battle between bricks-and-mortar establishments and online giants like Amazon, the fight for supremacy in spa product sales might seem like a mere skirmish. But with their higher margins than most hands-on services – and in some case higher volumes – off-the-shelf product sales for skin care, hair and other aesthetic needs...

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Medical spas are changing with the times – restructuring the customer journey and bringing in new treatments to attract the younger crowd. By Vivienne O’Keeffe  What’s trending and new today in the medispa business? As a professional spa consultant, I get asked this question a lot. The answer is: lots! U.S. spa revenue hit a record $US 17.5 billion in 2017, up 4.3 per cent according to International Spa Association (ISPA). The medispa...

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A new white paper reveals the incredible importance of mental health to our overall well-being By Vivienne O’Keeffe  A few weeks ago, as I was about to begin a talk on mental wellness, a gentleman in the audience came up and asked me if I would be discussing mental illness. His question caught me off guard because I’d recently had the pleasure and honour of working with an esteemed international group to produce and launch a comprehensive...

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There are many ways to succeed in today’s spa business. Taking unnecessary risks isn’t one of them By Vivienne O’Keeffe I recently heard about a day spa owner planning to put a new $95,000 laser treatment machine into service mere days after a brief training program and taking delivery of it. Shaken by the obvious perils of inexperienced technicians zapping spa guests with advanced targeted devices, and having written and spoken...

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Spa customers want experiences that are both customized and predictable. A quality management system can help you deliver both By Vivienne O’Keeffe Imagine a situation where a guy walks into a hair salon for a cut. He is welcomed with a steaming cup of his favourite beverage – a double double cappuccino – and along with an excellent cut, gets a complimentary head massage. Delighted, he tells all his friends about this wonderful salon and almost...

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