Explore the evolution of the spa industry from ancient civilizations to new frontiers of convergence integrating spas, medicine, healthcare, tourism, and hospitality. From an international perspective, an overview of the industry will be provided with emphasis on current business models and positioning for future trends. Definition and market segmentation of spa categories including day, resort, medical, destination, hospital, and lifestyle management programs will be discussed as well as future industry trends and employment opportunities.

This course provides a comprehensive overview of the general operating procedures in a spa. Students will develop an understanding of principle skills required to manage and operate in the multi-faceted spa industry. Topics include: market review and competitive analysis, an overview of current industry statistics, and spa menu development. This course will also include an introduction to revenue generation, retailing and inventory controls, and spa facility design standards; compensation models and employee retention; software selection as it relates to marketing, reservations client file management; development of standard operating procedures; reservation training and effective reservation yielding protocols. Participants will engage in active case study scenarios and hands-on operational analysis.

This course provides the student with a comprehensive application of financial management for the spa industry for spa operations managers and supervisors. Topics include: understanding the components of a spa financial statement, capturing the key drivers of daily revenues and expenses, using ratio analyses as a business evaluation tool, and understanding the basic principles of spa accounting and financial responsibility. Students will have the opportunity to use various problem solving methods and apply them to managerial situations tailored for the spa industry. Students will analyze, quantify, and evaluate the “wellness” of specific spa businesses, and use these skills to set the course for greater financial success.

A strategic look at spa marketing and branding to drive revenue, develop new customers and markets, develop the brand presence and message, create an image, deliver promotions and communicate with the world. This course includes the fundamentals of developing a strategic marketing plan and the marketing process to include situational analysis; developing marketing strategy and the 4 P's of the Market Mix. Students will select a case study spa and develop a SWOT analysis, conduct a brand analysis, prepare a marketing budget and a marketing plan for their selected spa. Branding, establishing value propositions, unique selling propositions and the application of market analysis are included in this spa marketing class. Additional topics include marketing performance metrics, customer retention, customer relationship management, collateral development, marketing channels, public relations and social media.

Explore human resource management techniques in a spa environment such as recruiting, progressive counseling /progressive discipline, as well as employee termination, motivation and training. Examine the hiring process including administrative preparation, direct hiring activities, retention practices, and related employment laws. Discussion topics will include importance of staffing metrics, tips and tools for recruiting on the web, and a review of creative recruiting methods.

Learn various techniques for effectively and successfully dealing with customers. Find out how to engage with customers and understand their needs and desires. This course also focuses on the key customer service success factors necessary for capturing and retaining a profitable customer base and outperforming the competition. Customer intensive, the spa industry merges the service economy with the experience economy in new service models designed to constantly exceed customer expectations. Topics include: definition of quality customer service, cost of service and its link to profit, secrets of best service providers, communication strategies, conflict resolution and crisis management.

This course includes general quality management concepts and the key elements of a comprehensive spa quality management system: spa intentions and strategies, spa leadership, spa guest experiences, spa operations and spa improvement. Quality management is the organization and administration of the spa's system of operation. It defines the strategies, policies, plans and methods used to run the spa business. It describes the necessary processes, procedures, documents and records to make a spa both effective and efficient. A spa's quality system transforms the spirit and the intentions of what the spa's owners and managers want to provide for their guests into an excellent reality. All processes interact to create the guest experience. The spa's quality system is the invisible glue that transforms the spa's intention into its guests' and staff's experiences.

Spa retail has always been and will continue to be an integral part of a successful spa business operation. A well planned retail boutique is an important component of a thoughtful spa experience. While spa retail has dramatically changed over the course of the spa industry's rapid growth and popularity, the fundamentals to successful spa retailing remain unchanged. This course will equip students with the basic knowledge and best practices of spa retail design, operations, and analysis. Topics include: merchandise categories and merchandise selection, pricing strategies, staffing, inventory control, KPIs for sales and visual merchandising.

This course examines a variety of positive business strategies developed using research from applied positive psychology, appreciative inquiry and positive organizational scholarship and deeply explores how they can be applied in the spa, hospitality and wellness industries. Students will learn how to engage, motivate and lead a team of people to accomplish business goals while also creating a positive impact in the world. Topics will include developing a workplace culture, employee engagement and motivation, and strategies for goals and accomplishment. Students will also learn about "job crafting" as a way to create meaningful work for themselves and their employees. Using strategies based on strengths and values, they will learn not only how to maximize their own contribution to business goals, but also how to make the experience more meaningful on a personal level.

The spa industry has an opportunity to expand its role as an incubator that revolutionized spa and healthy lifestyle themes into a global industry to now also serve as an incubator for environmentally sensitive business practices. Recognized as resource and waste intensive, the spa and hospitality industries have an opportunity to implement sustainable business practices that can also improve the bottom line by understanding the criteria and benefits for selecting green building materials, furnishings, equipment, products, waste management systems, and applying green practices to all aspects of operations and ongoing maintenance. This course will provide an overview of operational and management practices that serve as fundamentals for green spas, hotels and resorts with leading industry examples. Topics will include: history of environmentalism, green business trends in the spa and hospitality industries; green business terminology; green building programs; with a review of international examples of early adapter spa, hotel and resort projects.