Sunday, January 27, 2008

Massage Continuing Education at the Spa at Pinehurst

Having a successful massage therapy career at a spa might require readjustment, but is rewarding in many ways. imassage recently provided an in-house training for the Spa at Pinehurst in North Carolina. We worked with 19 members of their massage team on deep-tissue, hot stone techniques. It is wonderful to see spas, such as Pinehurst, providing their therapists with support and training to ensure they stay healthy and happy. The entire staff exuded professionalism and they were excited about being a part of the spa team.

We had the opportunity to meet with Spa Director, Kim Huber and Massage Therapist Supervisor, Katie Yedinak. They shared with us some of the programs they have implemented to support their massage staff. Weekly, they hold a full spa meeting to bring all departments together. During this, they share guest feedback and recognize employees for great work. A transition room is provided for team members, allowing time between sessions for interaction and session updates. All employees are cross trained for other positions so there is greater awareness of departmental functions. For their massage therapists, an educational fund pays for CE’s allowing for consistent training which results in better guest experiences.

We also asked them what they felt was the hardest transition for new therapists coming into the spa environment. The following three items seemed to top the list;

  1. Client communication: Understanding the importance of client communication and how to do so. Checking in is key to determine if the guest is receiving the service they expected.
  2. Releasing ownership: For some therapists it is difficult to transition out of the mind-set of “my client”, “my room”, “my stones,” etc. When employed by a spa, flexibility is required as integration with a team happens.
  3. Transitioning between services: This is a very important function as guests move from one service to the next. The experience should be seamless and not feel as if it is broken into different services.

In an average spa, fifty to seventy-five percent of revenues come from massage therapy services. For spas, it is important to take care of their massage team.

Enjoy the pictures from our trip.

You can visit the Pinehurst website HERE.

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