PALM BEACH, FL—Clients in any spa have certain expectations: luxury, serenity and a relaxing experience top the list. In order to create what the client wants, spas have to make sure the experience is seamless from booking to checkout—and this is made even harder when that client is a hotel guest and the spa experience must integrate with the overall one.
“The ease of making an appointment is really important,” said Cassandra Sessa, spa manager at The Omphoy Ocean Resort & Spa, located here. “Whether they’re on the phone or online booking a reservation, no one wants to feel like the person making the appointment is fumbling. It needs to be a smooth process—easy and simple. The guests just expects it to be seamless from the time they make the appointment to the time they check out.”
The Omphoy Ocean Resort & Spa is a 130-key property located beachfront on Palm Beach Island. Sessa noted that the resort had been using an antiquated system. “We needed to upgrade our system, and, after some research, we decided on SpaBooker,” she said.
Booker Software, Inc. is a cloud-based platform that unifies operations and automates marketing to help service businesses, such as its SpaBooker solution helps hotel spas. Dan Chandre, Booker’s VP of strategic development, noted that hotels have only recently started to embrace cloud-based services, which, in this case especially, exceed installed and locally managed systems. “Before, you had to be in front of the proper terminal to provide service,” he said. “That limits creativity and using technology as an advantage.”
Chandre added to Sessa’s point about guests wanting to feel valued. “The guest experience goes all the way through to when the guest walks in the door,” he said. “They don’t enjoy hearing the phone ring off the hook.” Since the system can be accessed anywhere, the person answering the phone for appointments doesn’t have to be at the front desk, freeing up that spa front desk agent to deliver face-to-face service.
Being a completely web-based system that is deliverable in any device or browser is important, Chandre said, “because we don’t want to disrupt the infrastructure of the hotel. Hotels operate on their platform, and we want to take the activity-based outlet and elevate the experience so it feels more integrated and connected.”
The system only came online at The Omphoy as of Aug. 1 and, according to Sessa, Booker provided a speedy training, and support thereafter has been great. “After the initial training, the support team was always there by either a phone call or an email,” she said. “The support is excellent. Any time I’ve needed help, I’ve called the support desk and I get a live person. They’re very patient and accommodating.”
Features of the program include online booking of spa and salon services before guests arrive and, while on property, using mobile and tablet devices. “We haven’t activated online booking yet, but our intentions are to do so,” said Sessa, noting that this was one of the features that attracted the property to the solution.
Chandre added that this is a huge plus for the property because some guests don’t like to call to make an appointment. “If you’re anything like me, you want to go online and do it yourself,” he said, noting that Booker also offers booking through Facebook and connections to other social media sites like Twitter. And, since guests can book online, they can also book well in advance. “Hotel 101 tells you to book your revenue ahead of time,” said Chandre. “This also is an excellent opportunity to upsell or send requests for preferences to give that tailored experience.”
Chandre noted that one of Booker’s resort clients has started taking Booker out of the spa, giving hotel concierges tablets to take poolside, to let guests know about upcoming spa openings and book an appointment for them right then and there.
Guest activity transactions can be paid for through Booker’s integrated point of sale, or electronically routed to the guest’s account in the hotel’s property management system. “It interfaces with our hotel reservation system, which is really important,” said Sessa. “It’s one click and you can post to the room or to a credit card.” Chandre added that this also enables the spa to share guest preferences with the PMS, so both the hotel and the spa staff can offer a more tailored, luxury experience.
The application also offers intuitive scheduling, reporting and anytime, anywhere access to manage the spa. Sessa noted that payroll has become more efficient because she can split up the payroll when someone gets commission and a flat rate. “The report feature to the program is excellent as well,” she added. “It really drills down any detail, any angle of data to tell me how my business is doing, whether it’s product or services. And they’re all easy to build. It’s very user friendly.
“I’ve used many programs in my past history as a spa director, and this program seems to be one of the easiest,” she continued. “A lot of programs, you have to do multiple steps to get to where you’re going, but, with this, a click brings you where you need to go. Checking a guest out is very easy; booking an appointment is very easy—it’s all right there in front of you.”