Success Stories: Massage Heights

Meet Susan Boresow, CEO and president of Massage Heights (which has more than 100 locations across the U.S.), who shares insight into the success of the franchise spa and massage business.  

Photo credit: Massage Heights

Can you tell me a little bit about the spas? 

Massage Heights has an average of 10 rooms per retreat. Our menu includes: 

  • Therapeutic massage and skincare services provided by amazing massage and skincare therapists.
  • An array of elevated add-ons that complement and offer additional therapeutic benefits including hot stone therapy, hemp massage, healing foot scrubs, and skincare upgrades like powerful masks, peels, and boosters.
  • Complimentary aromatherapy with each session.
  • Beautiful treatment rooms with luxurious table linens, quilts, blankets, and towels.  
  • Complimentary use of CranioCradle neck and head pillow that provides additional comfort and support.
  • Complimentary specially formulated sports balm to add extra relief to muscle and joint pain.
  • High-quality skincare and massage retail products.

To what do you attribute the spa’s success? What makes the spa stand out from the competition?

Massage Heights focuses on elevating lives through mental and physical wellness. Massage Heights creates a calming environment and provides a healing touch to elevate the lives of our members, massage therapists, estheticians and franchisees. Massage Heights is an experiential brand. Although we pride ourselves on our therapists' and estheticians’ skills, it is the overall customer experience and journey that separates us from others in the franchise massage industry. The luxurious feel of our linens, weight of our comforter, warmth of our towels, adjustability of our tables, and tension releasing neck support pillows have been specially selected to provide members and guests with the highest level of comfort and relaxation. Our massage and skincare therapists are dedicated to providing personalized services to each guest and member through their skilled hands and commitment to get to know and address specific needs. We are dedicated to providing a beautiful therapeutic experience and are always creating new ways to provide this through our internal training systems, as well as our product and service research and development projects. The members also appreciate our roll-over credit model that builds up benefits, so if they don’t use it, they don’t lose it.

What have been the biggest challenges in growing the spa?

Like so many industries, finding top talent and high-quality personnel is a current challenge for our franchisees. As a franchise system, our franchisees are responsible for selecting and hiring all of their personnel. However, as a franchisor, we’re working to help enhance company-wide strategies and programs relating to recruiting and retention to equip franchisees with more resources. We are collectively working with our franchisees, who do a fantastic job at creating their own positive and rewarding employee culture within their retreats. A major part of the wellness category is elevating the career opportunity for massage therapists and skincare professionals, so they can see the value of joining an in-demand industry as regular wellness routines remain a top priority for consumers.

What prompted any recent renovations and what did it involve?

We re-evaluated our entire guest journey process through their first introduction, marketing and social, the booking process, first retreat visit, the service experience, and post-communications. Our renovations have included technical, service, and facility innovations. We’re currently in the launch process of a new internal Learning Management System that offers updated training in all aspects of the business for franchisees and their employees.

How do you attract new and repeat clients and encourage them to visit?  How do you use digital marketing and social media to boost business?

We help our franchisees deliver a comprehensive 360-degree guest acquisition marketing plan. Our plans leverage tested marketing campaigns and promotions to provide potential guests a true understanding of the value of a Massage Heights service. We also have a very robust CRM marketing program constantly communicating the value of routine massage and facials to overall health and wellness. We value data so we understand what works and what does not work.

How do you keep your staff selling?  How do you keep your staff motivated? 

The franchisor and franchisee play different roles in improving franchisee staff ability to convert leads to prospects and prospects to members. As a franchisor, we spend a significant amount of energy developing and facilitating training, which includes in-person, videos, and full vetted operations manual for our franchisees to leverage in training their staff. The franchisee provides the energy and resources needed to motivate and incentivize staff selling. Each franchisee varies the incentive tools. We facilitate and host best practice sharing. We also offer a monthly opt-in retail program for our franchisees to receive the latest skincare products, like the Dermalogica skincare line, which allows owners to compete with Ulta.

How do you keep the treatment menu fresh and relevant?

Relevant is more important than fresh. We strive to provide a health and wellness experience that delivers our brand promise and an exceptional customer journey. New menu items are not always better. We perform guest and industry research to keep a pulse of consumer wants and needs. We strive to deliver the best quality service.

What are your plans for the future?

We’re currently seeking qualified franchise partners to expand throughout the East Coast, Midwest, and within Arizona and Colorado. We strongly believe in what we do, and through franchising, we can help more people find relief from our regular wellness services. We will also continue to make retreat adjustments as needed to deliver the best guest experience. All changes to the retreat environment, services, staff enrichment, training, technology, etc. all stems from the same brand purpose of elevating the lives of our guests, staff, and the communities franchisees serve.

What have you learned about running a spa business from the COVID-19 pandemic?  

That our members believe in the essential services we provide, as our member retention rates, and active member base have never been higher. It has been wonderfully rewarding to see how our members have stayed with us throughout the pandemic. We have also seen a significant increase in new members as people have embraced their own personal wellness routines. We have also learned the value of open and frequent communications with our franchisees and our guests. People want to be informed. Proper communication removes ambiguity, which builds comfort and deepens relationships. We did that. We communicated frequently with our franchisees and our members and guests. We believe this has resulted on our exceptionally strong member retention rates.