Before creating a salt room or offering salt therapy to clients, it’s important to learn how to best incorporate this service into your spa. We asked some experts to weigh in on the topic, and here’s what they had to say:
What are some ways to incorporate salt-related experiences into your spa?
“If a spa is going to offer a salt room, combining this experience with a massage at the same time or a yoga class has proved very beneficial and well-received. And for self-contained units or a salt room, guided meditation or guided breathing exercises are great features to incorporate.” —Steve Spiro, CEO, Global Halotherapy Solutions, and chairman, Global Wellness Institute’s Halotherapy Initiative
Why is employee training and education important when offering salt therapy?
“It is important for the spa staff to be trained and educated on how and why dry salt therapy works so they can help guests understand the value, because many people are unaware of this treatment.” —Leo Tonkin, founder and CEO, Salt Chamber
Why is it important to hire experts to design a spa’s salt room?
“Salt is an aggressive mineral and highly corrosive, so salt rooms must be designed by experts, as they require dedicated exhaust air systems, ducts in special materials, and lab-quality HEPA-filters to keep salt inside the room. We recommend a double door air-lock system to prevent salt being sucked into general HVAC systems in corridors.” —Don Genders, CEO, Design for Leisure, and chair, Global Wellness Institute's Hydrothermal Initiative
How can you add salt benefits to your spa without the expense of creating a salt room?
“Spa owners and directors really don’t understand how affordable it is to add salt to a sauna or a treatment room or a co-ed space. They can use or start to incorporate salt into their concept with a massage with hand-carved Himalayan salt massage stones, or adding fine-grain salt to some oil to do lovely scrubs before a facial or massage or pedicure or manicure for pennies, or adding some salt or a salt panel into a sauna, which is typically underutilized in the U.S. With massage therapy staffing problems and a real shortage of massage therapists, a salt experience room is an easy way to gain revenue without commission.” —Ann Brown, CEO and founder, Saltability, and cofounder, Himalayan Source
How can you help boost the healthy benefits?
“Ensure the room is set to the proper temperature if you are promoting health benefits such as helping with asthma or other respiratory conditions. A salt-steam room is usually heated to a much milder temperature than a sauna, allowing your client the opportunity to relax and take the time to inhale the therapeutic steam.” —Andrea S. Barone, CEO and founder, Crystal Hills Organics
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