The holiday season is guaranteed to put me in a festive mood. Yes it may be hectic, but I look forward to the decorations, special events, treats, and more all year long. I also realize that all that sparkle only comes together after a lot of planning. After hearing about the fabulous festivities going on all month long at Montage Hotels & Resorts, I wanted to pull back the curtain and find out what went into making their holiday promotions a reality. Here's what the spa directors had to say.
How did you begin planning spa promotions/specials for this holiday season?
“We decided we wanted to offer something for everyone, so our line-up of holiday specials include a body treatment, a facial and a pedicure. This allows any guest that may desire a particular modality an opportunity to experience our festive promotions. In addition, for the spa goer who loves all, they may experience all 3 services in a custom built package.”—Raye Vogler, spa director, Spa Montage at Montage Palmetto Bluff (Buffton, SC)
“We begin planning several months in advance. We actually start discussing holidays in the summer. We look at our current offerings and how we can enhance them or create something special for the holiday season.”—Laura Tuerck, spa director, Spa Montage at Montage Laguna Beach (CA)
“Each year we create a marketing plan and use it as our guide to promote spa specials. It highlights specific treatments each season. In addition, Spa Montage Beverly Hills’ Leadership team and our service providers stay current on industry trends. We gather weekly to discuss and adjust our business plan.”—Amelia Winfrey, spa director, Spa Montage at Montage Beverly Hills (CA)
How is planning the first holiday season for a new spa unique?
“We have enjoyed planning the 2016 holidays and beyond in our new spaces. Our new Salon Montage is extremely active and popular with our guests as they make plans to attend social events with fresh manicures, pedicures, and new holiday looks for easy-to-do and classic updos and special engagement hair styles. Our beautiful Couples Suite with two teacup soaking tubs are perfect for the couples looking to indulge in connection time with one another, experiencing our Holiday Renewal together and adding a warm ginger soak to compliment.”—Raye Vogler, Montage Palmetto Bluff (Bluffton, SC)
How are this year’s specials new and different?
“For Fall, we created our Autumn Glow massage. This incorporates Himalayan salt stones to relax muscles and replenish the body with lost minerals and Kerstin Florian’s new Organic Neroli Blossom Bath & Body Oil perfect for stress relief and promoting restful sleep. The holiday season can be stressful, so we wanted something to help alleviate this. The cozy warmth of the salt stones with the Neroli oil was the perfect combination. We also introduced a Peppermint manicure and pedicure for November and December utilizing our aromatherapy blending bar. We created a custom-blended scrub and body butter incorporating organic peppermint and eucalyptus for a wonderful holiday scent. This blend is made here onsite and leaves you with the familiar scent of the holiday season.”—Laura Tuerck, Montage Laguna Beach (CA)
“We had a very successful seasonal treatment menu last year. We actually had guests begin to call in the fall to ask if we were going to be offering the same holiday menu again. We decided to bring back last year’s plan because our loyal guests were requesting the treatments.”—Amelia Winfrey, Montage Beverly Hills (CA)
What are your goals with the holiday season promotions?
“Our goal is to offer our guests something unique but also reflective of the season and to provide them with services and ingredients that benefit general wellness.”—Raye Vogler, Montage Palmetto Bluff (Bluffton, SC)
“Our goals are to give our guests something unique while bringing them into the feeling of the holidays through all the senses. It allows us to take some of our most popular treatments and add a wonderful holiday twist.”—Laura Tuerck, Montage Laguna Beach (CA)
“Sixty percent of Spa Montage guests come from the local area and many of them come multiple times a year. We keep them in mind when we create our seasonal menu. They really enjoy visiting the spa during the holiday season to decompress.”—Amelia Winfrey, Montage Beverly Hills (CA)
How will you track the success of these promotions?
“Our systems can track promotional reservations and retail purchases associated with the services.”—Raye Vogler, Montage Palmetto Bluff (Bluffton, SC)
“We track the promotions through the bookings of the treatments and packages associated with them. Guest feedback is also extremely important.”—Laura Tuerck, Montage Laguna Beach (CA)
“Each year we strive to be better than the last. We track our success based on guest feedback and revenue generated by the seasonal treatments specifically.”—Amelia Winfrey, Montage Beverly Hills (CA)
What have been your most successful holiday promotions?
“Our pedicures always do really well as people are preparing for holiday social events, they enjoy the creativity and introduction to ingredients they may not have thought about in the past.”—Raye Vogler, Montage Palmetto Buff (Bluffton, SC)
“Our most successful holiday promotion to date has definitely been our Autumn Glow. This was offered during the months of October and November and included an amazing lunch at our Mosaic Bar and Grille.”—Laura Tuerck, Montage Laguna Beach (CA)
“We’ve found that the most successful holiday promotions are shared spa experiences. When we offer couples treatments or side by side pedicures as two examples of many, our guests tend to gravitate towards these types of treatments. They prefer to share the gift of time spent together at the spa with friends and family above all and select their treatments of choice to reflect this choice of experience.”—Amelia Winfrey, Montage Beverly Hills (CA)