Tips for A Career in Spa Therapy

Top Ten Career Tips from a Spa Therapist

Are you thinking about becoming a spa therapist? Get some tips from these spa therapy professionals on how to learn and build a successful career:

Erin Polites and Molly McMartin are therapists at Ummelina International Day Spa in Seattle. Both are massage therapists by training, but they've learned many spa therapy techniques through their work at Ummelina and other spas. They offer the following advice to students interested in a spa therapist career.

1. Learn on the job.

Most employers want you to have at least a year of experience before they'll even consider you. Molly went to massage school in Las Vegas and worked there for a year at a resort spa in the Paris Las Vegas Hotel. With some experience under her belt, Molly was able to work at another resort spa in La Jolla, California, where she learned body treatments including sea salt glows, wraps and tub treatments.

"Most people get a basic working knowledge of spa therapy in massage school," she explains. "Every spa will usually train you on their protocol and their products."

Molly is now responsible for new employee training at Ummelina, and she says there's a wide range of training quality at spas. "You should expect to receive protocols on paper that you can have for your records. That's a staple. Other visual aids, like videos, are great to help with consistency, but mostly it's hands-on. You should always be able to see a demo, get hands-on time to practice and then sign off on the treatment."

2. Stick with your strengths, but be flexible.

Erin's career as a spa therapist started with Shiatsu. She received her training at the International School for Shiatsu in Pennsylvania and built a successful practice. Erin then moved to Hawaii and took an 11-month course for more general massage and finally accepted a position at Abhasa Spa in The Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

"I learned hydrotherapy in school," Erin explains, "but at Abhasa, we learned sea salt scrubs, body wraps—it was all on-the-job training. They carried a Kerstin Florian line of products (a progressive range of European facial, body and bath products and treatments based on natural resources), and we had to learn how to use all of them."

As the only Shiatsu therapist on the Ummelina staff, Erin still gets to practice her specialty, but she does other types of massage as well. She also oversees a range of water treatments, including the healing aromatic water tub used for lymphatic drainage as well as the Japanese soaking tub and cold shower used for vascular flushing. She's even learned how to do Ummelina's signature African foot bath with shea butter.

3. Prepare to be booked.

Erin works three eight-hour days a week and a double shift on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. She often does half a day of water treatments and four or five massages in the other half. Mondays are often slow, but Friday through Sunday she's almost always booked solid.

Molly, meanwhile, does massage four days a week. She does up to six-and-a-half hours of treatment and takes an hour for lunch in between. "Even when I do have six hours of treatment, I usually get a sea salt glow or an herbal body treatment in there, which is not as taxing."

Molly says an entry-level spa therapist should expect to be working three to four shifts, giving 15 to 20 massages or other treatments a week. "When you're getting started it's really important to pay attention to your body. Twenty massages is really the limit for anybody."

4. Be a team player.

Many spa-goers receive several treatments at a time. It's important for spa therapists to work well together, so that potential disorganization and tension don't intrude on the client's relaxation.

At Ummelina, the entire staff joins in a meeting each morning. "We go through and look at the day's schedule," Molly explains. "We need to know who our client is going to or coming from. It gives us a chance to address any specific concerns—group bookings or little things that help us work better together."

Meetings like this are not typical in the busy spa industry. Usually a spa therapist must rely on spa software to advise her on a client's schedule.

5. Know the line between professional and natural.

Professional boundaries are important, but Molly says that putting clients at ease is all about being natural and friendly. "You want to respect the client and talk to them like you would talk to your friend. Then they feel like they can talk to you. You want to be believable and natural."

When a client seems awkward or uncomfortable, Erin says, “Eye contact is important. Often the client has a question to ask, and they're too shy to ask it. Do they keep their underwear on? Do they go under the sheets or stay on top? Just leave yourself open and maybe ask a couple times during the treatment. 'Is everything okay? Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?' Often they'll just relax into it after a while."

6. Some tips about getting paid.

"If you're working in a resort or a really popular, fairly large day spa," Molly explains, "you're looking at a lower commission base, but you're going to be booked more. Every spa has a different formula: flat rate, commission-based, hourly. You should never make less than $25 to $30 per massage before gratuity. You can make up to $45 or $50. You might make a little more on body treatments since they're more expensive and more product is being used."

Most clients will tip, but some clients aren't sure, especially since many spas rely heavily on gift certificate customers. Gift certificate clients comprise between 40 percent and 50 percent of Ummelina’s business. Clients often have no idea what spa therapists get paid out of the price of a service. That's when it helps to have a supportive front desk that always asks clients if they want to add gratuity and is prepared to explain that the service industry standard is 10 percent to 20 percent.

Remember that cash tips are good, but credit card tips are often better. "When I started fresh out of school," Erin recalls, "I thought I'd get cash in my pocket. But as time goes on, it's much better to get it on credit cards, so you have the taxes taken out." With credit card tips, you don't have to worry about keeping a record and paying out taxes, and you'll have a better-looking income later when you're being considered for a loan to buy a house or start a business.

7. Smile and let it go.

"The most challenging thing about working in a spa is the customer service aspect," says Erin. "It can be difficult if people come in late, if another therapist is late for the client's next service, or if the client's not happy and you're already doing everything you can."

The spa setting is fast-paced. A spa therapist can't stop and talk to a client for 30 minutes about what's going on. It can be hard to be personable within such a tight a time constraint. Therapists are giving and passionate about what they do, but sometimes the work is grueling and the clients are crabby. You have to be able to handle a somewhat stressful environment, without taking it out on your next client.

8. Brush up your sales skills.

Spa therapists are increasingly expected to sell spa products. In recent years, many spas have instituted sales quotas for their therapists. If you believe in the products, this might be easy for you. Your heartfelt recommendation is often all the client needs to make a purchase.

If the idea of selling gives you hives, be sure to get a sense of the spa's expectations before taking a job. Maybe you just need to change your attitude. "It's nice that we have teas and salts and a lot of tools to help clients," says Erin. Products can help clients take the spa experience home with them, even while reminding them to keep coming back to see you.

9. Keep on learning.

Continuing education is required to maintain a massage therapy or other type of license, but most people appreciate the extra education. "I think the requirement is good, because it encourages people that might not push themselves," says Molly. "I like to keep it mixed up. Lately I've been taking more management classes and things that are specific to what I'm doing right now. It's also important to make sure you're doing some hands-on work so that you can learn the new techniques."

Erin has been taking continuing education classes in aromatherapy, Lomi Lomi technique and ethics. "I've been really looking into the business side too—checking out some business classes that count towards continuing education. Is it better to run your own business or work at a spa? You always hear that it's better to work for yourself. I've been doing a lot of personal financial number crunching and figuring things out."

10. Enjoy the simple life.

In Molly's words, "working in spas is great for somebody who isn't sure what professional direction they want to venture. You have somebody booking your clients, doing your laundry and providing all your supplies, and you get to work on a lot of bodies."

In most spas you work long hours in exchange for this kind of simplicity, but you probably won't make as much money as you would if you were to build your own business. However, you'll be learning skills you can't learn anywhere else. Whether your dream is to open your own spa, move up in spa management or just enjoy a few years living and working at a beautiful resort, the life of a spa therapist may be a perfect fit for you.

Related Articles:

• How Do the Top Spa and Massage Schools Compare?
• Spa Therapy 101
• Find the Field that Fits
• Paying for Massage & Beauty School

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Sources:
Kerstin Florian, Inc., 1998-2005.