The hotel spa industry well on way to recovery as it learns to diversify

After lagging behind other hotel revenue sources, hotel spas began to see their sales recover in 2011, and this trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future., according to PKF Consulting. The hotel spas enjoyed an 8.3 percent increase in revenue in 2011, but measured on a dollar per occupied room basis, the revenue increase was just 3.3 percent.

Massage services continue to generate the most revenue for hotels spas. Sales from massages averaged 57.0 percent of total department revenue and grew by 9.2 percent from 2010 to 2011. Other significant spa services enjoying strong growth in revenue during 2011 were Skin Care and Body Work (8.0%), Salon Services (8.1%) and Retail (13.4%).

"The implication for hotel spa managers is clear. The pace of growth in hotel guest counts is going to diminish over the next few years...hotel spa managers will have to generate revenue growth by increasing the capture rate of in-house guests, sourcing additional local customers and/or raising the amount the spa customers spend per visit."