Redefining duration.
Although spas
explicitly sell time, most guests consider
that they are purchasing an experience. The
trick is to ensure that guests receive the
experience they desire while the spa maintains
control of the treatment time.
Finedining
restaurants experience a similar but
more complicated issue since they typically
cannot sell time (e.g., it is generally
unheard-of to ask guests how long they will
need the table), but they must nevertheless
manage the meal duration to be successful.
Typically, spas offer treatments in blocks
of one-hour treatments, or sometimes ninety
minutes. In some spas, one-hour treatments
actually mean fifty minutes of treatment,
plus ten minutes to clean and prepare the
room. Spa operators can consider offering
different lengths of treatments (perhaps
thirty minutes, forty-five minutes, or even
two hours) or require customers to purchase
multiple treatments during busy periods.