March 2010’s Featured Archive Article:

A Sustainable Future for the Day Spa

Measurement Tools for Assessment and Change

By Rhana Pytell

Imagine what the day spa of the future will look like. In a new world where our time tested wellness modalities are affordable, accessible and integral for standard health maintenance our business model may change. High cost structures that require high prices, high volume and restricted wages to produce profit may not apply in the future of the spa industry. In 2008 the monetary value of massage was driven down in the mind of the consumer by low cost providers. This significant shift will alter the spa industry, whose highest volume and easiest to deliver service is being swept away into a new business model. Practitioners willing to work for under $27 per massage including gratuity are plentiful.
Looking ahead to the future and through the lens of the recession, retail prices for services are falling. Discounting has always been taboo in the spa industry with its aura of luxury. Now, however, lowering prices is not about chasing after clients but rather staying relevant and accessible to industry communities. Can we be more profitable with lower revenues? Yes. Recalibrating our cost structures for profit and the future requires the application and full integration of sustainable practices and principles.

Washable cloth hand towels and reusable and durable ceramic or glass cups that eliminate paper use are sustainable options.

A recent blog post at Mintel International Group Ltd., a leading Market Intelligence provider, names the following trends in skin care for 2009:
• Austerity chic. Looking good for less. Careful and targeted product use and beauty routines. Homemade solutions.
• Turbo beauty. Proven results. Science-based products. Alternatives to surgery. Advanced technology and more patents.
• Extreme ethics. Sustainability at the heart of our lives. Demand for ethical authenticity. Reduction in carbon and water footprints. Fair trade and sustainable production. Eco packaging.
• Beauty foods. “Good for you” food ingredients will show up in beauty products. Supplementation and snacks designed to improve people’s looks in addition to their beauty regimens.

The way of the future

“Green” tints each of the above trends. And in a sustainable spa business green will eventually color every aspect of operations, marketing, finance and management. Every point of the supply chain will be analyzed from a sustainable perspective. Human resources and training will have the sustainability message embedded. Spa operations will have measures and controls on both the carbon and water footprints. Sustainable manufacturers and pure product ingredients will be preferred and sought out. Work environments will be managed from an environmental perspective to be both people and planet friendly. Community connections and shared values will guide management decisions as much as monetary return on investment. And the audacious goal of zero waste will be at the core of operational design. In effect, the day spa of the future will be a complete representation of health and wellbeing, a place where the capacity for the life of people and planet is nourished on all levels. A streamlined, efficient business model will deliver profits.
How do we get there from here? There are answers everywhere—just google “how to be green” and 124 million responses appear in seconds. Strategy, systems and structure are key to success on the green journey. Without these, a sense of confusion and frustration will thwart our efforts in this grand shift. We are leaving the “sip and toss” culture and seeking ways to live abundantly and sustainably. Great minds and innovation are at work developing solutions to facilitate the transition.

Measurement tools

Educator Darcy Hitchcock coauthored SCORE The Business Guide to Sustainability and The Step-by-Step Guide to Sustainability Planning with Marsha Willard. The Green Spa Network (GSN) collaborated with industry professionals including Hitchcock to develop a GSN SAT tool for sustainability planning, envisioning and assessment for spas. We used the technique of back casting—setting the ultimate goal first and working backwards to determine the stepping stones to achieving that goal. The spa practices targeted for sustainability assessment are spa leadership, service protocols, retail products, staff experience, guest experience, linens and textiles, food and beverage, waste, sanitation and janitorial, laundry, water management, lighting, energy use in remodels and new building, equipment, pools and community connection. Here are the details and measures of a few of the individual spa practices.
The practice of waste: Eliminate waste through minimization, reusing, recycling and composting. The ultimate goal or fully integrated sustainability in terms of waste is zero waste generation, which means nothing to landfill—everything is composted or recycled. Back casting from this goal we decided that the first step towards sustainability in the category of waste is to “Conduct a waste audit, establish recycling programs throughout the organization, develop a plan to reduce waste to landfill.” The accomplishment is at the incubator level. The next step on the path is the integrated level and at this point the benchmark is to, “Establish purchasing policies for reusable, durable, recyclable, compostable supplies and achieve a 50 percent reduction of land filled waste.”
A waste audit involves documenting what is being thrown away, determining why and figuring out how it can be changed. The process is more effective than simply opting to replace plastic cups with polylactic acid cups, or bleached paper hand towels with post consumer waste hand towels. From a waste perspective, sustainability leads to the elimination of single use items. Washable cloth hand towels, reusable and durable ceramic or glass cups and office technology tools that eliminate paper use are sustainable options. Investing in sustainable options whenever possible is necessary in order to reduce our operational cost structures.

The GSN tool indicates that, “Sixty percent of foods and beverages are sustainable, local or regional, organic and in season.”

Moving into the kitchen

The practice of food and beverage: To provide choices for guests that are sourced through organic, sustainable resources.
To practice sustainability on the highest fully integrated level is to “Provide spa food offerings whose ingredients are sourced from regional organic resources and focused on seasonal offerings, use fair trade vendors and practices, 100 percent foods/beverages that are sustainable, local or regional, organic and in season. Service pieces and containers that are reusable, compostable or recyclable. All food waste is composted.”
With back casting we learned that at the incubator level of sustainability we would “Provide all spa guests with water or organic tea/beverages that are filtered and chlorine free, use organic condiments (e.g. stevia), fresh herbs, organic fruit garnishes, 20 percent foods/beverages that are sustainable, local, organic and in season.” Moving along the sustainability path to the integrated level the GSN tool indicates that, “Sixty percent of foods and beverages are sustainable, local or regional, organic and in season, containers are reusable, compostable or recyclable and a food waste composting program is established.”

To begin the sustainability journey at the incubator level, a spa will “Have a policy/plan to replace textiles as needed with linens that meet sustainability goals…”

Cradle to cradle

A “Life Cycle Assessment” or cradle to grave analysis is the investigation and valuations of the environmental impacts of a given product. When we conduct a life cycle assessment of cotton textiles we find a large water footprint for growing, heavy pesticide use (2 lbs. for every cotton T-shirt), possibly toxic dyes and an end of life—or sometimes reused or recycled —in a landfill. Future innovations in textile recycling will improve this life cycle—fewer virgin materials and less water will be needed.
“Cradle to cradle” is a term coined by Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart. In their 2002 book by the same name the architect and chemist envision a future where products can be perpetually recycled without losing quality. Recycling today often results in down cycling—plastic is a good example—as it recycles to a point but eventually becomes trash and is either incinerated or landfilled.
The GSN SAT tool includes sustainability measures for textiles and linens to maximize the quality and life cycle of spa linens and use cradle to cradle principles in purchasing decisions.
At the fully integrated level of sustainability, “All spa textiles and linens are manufactured according to the highest level of cradle to cradle sustainability principles, and life cycle assessment of all spa textiles indicates best use and zero waste.”
To begin the sustainability journey at the incubator level, a spa will “Have a policy/plan to replace textiles as needed with linens that meet sustainability goals, audit linen usage (including towels, sheets, blankets, robes), educate/reeducate all staff on the true need for each linen item used, redress use of linens for treatment protocols.” Moving along further on the path to the initiator level, the spa will “Purchase linens and meet ISO 14001 and Oko Tex manufacturing standards and select fair trade vendors, recycle/reuse old worn linens toward next best use (e.g.: recycled for building materials, send to shelters or use for cleaning cloths).”

Steady, step by step process

Our path to sustainability is transformative. By choosing to reduce, reuse and recycle, we are just putting our toes in the water. When we understand the connections of everything, we will see that greening requires a 360 degree view of all that comes into our businesses and all that is generated. When we are committed to the process, it is important that all our market messaging, both internal and external, is clear and open regarding our values and initiatives. Sustainability bliss is a long way off. Our clients do not expect green perfection, they expect steady transparent efforts, shared values and vision. Our green dream is a step by step process that is steadily changing our definition of a successful spa business.

Rhana Pytell is the cofounder and director of GAIA Spa LLC, which became a seed member of the Green Spa Network in 2007. Pytell also founded Amethyst Systems, a revolutionary green approach to spa management through a web-based software application that centralizes key information, accountabilities and business development processes. Contact Pytell at rhana@amethystsystems.com.