Spa Of The Month

By staying true to its roots and using nature as a guide, The Lodge at Woodloch Spa has received awards from renowned publications year after year. Keep reading to see how staying authentic and heartfelt reinforces the spa’s brand and purpose.

The luxurious facility include 27 treatment rooms for customized face and body treatments, private men’s and women’s spa retreats, signature private shower and changing rooms, men’s and women’s saunas, steam rooms, and whirlpools, private men’s and women’s fireplace lounges., and co-ed post-treatment relaxation rooms. Special features include Whisper, a silent sanctuary, and Gather,a social suite. Additionally, there is an outdoor screened porch with cozy seating for guests.

Signature Treatments

The Custom Massage is a guest favorite! By using the intake process, the staff discovers the individual needs of each guest and creates a fully custom experience for their time at the spa. Many options of aromatherapy, tools, and massage pressure are available to select from, and guests are delighted with all the extras they may not have experienced before. The Custom Massage is available in either 60 or 90 minute sessions.

The 100-minute Rosemary Awakening is inspired by the healing properties of rosemary. It begins with a stimulating body polish of rosemary and mint to cleanse and detoxify, followed by a full body Swedish massage with hydrating shea butter and warming essential oils of vetiver and lemongrass to ease sore muscles. Next, the guest is gently wrapped to enhance relaxation while a luxurious scalp massage and invigorating foot massage complete this awakening experience.

Marketing

“We truly believe that, just like wellness, marketing requires a holistic approach. We take this view of our marketing outreach to make sure that our target demographic sees us wherever they consume media,” says Deaton. “The most important piece of this puzzle is really knowing our guests, and our budget reflects the size of our intimate property, meaning every dollar counts!”

The Lodge at Woodloch firmly believes the absolute best form of marketing is word-of-mouth, which starts with each guest’s experience and willingness to share their memorable time. Reinforcing those positive sentiments are a few select print ads each year in top-tier regional travel publications, along with digital marketing and an active social media presence.

Training 

A communications hub in the Spa Prep area helps ensure any key information is shared daily.

“We believe that staff training and growth is very important to the quality of the experience at The Lodge at Woodloch, as well as employee retention,” notes Deaton. “To feel as though one is continually learning and growing helps with overall job satisfaction. We host trainings several times per year, as well as when we introduce new treatments to the menu. We also host trainings that qualify as continuing education classes for re-certification requirements.”

Additionally, the spa recently partnered with Lackawanna College to create a certificate program for Massage Therapists. The partnership helps to foster a learning environment throughout the spa and continual opportunities for growth.

Staff have annual performance evaluations, with different goals for each individual team member based on their personal aspirations and needs. Some desire to set a goal of management training, while others want to explore new modalities in order to expand their capabilities. Each personality and growth direction is taken into consideration.

The property has been lucky enough to have extremely high occupancy, which allows for a very dependable work flow and appointment levels. When paired with competitive wages, this is always a top incentive. “We have a retail commissions program that helps to incentivize our esthetics team. Additionally, we try to add in surprise incentives to reward our staff throughout the year such as a taco truck, ice cream truck, team basketball tournaments, weight loss teams/incentives, and gas cards for going above and beyond. We also try to recognize our employees’ memorable milestones, such as birthdays or a new baby,” shares Deaton.

Revenue and Retail 

Deaton focuses on like-minded companies in the luxury category that feature natural and organic products and are results driven. “We love to feature local partners whenever we can. We currently use a local vendor for our aromatherapy blends. But, for our main products in our spa, we partner with well-established brands that can guarantee the quality of product,” she says. “We currently feature haia, Kerstin Florian, OM4 and Body Bliss (for our The Lodge at Woodloch branded products). We carry many local vendors in our gift shop.”

The staff is very careful with their approach of selling to guests, hoping that the experience and products speak for themselves and naturally encourage guests to want to purchase the products on their own without a push. The spa often offers incentives in the online boutique to encourage guests to restock their supply after they have left, like free shipping or a percentage off online purchases.

Spa services revenue breaks down as 59 percent esthetics, 19 percent salon services, three percent body treatments, and 17 percent Float Therapy. These numbers have remained consistent over time.