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Should you manage your hotel spa or have an external company run it for you?

As a general manager of a luxury hotel, you probably have asked yourself this question on very numerous occasions. As always, there is no simple answer, and the truth is that the most suitable solution is neither black nor white, as it is usually the case, but rather a nice shade of grey.

The benefits of leasing the space to an expert company are very clear; they should know their business, and therefore do well at it, and financially, you get a “guaranteed” revenue through the leasing of the space.

So, what’s the problem?

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With this solution there are two very relevant issues:

1. You do not control directly or entirely the quality of the service in this area. Sure, there are legal ways to protect yourself, but, as we all know, it is quite difficult to define objectively the quality of the service. And even if you use objective criteria, such as Mystery Shoppers scores, the last thing you want to get involved with, is a legal battle with your spa operator. Not to mention that, for the hotel guests, the fact that the spa is operated by a third party is totally irrelevant, and all the complaints will come to your front desk, and you need to go thru a third party, to get these issues resolved. This is sometimes longwinded, and not effective.

2. The second important issue being that for the spa to be a success, the spa manager, the reception manager and the sales manager of the hotel have to work in total unity, under the direction of the GM. And this is very difficult if the spa is managed by a third party; its integration in the hotel operations is never complete, and the hotel’s employees always see it as a separate entity, and this is reflected in their actions, and impetus in promoting the spa in their daily actions.

If the spa is not actively promoted by all the staff of the hotel, it will be very difficult to be a success.

So, what should you do?


I sincerely believe, based on my professional experience, that you should assume yourself the management of the spa.

Having said that, since the spa is a totally different operation from the rest of the hotel and requires a different set of skills and knowledge, the decision to assume internally the management, needs to be accompanied by the service of experts.

Your main purpose is to “drive” the business; make sure the owners are satisfied with the results, the guests are happy, and the employees are well trained and motivated. To maximize the number of heads on pillows every night.

Then, why should I bother about the spa?

Because if you don’t have it, you will lose many hotel nights, because nowadays in luxury hotels, the spa’s are a must, and at least 90% of your competitors have one.

What you need to do, is get the expert advice, from an independent consultant. Make sure their interest is not in selling you equipment or products, because in this case, be convinced that your interests and theirs will be divergent.


Get them involved as early as possible in the development process. So many design and operational mistakes have taken place in this industry, that most of the hotels are disillusioned with the spa operations. They are very costly to build and to maintain, and therefore push the break-even point at a high level. The ROI is difficult to attain.

For example, I have seen so many hotels, with less than 150 rooms, that have a 2.000 m2 spa, 15 treatment rooms, etc. Unless the vocation of your hotel is to be a thalassic centre, there is no way on earth that you will ever be able to recuperate your investment (obviously obviating the increase in the value of the property).

The project of the spa in your hotel can not and must not be “ego driven”. You do not want to have the best or biggest spa. Who cares? You need to dimension and develop the spa, based on your needs, resources and your customers’ expectations. No more, no less.

Thinking of opening a spa in your hotel, or you are not happy with the results of the spa already operating in your hotel?

Contact us, and as we say, “Profit from our experience”.

Sylvain Grise - CEO, Vertical Consulting


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