Group Rates/Bridal Parties

[Skalite]

So, I have a great opportunity at my studio to do large parties. We have two regular massage rooms that can fit two tables each, and then a larger room that we use for couples that can actually fit four tables. We are pretty new and only staff two therapist at this time but we have the space to do up to 8 massages at once. I would like to start using the space for bridal parties/etc. We know several other therapists that could help us out with enough notice. I am going to call around to other places and see what they offer as far as how many people they can accommodate at one time and what their rates would be. I know people look for a discount when they book group parties, but I don't want to discount too much as the therapist helping wouldn't be regular staff.

We usually add $10 per person on top of our regular rate for couples' (or anyone who wants to get a massage in the same room) for the time it takes to rearrange the room and bring in the second table. So I was thinking maybe we could cut that in half for a discount, but I'm not sure if $5 off per person would be enough, or if we should just drop the set up fee all together. I would really have to make them understand that if there is more than one table in a room, there is usually an extra fee, I just don't want them to think that they aren't getting a discount based on what our regular rates are.

I also want to have different offers based on the size of the party. Something for 3-4 people, and something bigger for 5-8. I was thinking maybe of throwing aromatherapy or hot stone services in for free. Like maybe aromatherapy for the whole party of 3-4, and maybe add hot stones for the bride and MOH or MOTB for 5-8.

What are your opinions/suggestions?

 

[Old Fat Bald Guy]

Group Rates/Bridal Parties

I agree with the higher pricing for couples - I am always amazed when people discount this on their regular menus.

Anyway, one place that I worked never discounted for bridal parties - they could only book full priced services...facials, massages, pedicures etc. She would always provide nice refreshments and encouraged them to bring in whatever else they wanted. That worked well for her higher end clientele.

However - I had a different experience at another place - and I think that this could work very well for groups...
For parties here, she would have a flat rate per person depending on the number of services booked. She also did not offer full time services - she had a mini-services menu and each person could pick (one, two or three) services...whatever flat rate package they had chosen.

You could actually offer BOTH types of "parties".
Just have different pricing.
Since the rooms would not be private you might have to get them all in robes and slippers.

 

[Dubbi]

Group Rates/Bridal Parties

I agree with the higher pricing for couples - I am always amazed when people discount this on their regular menus.

I am always amazed when places charge MORE for couples massage. When doing a couples massage you are able to do more massages at once and therefore get a higher occupancy rate on your rooms. Bottom line is you are making more profit yet your expenses are going down. If in our three treatment rooms we could only have one person at a time, we could only do three massages at once. But two of them will take couples. So we can actually do five massages at once. This almost doubles our capacity.

If you have room to do a couples massage in the room, why not keep it set up at all times with two tables? That's what we do. No extra set-up and on busy days we can accommodate more people over all.

As for your question about parties. I don't like to give discounts for groups. That might make sense in a situation where the larger the group the less your expenses are. But you will have the same expenses you always do. This is another reason why I like to give a discount for people getting massaged in the same room. If we say I'm paying a certain amount of rent for each room for each hour, then my expenses are going down the more people I can fit in that room. If two people who would normally get massages in separate rooms (family, mom and daughter, etc) choose to get a couples massage to save money, I then have that other room available to book another person at the same time.

I personally would not add in hot stones for free. They are adding prep time and clean up. I would however be happy to give free add-ons that don't cost you extra time like aromatherapy, foot scrub, paraffin, etc.

Depending on your location, it might simply be a miracle that they could get 8 massages at once anyway. I guess if you are near a large spa it might not be so rare. But I would probably try marketing it as something special, maybe serve refreshments, special add-ons, etc. But charge the same amount as your regular massages. At least that's what I would do.

 

[Designer~Wife]

Group Rates/Bridal Parties

LOL - Shiva....
guess I was looking at it from a service providers standpoint...more work for US (service providers) to set up and clean up room...but yes, more profit per room for the business owner, absolutely.
And any place that has enough room to have a dedicated couple's room SHOULD leave it set up that way, takes away totally the problem of moving tables around.

 

[Big Dummy]

Group Rates/Bridal Parties

Well, I shortened the story just a little bit. We don't QUITE have the couples room yet. We are in a dance/yoga studio and the large room shares a wall with the studio so we can here the music through it. We are getting foam sprayed into the shared wall soon to sound proof it. So we definitely will not be scheduling groups until the insulation is done. If we do use it, we schedule around their classes, but usually for now we are rearranging tables in the smaller rooms, and we only have two tables at this time.

Thanks for your ideas, I think I definitely add refreshments.