How much massage in an hours appointment?

[Justaname]

I do not do free consultations, why would I want to give away my time to listen to someone tell me their life history.
My working day is long enough but you are suggesting that I make it even longer, if I have back to back clients, it is likely that you will need to get undressed and dressed in the hour that you pay for, not in my time. I assume you dont do extra time at your job, you take comfort breaks in your break time, and you work 100% of the time.

I do not need to use good marketing to entice clients, I dont do marketing, I have had 20 new clients in the last 6 weeks. When I book my clients, I make them aware that the first session will involve ME asking them some questions about their health, if THEY fill in the form, they seldom read the questions fully, seldom respond fully and often just look for where to sign, potentially missing the fact that they have a skin condition or illness that would contraindicate treatment/massage.

To answer your question though, my treatment/massage lasts as long as it takes to achieve my aims and the needs of the client, and it wont be longer than 50 mins, allowing 5 mins to prepare and 5 mins for you to get dressed and allow me to set up the room, get clean towels, and book your next appointment or dicusss after care etc.

I do however think 35 mins would be too short for subsequent sessions. Last week I assessed a student who told me that the initial seesion was 90 mins in which there was no treatment, just assessment, and 15 mins of the next session was "catch up" so it looks like you actually got a good deal.

to add free consultaions to my service would cost me 1/2 hour for each client, to allow you to dress and undress and schedule appointments outside your 1 hour appointment would mean I lose 10-15 mins per client, multiplyed by 8 per day would equate 80 - 120 mins per day, approx 5 hours per week and approx 6 working weeks per year.
Why not suggest you take a gown, change in your own time at the start and end in your car and take your own detailed medical history with you when you go, then you can have close to an hour of massage, minus the time your therapist takes reading your medical history and clarifying a number of points that you have omitted to expand on.

I dont do many full body massages, if I do I make it 75mins, that way you get 60 mins massage, but it costs an extra £8 than a normal treatment.

those therapists who partake in disount schemes are devaluing their services, and could fall foul of the taxman who frowns on such actitivies, and by the way what do you do for free for the therapist? or for complete strangers who book your services? so why would you expect the therapist to treat you for free. In this world you get exactly what you pay for IMO

the bottom line is "value for money" and obviously you felt you didnt get it, hence the reason you wont go back, perhaps giving constructive feedback to the salon/clinic would help others get a better service??
regards
BGFL

 

[kellie!]

my treatments are 55 minutes or 25 minutes long.
I then have 5 minutes to go through paperwork for first timers, and then I finish the massage at 55 minutes past, that gives me time to leave them to get dressed and pay.
My clients are well behaved and know they need to be out in 5 minutes, for the "talkers" I finish at 50 minutes past, they soon get the message.

 

[Proud Texan]

This is an old thread but I think it is worth re-reading in view of Luke's recent query. Personally, if a client books a hour's massage, then I won't book my next client until 75 minutes later: ie allowing 15 minutes of 'dead time' between clients. So my clients will get a full hour of massage unless they are very slow to undress.

Alan

 

[TeAmo14]

This would be close to my ideal.

Even better would be if the massage therapist was also a qualified driving instructor, then I could drive around for an hour getting a stress relieving massage and learning to drive at the same time. All in the £40 of course

 

[adia]

Well, we obviously all have our own way of working. If someone booked in for an hours massage with me, thats exactly what they'd get, an hour of hands on treatment. I don't consider the consultation to be a freebie as such, I just acknowlegde that for every hours massage it will need an hour & half in actual time. I have no problem with that. The client comes to me wanting just the massage work, they have no interest in the form filling, that is for my benefit. I'm sure most people would be happy to just skip all the consult bit if they were made aware that they had to pay for it. I myself recently had a full body massage at a salon nearby and was a bit miffed to realise it was over and done with in 45 minutes and she didn't even do a consultation! So needless to say I won't be going back!

 

[Dan P]

Absolutely spot on!

My philosophy of getting massage; as a client.

 

[zdppbxuw]

Have now merged the 2 threads so all the info is on the same thread.

Moonfairy
HPmods

 

[Hesk]

This is such an interesting debate how we all work so differently depending on the environment we are working in. I offer 25 min and 50 min massages and that is how long the massage lasts - because I'm mobile I let clients know to allow for longer as I need to set up my equipment first - do a consultation - then the full 25 or 50 mins of massage and then pack away.

I also do some work for a clinic and have a never ending problem with them booking a 30 minute or 50 minute treatment into that amount of time with no buffer time for the client to walk up stairs, get undressed etc etc. I can't quite get them to understand that if we say its a 30 minute massage that's what it should be! Thats why I'm always running late at the clinic

 

[strpenta]

Yup, my actual massage time is about an hour. The rest (including time to "come round" on the couch at the end) is included. Of course, the consultation part is much shorter after the first appointment, though one client told me recently that her previous therapists have never filled in forms at all after the first session!

When I was first trained, we were encouraged to do a 50-minute massage, which I guess would suit a salon where you have to get people in and out within tight time slots, but it doesn't feel long enough to me now.

 

[Cristobal]

This thread is very thought provoking. In Uni I was trained in a working spa so I'd have clients back to back and their 1 hr appointments would have to include consultation, un-dressing, water and feedback. So on avarage it would be 45 minutes hands-on time out of 60.

It seems from this thread most agree that its better for the client to receive the full treatment time. However, most, if not all spas, salons and hotels dont comply to this ethos and yet they have far more clients, and are able to charge tripple than than your avarage S/E therapist.

 

[roar_y {~[GCH]~}]

The answer depends on many factors. I practice Swedish, Remedial, Sports and Hot/cold stone.

Swedish
I will massage as close to the hour as possible, consultations are usually short. If the client needs some extra work, i.e. tight shoulders, glutes etc, I may go over the hour. But that depends if the client is on time and the time of my next booking.

Remedial / Sports
The consultation can be a significant part of the hour, especially on the first visit. Carrying out postural and specific muscle tests can be time consuming and therefore can easily account for half the visit.

Hot/Cold Stone
A proportion of the time is taken up by removing the stones from the heater, setting them out, and removing cooled stones. For this reason I recommend a minimum visit of 90 mins.

Myarka

 

[Willedaigh]

As long as people know they're paying for a 50 minute massage then fair enough. I worked in a health club clinic with back to back one hour slots so clients knew they had to be out of the door promptly & regulars came in ready to drop their robes & hop straight on the couch so they got more time.

We asked new clients to fill in a tick box consult form in advance so just a quick glance for red flags & we didn't lose much time there. My main grouse was even if you got your client out the door on the hour & your next one was waiting outside then you had to take at least a couple of minutes to get the room ready. Much nicer to work somewhere where you can have a sensible time between appointments.

 

[BearsFan1]

I have the luxury of my own business and my own room, so I can arrange my appointments to suit myself. I try always to leave 30 minutes between appointments so that if a client is early or late it is not a problem, and if I want to do a bit more and run 'over time', I can. It does make my working day longer, but it is far less stressful and avoids the conveyor belt attitude.

Also, I ask my clients on each visit what they would like to receive from the massage and how they would like to feel when it is finished. So long as these two criteria are met, then if I happen to finish a few minutes under the hour or half-hour, it is no big deal. I have a very satisfied customer and have no intention of messing about with unnecessary stroking just to fill the time.

I've been working like this for almost ten years and it has worked well so far.

 

[Amy Miller]

As a keen recipient of massage and having had many - good bad and indifferent over the years I do believe that it is essential that if you are advertising a one hour (or whatever) massage, then that should be the duration of the massage.

If you need to spend 15 minutes doing a questionnaire first either allow me to arrive 15 minutes early for that purpose or tell me about it in advance and whether it will be all part of the service, charged extra or deducted from the hour. Likewise tell me whether the hour is for massage or from the moment I arrive to the moment I leave.

What may have been perfectly acceptable if proplerly described in advance becomes a problem if not so described.

If I am told the duration of the massage is an hour - that is what I exepect. we all know i have to undress and dress, and that you may want to discuss it with me before and maybe after - but please be clear about how much time is spent on the massage itself