What Happened To The 60 Minute Massage?

Lisa Girandola - Owner/Avatar Spa

 SPA SENSE

Day Spa's that have made 50 minutes the new 60 minutes shouldn't be given the time. 

If you book an all inclusive seven-day resort vacation do you expect it to end in six days? Would you settle for a professional manicure if they only painted nine fingers? How many of you would be satisfied if a movie theater shut off a movie ten minutes before it actually ends? 

As ridiculous as theses scenarios may seem the norm for the Day Spa industry is to deduct ten minutes from any 30, 60, or 90-minute massage treatment in an effort to maximize profit.  They maximize profit by having you in and out within your scheduled length of treatment so the room is available for the next potential booking without any time lost. Someone somewhere figured ten minutes is what it takes to turn a treatment room around and it should be on your dime.  What that says is you are paying for the room time rather then the massage time.

There are over 25,000 day spas in the United States. In 2010 the spa industry’s combined revenue was over $12 billion dollars with 160 million spa visits.  If even half of those visits were for massage only and all were shortened by 10 minutes that would be close to 14,000 hours of treatment time that the consumer was cheated out of. A law firm would be fined and disbarred for that kind of billing practice.

In my professional opinion day spas that follow the “deduct 10 minute rule” are in addition, cheating your body of beneficial therapeutic time. 10 minutes is a significant amount to be slighted when it comes to relaxation. We all know the valuable effects of a ten-minute power nap. If the mind is expecting a full thirty -minute massage it sends a message to the body’s internal clock to prepare for thirty full minutes of relaxation. Subconsciously stress levels return as the body instinctually feels cheated by ten minutes.

I can’t tell you how many times I receive a phone call at Avatar Spa asking if we provide a full 60-minute massage or is it only 50 minutes. The spa industry has allowed this practice to creep into the norm. As a business owner it is important to maximize profits but not at the expense of the clients treatment time.

To reduce the stress of the “deduct ten-minute rule”, check the menu of your spa to see if it mentions length of time for each treatment. If they are posted as 80, 50, & 20 minutes try a spa that includes those extra ten minutes. The 90, 60, 30 spas, like mine offer those treatment durations for the same cost on average as the “deduct ten-minute” spas.  You will certainly feel the difference physically and leave ten minutes more stress free.

Lisa Girandola is the owner of Avatar Spa in Marlboro, NJ a boutique spa that specializes in organic & holistic healing. For gift certificates or to book a full 60-minute massage call 732-303-1102