Information material on the spa displayed in the hotel room is one of the first touchpoints with guests. Here the guests are in their own four walls. Here they feel safe. Here they have time, they find rest and peace. Almost everyone has a look at the provided spa menu but in the end only less than 5 % actually use the services. So, if you want to catch the attention of the guest and make them curious, the spa menu design plays a very important first role: feel, design, texts, pictures…. A spa menu is supposed to arouse interest, motivate to go on reading, create anticipation, overcome obstacles and facilitate the contact with the spa.
However, it is often the case that the spa brochures that can be found in the rooms are worn-out (dog-ears, creases, stains, coffee rings). This is increasingly so at the end of the season. Apparently the brochures are only distributed a few times during the season (due to financial reasons) and their appearance is hardly checked by the staff.
Sometimes the brochures are overloaded with information, especially with lots of text. Something like this is boring and rarely makes guests curious. No emotions are aroused. They grow tired and put it away again.
Sometimes the spa menus are made from cheap paper and, thus, signal just that: We are cheap and not important.
Sometimes, on the other hand, they are very elaboratley produced, in high-gloss or with lacquer coating: like small books. The message can be the same: we are exquisite (and expensive). Without intending to do so you might, thus, create a distance to the guest.
Sometimes spa menus contain unusual technical terms: this might make the guest feel incompetent and insecure.
Sometimes, words or grammatical structures are faultily translated from a different language. This conveys “The spa is not professional”, or “Not I but people from other countries are being adressed primarily”.
These are the manifold reasons why you should keep the following questions in mind when it comes to spa menu design: What silent message does the spa menu send when guests take it in their hands – only by its quality and illustrations? Does it feel like a spa promise? Does the guest feel good about it? What does the text “tell” them and how? Do they want more? If yes, the spa menu and the spa have reached their first stage goal.
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Photo credit: ©NG Afyon, Turkey
