In the first thirty weeks of Marriott International’s pilot implementation of the SpaSoft Online Booking system the online booking technology yielded over $500,000 in appointments in two spas.

Beginning from those initial two installations, Marriott International has expanded the implementation of the SpaSoft Online Booking System to 55 North American Spas and six international locations. They estimate that online booking will generate $7 to 10 million dollars in the first year.

Today’s spa guests live in an online and mobile world. With a strategic mission to roll out a complete guest mobile experience, offering a responsive online booking engine for spa meets the needs of their guests as well as positions the company to grow and service their customers into the future.

Marriott customises the user interface to reflect the branding of each of its spa brands and locations. They also control which services and activities to offer online, and when those services are available for booking.

Resource management and staffing represents a concern for every spa manager, so they can control the lead time allowance to avoid staffing issues. Services booked online average a four-day lead time for Marriott.

In order to keep spa staff focused on running their spas, deployment of the online booking engine is fast and simple. The administrative controls are friendly and easy to use, helping to ensure complete system adoption by all spas.

Kenneth Ryan, senior director of Global Operations for Marriott Spas said: “If you want to be relevant now and in the future, you have to be in the mobile and online booking space.

“If you’re not, people are going to be frustrated and not buy your services. It’s not a like-to-have. It’s a must-have.”