Spa hard sell??

[grandmacruise]

Do you have to deal with the high pressure sales talks after services in the Spa on RCI ships? Are all cruise line Spas like this? It makes me angry to deal with that after a relaxing massage.

[Gonzo70]

Most of the mass market cruise lines contract their spa out to a company called Steiner and Steiner is known to train their staff to push products. Some of the Stenier staff tends to be pushier than others. Many people have success by stating at the start of the treatment that they only want to enjoy the treatment and are not interested in learning about or purchasing any products.

 

Also keep in mind that Steiner greatly inflates the prices of the treatments, and then offers deep discounts (often 50% off) during the course of the cruise. Do not book a treatment in advance or at the beginning of the cruise, but wait for what you want to go on sale. You also can sometimes negotiate a bit with them.

[chermilo]

When I get the form to fill out before the massage, I always put on there that not interested in any products. So far, no one has asked me since then about it. :)

[grandmacruise]

thanks.. I never thought of adding it to the sheet before hand. I find the sell really ruins the experience. Last cruise I told the woman I knew it was her job to sell but I wasn't interested in buying any products so please stop... she said she wasn't trying to sell me things but she was trying to help me. She did have an answer for everything. I told her she helped me by giving me a wonderful massage and thanked her for that. Surprising, that turned her off..

[Gonzo70]

thanks.. I never thought of adding it to the sheet before hand. I find the sell really ruins the experience. Last cruise I told the woman I knew it was her job to sell but I wasn't interested in buying any products so please stop... she said she wasn't trying to sell me things but she was trying to help me. She did have an answer for everything. I told her she helped me by giving me a wonderful massage and thanked her for that. Surprising, that turned her off..

 

Yeah, it is unfortunate that so many of them have that attitude. I had a real piece of work in form me that I had wasted my time and her time by doing the treatment, but not purchasing any products!

 

On a prior thread about this somebody claiming to be a former Steiner employee explained why the hard sell often occurs (and it seemed to make sense). She said that a massage takes 50 minutes or so to bring in $120 or what not, whereas a sale of $120 of products takes a couple of minutes. Fast money both for Steiner and for the staff (their cut of the commission). Taking that into consideration, one can see why both Steiner and the staff would want to aggressively push products. However when they push too hard, it turns people off to the spa and causes them to lose busines. IMHO they need to strike a better balance.

[gerif]

Yeah, it is unfortunate that so many of them have that attitude. I had a real piece of work in form me that I had wasted my time and her time by doing the treatment, but not purchasing any products!

 

I hope you told her that by making that remark she had totally blown any hope of getting a tip - and I would have made mention of it on your comment card. I understand that they are encouraged to sell product but should never be rude to the customers.

[Gonzo70]

I hope you told her that by making that remark she had totally blown any hope of getting a tip - and I would have made mention of it on your comment card. I understand that they are encouraged to sell product but should never be rude to the customers.

 

Yeah, she definitely got no tip!

 

I didn't put it on the comment card since the spa is contracted out to Steiner, but I did e-mail details to Steiner when I got back home. Never received any response from Steiner which sure turned me off to them even further.

 

At this point if I can snag a great deal on a treatment on a ship I will do it, but I would never pay more than 50% of the listed price.