The interview with the journalist went so well that we made it in the magazine article. They interviewed a few Spa Directors in the area but our program and my answers and opinions on what brides want from a spa and even hair style trends were quoted many times. Peggy was thrilled, I was happy, the Sales department calmed down and we all took a deep breath. The couples that actually bought the packages were great and very easy to work with. Nat did wonders working out their programs and they are all going through it very nicely. The only downside to the whole thing was that the magazine decided not to do the six week recording of their progress as they felt it would give us too much free publicity. I think the real reason they decided to pull the plug was that Mr. R had told them he was not going to do one page ads in every issue as they had wanted. I have mixed feelings about it, I was glad that there was not going to be a journalist following us around all day for the six weeks but I was sad that we would not get anymore articles about us in the magazines this journalist contributes to. I figured that since this was the first time we executed the program, and having had to implement it with only 24 hours notice it was probably going to hurt us more than help us. We have had a lot of behind the scenes, flying by the seat of my pants, craziness. I don't think I would have been happy with someone writing about my weak, "I don't know what I am doing" moments.
The best part of the whole experience was that Mr. R was so happy that he gave me a raise (for real),insisted I took a much deserved 10 day vacation and instructed me to not worry about the Spa, just rest and relax and re-charge my batteries and to create more fabulous programs. I took the vacation time as quickly as I could scheduled it. I went on a great cruise with my younger son and fiancee but I called Nat everyday to check in and make sure that Mr. R or Sales & Marketing were not creating more chaos in the Spa. When I got back I was contacted by a Trade Show organizer, they had read the article and wanted to know if I was interested in doing a presentation at a Spa Trade Show.
I am very grateful, excited and thrilled that all my hard work, patience and flexibility are paying off with all these great things happening at once. I accepted the invitation to speak and talked Mr. R into letting me do it as it will mean more exposure to the Spa. I am looking forward to implementing all the ideas I had while vacationing and am currently contemplating a Yoga Urban Retreat program next but have not presented it to the team yet. I am going to present it to Nat first and if she thinks we can do it then we will talk to Mr. R. There is no way I am letting Sales & Marketing get wind of it until I am sure we are doing it and are ready to roll it out.
Stay tuned.........
Important Note: "Between the Sheets-A Spa Director's Diary" is Copyright 2005-2007 by Zahira J Coll. All rights reserved. No part of these stories shall be reproduced in any form or by any means, without written permission by the author. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of information contained herein. The stories are autobiographical; however names, characters, places and incidents have been changed to protect identities.
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