SPA Guidelines for COVID-19

Safety and sanitation in the Spa business are essential for health, for preventing infection and improving employees and guest’s overall well-being. These guidelines were created to provide guidance on Spa operations in TCI during the Pandemic of COVID-19, in order to assist management with the implementation of preventative measures to protect the health and safety of guests and employees by minimizing the spread of COVID-19 during spa treatment services.

Reservation Procedure

Scheduling affects every aspect of the spa operation and it is vital that added measures are adopted to address COVID-19, and ensure guest and employees feel safe and protected during this period. Scheduling factors to consider:

Ensure sufficient turnaround time between bookings, allowing for new Therapist and Treatment Room hygiene protocols.
Allow sufficient time between appointments to facilitate enhanced cleaning measures between customers.
Recommend treatments with minimal contact or services that can be performed over clothes for guests who may feel nervous about re-visiting the spa.
Consider limiting thermal use to one guest per booked appointment slot, with time in-between sessions for cleaning.
Ensure treatment variety is even between therapists.
Ensure bookings are evenly booked between therapists.
Ensure breaks are scheduled in-between over 3 hours of treatments.
Ensure you know what your booking limits are for each service type.
Cleaning time should be included before or after a lunch break to allow for sanitization.

Reservation staff

The reservation team should adhere to the following guidelines:

Work Stations

Where possible and in accordance with your hotel policy reservation stations should be 2 meters/ 6 ft. apart.
Where possible workstations should not be shared unless sanitized between use.
Headsets, telephones and desks including; keyboard, mouse, laptops and stationary should be sanitized before the start of each shift and at the end of each shift.
Hand sanitizers should be available at each workstation.
Hands should be sanitized before coming into contact with guests/employees including handling letters of confirmation/information and before preparing mail to be posted.
If sharing a workstation, a sanitization check list is recommended for before and after shifts. Reservation supervisor is to ensure these logs are being completed daily.

Spa Reception & Spa Boutique

All Spa employees should wear face coverings.
Stay home if you are sick.
Employees should limit your belongings that you bring in to Spa, only the essentials.
Avoid close contact with people who are ill.
Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing, if you don’t have a tissue, sneeze or cough into your sleeve or arm.
Only the guest receiving services should enter the building.
Upon arrival, wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap & hot water.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
Create a welcome ritual for each arriving guest that includes a warm, moist hand towels which also includes hand sanitizer.
Sign to be placed at the Spa Reception outlining the increased sanitization policies, should guests wish to review these.
Each employee uses their own pen during shift and commit only to using their pen. If needed, flag pen with tape labelled with employee’s name. Guests pens are sanitized after each use.
Ensure each employee maintains their own workspace and does not use each other's workspace. If unavoidable, sanitize area before/after use.
Add a HEPA air purifier to all Spa areas.
Place a UV sterilizer machine near the front desk to disinfect small items overnight.
Place hand sanitation stations and wipes around the Spa for guest and employee use.
Practice social distancing measures of maintaining a distance of 2 metres (6ft) by marking floors in the Spa reception. Based on Spa size and lay-out, configure Spa check-in to one area and Spa check-out to another area.
Ensure all workstations maintain social distancing guidelines.
Consider limiting the amount of time guests can use the locker room facilities to avoid overcrowding.
Wipe down all surfaces after use including: telephones, desk, keyboards, credit card machines, mouse, etc. with disinfectant spray/wipes.1x per hour: Wipe down guest's side of the desk, including pull out trays, folio folders, pens, etc.
Every 30 minutes and depending on traffic volume, clean and disinfect all door handles and high contact areas.

Retail:

Remove all testers from Spa boutique including skincare, body products, make-up, jewelry. A basket of top 20 product testers should be kept behind the reception. A sign should be placed within the retail display advising guests that testers are available at the Spa Reception.
1x per hour: Wipe down and disinfect items touched by guests.
As a precautionary measure, inventory deliveries should not be opened immediately after receiving, unless PPE is worn, and items are immediately wiped down.
Do not allow guests to try on apparel or disinfect tried-on items after guest departure.

Locker rooms, wet areas & relaxation lounges

Tour of the locker rooms should be conducted after the guest has changed into robe and slippers to avoid the guests walking with their shoes around the wet areas.
Lockers must be assigned to each guest in consideration of social distancing guidelines.
All lockers should be pre-locked to avoid guests from changing assigned lockers or from touching contents inside lockers.
Based on Spa sizen, each locker should contain individually wrapped amenity kits. If this is not an option, vanity areas should only contain the essentials to be used each day (razors, Q-tips, disposable hair combs, cotton rounds, etc.). Alternatively, all amenities can be removed with a notice advising these are available upon request from the Spa Reception or Spa Attendant.
Remove mouthwash and toothbrushes from vanity area, only offer upon request.
All areas should contain a hand sanitation station & sanitation wipes.
Lockers must be sanitized after each use by the attendants.
Attendants must wear proper PPE such as gloves and masks when removing dirty linen and items from linen baskets or trash cans.
All door handles and doors must be sanitized on a regular basis. It is recommended once every 30 minutes.
1x per hour: Clean and disinfect vanity area.
Depending on the severity of the outbreak, steam rooms, saunas, inhalation rooms, ice rooms, Jacuzzis & indoor pools should not be available for guests to use. If these facilities are not available, consider adjusting treatment prices to reflect the lack of these facilities.
If wet areas are available for use, consider social distancing measures such as, limiting the number of guests allowed to use steam room, sauna, jacuzzis at one time. This information should be displayed and provided to guests during their Spa Tour and members should be notified.
Ice rooms, ice fountains, inhalation rooms should not be available due to the mild/cold temperature and humidity.
Ensure all guests wear towels while using thermal experiences.
Ensure wet areas are set to the correct temperatures as high temperatures are known to kill germs and common viruses:
Steam Room (110-115 F; Sauna 150-175 F; Infrared Sauna 120-130 F; Jacuzzi 100-104 F; Cold Plunge 50 - 55 F)
Steam Room (45 C; Sauna 50 - 75 C; Infrared Sauna 40-60 C; Jacuzzi 37-40 C; Cold Plunge 10-12 C)
Sterilize all areas overnight by utilizing ozone machines or appropriate chemicals.
Consider limiting thermal use to one guest per booked appointment slot, with time in-between sessions for cleaning.

Relaxation Lounges:

Where possible, space out all furniture to comply with social distancing guidelines.
Remove blankets, neck pillows and extra cushions from lounges and chairs.
Food and beverage offerings must be individually wrapped and single use. Offer fruit options that peel off such as bananas, oranges etc. Remove apples, pears, etc.
Headphone for TV’s must be cleaned and sanitized after each guest.

Treatment & treatment rooms

Recommend to all guests to shower pre & post treatments.
Eliminate handshake introduction and replace with a right hand to heart gesture or Thai greeting - palms pressed together in a prayer-like fashion.
Create a welcome ritual by offering a warm and moist hand towels which also contains hand sanitizer.
Ensure treatments have 30 minutes in between each service to allow for treatment room cleaning and sanitation. Provider must wipe down counters, bottles, cabbies, jewellery box, head rests and treatment tables.
Providers must spray and sanitize all skincare bottles and products used after each treatment.
Remove from treatment rooms: bed skirts, duvets, pillows, runners, table warmers and mattress pads. All linen in the treatment bed must be used and washed after each guest.
As a recommendation, employees should keep a spare clean uniform at work, so they can change during their shift if they feel it is required. Alternatively, providers should clean and disinfect their uniforms by spraying a skin safe disinfectant after each treatment.
Each employee uses their own pen during shift and commit only to using their pen.
Maintain HEPA air quality machine in each treatment room.
Provider washes their hands before and after the treatments.
Ensure autoclave cleaning is utilized with bags for additional measures. Ensure each autoclave bag is opened during the guest service (allow guests to see implements are in autoclave bag for added measure)
Based on Spa size and availability, ensure providers alternate treatment rooms to avoid using the same room and allow treatment rooms to air out.
Follow social distancing measures for service providers and Spa employees inside the employee lounge, linen rooms, spa back of house areas.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

When masks/face coverings are used by spa employees, the below guidelines should be adhered to as recommended by the World Health Organisation. Spa Managers/Directors should organize relevant Health and Safety Training for the whole team.

Guidance on use of face mask:

Before putting on a face mask, clean hands with 70 % alcohol-based hand rub or wash hands with soap and water for 20 seconds.
Cover mouth and nose with mask and make sure there are no gaps between your face and the mask.
Avoid touching the mask while using it; if you do, clean your hands with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water.
Replace the mask with a new one as soon as it is damp and do not re-use single-use masks.
To remove the face mask: remove it from behind (do not touch the front of mask); discard immediately in a closed bin; clean hands with 70% alcohol-based hand rub or wash hand with soap and water for 20 seconds.

Fitness centre & fitness classes

Based on the facility, encourage all fitness classes to take place outdoors.
Establish maximum numbers of guests per fitness class to ensure guests can practice social distance.
Each studio equipment/mat needs to be 2 meters / 6 ft. apart at all times.
Provide additional disinfectant products – antibacterial wipe dispensers and hand sanitizers in all areas of the fitness centre.
Educate and encourage guests to clean and disinfect their own equipment before and after use by placing signs near the sanitation stations.
Classes to be setup prior to the class starting due to people not having to crowd around one area to collect equipment.
Re-arrange cardiovascular gym equipment to ensure there is 2 meters / 6 ft. apart between each of them. This includes treadmills, stationary bikes, ellipticals, stair climbers, etc. If spacing equipment or removing it from the fitness centre is not possible then limit the amount of equipment that can be used by creating out of order signs and unplugging each machine.
Signage regarding social distancing and communication to guests to reiterate that if they are feeling unwell, they should not be using the fitness centre or fitness studio.
Determine the maximum number of guests that can be present at once in the fitness centre in order for everyone to practice social distancing measures.
Ensure attendants are cleaning and disinfecting all fitness centre equipment on a regular basis and removing dirty towels with appropriate PPE such as gloves and masks.
Remove all food and beverage offerings from the fitness centre except for bottled water.
Consider placing ozone machines overnight to clean and sanitize the area.

Reference:

https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/ESPA-Guidelines-COVID-19-Ext_.pdf

Note that as the COVID-19 situation continues to develop, the Ministry of Health will provide updates if any additional precautions are recommended.