Getting back to the topic of inflation ...
Was chatting with a spa manager recently while my room was getting ready, and we got on the topic of inflation - how rent is going up, costs for supplies like oil, paper covers, etc., are all going up.
Because of these rising real costs, she was giving me a heads-up that they were going to increase their room rates, and girls are thinking of raising their tip rates, asking me what I thought about that.
Their hh room rate is going from $40 to $50 (or 25% increase), 45 min from $50 to $60 (or 20% increase), and hour from $60 to $80 (or 33.33% increase).
While I understood her reasoning and rationale, my questions to her were: what do your girls want? Are they wanting more hh sessions, or hour sessions? Are the bulk of your clients price sensitive to the room rates?
She didn't know as she hasn't asked them (yet) about their preferences.
Then she asked me would that affect my visits?
I told her that I would most likely no longer go for the hour rate. In the grand scheme of things, my tips to the girls won't be affected, but there are still enough spas that offer an hour for $60 (or even $50). Also given there is a healthy amount of competition (and at least 5 spas within a km circle of hers), that raising tips (or even room rates) probably wouldn't be the best thing, unless everyone nearby colluded together to raise rates.
As her girls are "independent contractors," she was indicating they can ask what they want within the room, but she strongly prefers they are around the $80 tip level for a BS.
Frequency of visits would be affected, as well as service levels, if prices uniformly were to go up.