Ahsi Day Spa Turning Stone Casino
- Need for one system to manage payments and commission
- Lack of integration between POS systems
- Time-consuming challenge for simple tasks
- 95% reduction in time spent on payroll
- 92% decrease in time spent on administrative tasks
- Improved user and guest experience
Skʌ:nʌ́: Spa at Turning Stone Casino Resort was recently named Best Spa by Casino Player Magazine (while the resort was also named best in a variety of other categories), and has been awarded 4 Forbes Travel Guide stars for the last two years running. It’s the only spa in upstate New York that can lay claim to the latter, which is no small. Ahsi Day Spa and Salon: Most Amazing Massage!!! - See 17 traveler reviews, 3 candid photos, and great deals for Verona, NY, at Tripadvisor.
Turning Stone Resort Casino is a beautiful, sprawling, property in Upstate New York. The resort is home to two spas, Skana and Ahsi’. Skana consistently ranks among the top spas in America and has been named the number one spa in New York State for two years running on Spas of America’s Top 100 Spas list. Most recently in 2018, Skana was awarded the Forbes Travel Guide 4 Star Award.
The Skana spa in the Lodge portion of the hotel was fully booked so came to Ahsi instead for a massage. The staff were very welcoming and friendly. Lockers, slippers, and robes were provided. The spa was a bit small with a seating area for 5 only. Next, log in to the casino using your account credentials. Click on the link for the no deposit bonus turning stone casino ahsi day spa to claim it. If it needs a bonus code, enter the appropriate bonus code. You will find this along with other information turning stone casino ahsi day spa provided about the bonus. The bonus is now ready for use. Things to do near Skana, the Spa at Turning Stone. The Showroom; Ahsi Day Spa and Salon; Turning Stone Resort Casino; Kaluhyat Golf Club at Turning Stone Resort; Fort Stanwix National Monument; Villa Verona Vineyard & Bistro; Oneida Community Mansion House; The Worlds Smallest Church; The Bull Farm Antiques; Vernon Downs Casino; At Water's Edge.
Turning Stone actually grew out of a bingo hall built in the middle of a cornfield nearly 24 years ago by the Oneida Indian Nation. Today, Turning Stone is an award-winning destination resort with more than 23 restaurant and dining options, a 125,000 square foot Las Vegas style gaming floor, a 5,000 seat arena, a cabaret-style Showroom, five beautiful golf courses, several bars, cocktail lounges and nightlife venues and two spas.
“It’s remarkable what the Oneida Nation has done for this region,” says Shane Bird, Director of Spa Operations at Turning Stone.
Too many systems trying to work together to accomplish simple tasks was creating a complicated, time-consuming challenge for staff at Turning Stone.
“We had this glorified calendar,” says Bird. “It booked appointments, but didn’t have any interfaces for any of the POS systems. So then, sitting next to it, you had a separate POS system through which you would process all the services and actually do the transactions.
“In order to do commissions or anything else you would have to run the reports in the booking software and then turn around and correlate those with what really went through the register, tabulate those, set the commissions, put them in a graph and then submit them to payroll.”
Payroll for the spa was taking 6-7 hours a week to process commissions alone.
“And that’s just one aspect. If someone wanted to pay for multiple services it was incredibly cumbersome,” recalls Bird. “It was just really challenging and time-consuming.”
This was obviously not making it easy to provide the superior and memorable guest experience Turning Stone prides itself on providing guests.
Book4Time cloud-based spa software was introduced in order to provide one platform to manage Turning Stone’s many needs – including online booking, scheduling, payroll, and reports – in one place.
Bird, a repeat customer, explains, “Before coming to Turning Stone, I already had about four years of experience with Book4Time because I brought it into Wild Horse Pass in Arizona and found that it fit my needs.”
“Book4Time has made it possible for staff at Skana and Ahsi’ spas to focus on doing what they do best, providing a memorable – even life changing – experience, which is invaluable.”
Using Book4Time’s booking and payment systems, Turning Stone reduced time spent on payroll from 6-7 hours a week to about 15 minutes. This is a 95% reduction in time spent or 350 hours (nearly three work weeks) saved per year.
But that’s not all. Bird says, “It was taking another 5-6 hours every day for someone in finance to sit and audit the transactions. Book4Time has eliminated all of that. Bird says:
“We estimate that our time spent on administrative tasks overall was reduced by about 92%, which is monstrous.”
With 20,000 square feet of space and 21 treatment rooms, it’s imperative for Turning Stone to keep operations running smoothly. This means receiving immediate technical assistance should anything falter.“
We now have a system that’s web based, so when you have a bump or hiccup, there’s no more wasting time waiting for a solution. It’s much more fluid. We send an email to support and support comes back in a couple of minutes. You know somebody is actively looking at it.”
The cloud-based platform also means that guests can book their own appointments from anywhere and at any time, and the staff can log in to see their schedules, or run their own reports to see what their commissions are going to be.
“That’s huge,” says Bird.
Also, out of the many valuable reports always being generated by Book4Time, Bird says his favorite things are “being able to see what my occupancy is, what the utilization is, what my best sellers are, and who my top guests are. All of those things are quickly done with Book4Time.”
Ashi Day Spa Turning Stone Casino
Implementing Book4Time spa software has dramatically streamlined a complicated process at Turning Stone Resort Casino.
Skʌ:nʌ́: Spa at Turning Stone Casino Resort was recently named Best Spa by Casino Player Magazine (while the resort was also named best in a variety of other categories), and has been awarded 4 Forbes Travel Guide stars for the last two years running. It’s the only spa in upstate New York that can lay claim to the latter, which is no small feat. What makes Skʌ:nʌ́: and Turning Stone stand out among the competition? We asked Shane Bird, Director of Spa and Environmental Services Operations at Turning Stone, to talk about what’s most important when it comes to running a world-class, award-winning spa.
Bird is responsible for the operations of the Tower Fitness and the Skʌ:nʌ́: and Áhsi’ Spas. He oversees a staff of 67 at the casino report, which is located on land belonging to the Oneida Indian. A hospitality veteran and trained massage therapist, Bird previously served as Spa Director at the Aji Spa at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort. Prior to that, he spent 10 years with Canyon Ranch where he was instrumental in the opening of several properties.
What do you think is the most important element in running an award-winning spa?
I would say the foundation to any award-winning spa is the staff. When you look at different spas, you’re not necessarily going to see a ton of variation between, say, products or massage tables or even décor. Everybody tries to have a great facility, but you’re not going to have an award-winning spa without that staff. Anybody can do product and nice linens and good tables, but it takes a lot to gather the staff together, to get them marching to the same drum, maintaining the same standards, and forming a tribe, for lack of a better word.
What do you look for in a team member?
When it comes to receptionists, attendants and those guest service front line roles, you’re looking for somebody who is engaging. As you bring them in to interview, you’re trying to see if you can just sit down and just have a pleasant conversation with this individual. That’s the first step. Because it’s harder and harder nowadays to find people who can have a coherent conversation and connect. If you can do that and if they’re showing that bit of passion, you can train them to your expectations. And 9 times out of 10 it’s going to be successful.
For providers, You want somebody who is engaging and amicable, but then obviously you need that hands on experience. You want a level of communication and engagement within a treatment, – whether it’s massage, skin care, or facial – where you feel like their intention is there, they’re pampering, they’re in the moment, they’re all about that moment in time and giving you their all.
Why do you say that it’s increasingly difficult to find someone who can have a conversation these days?
Younger people engage through technology. So, I find that when I’m faced with a 19 or 20 year old in my office they have a hard time having a conversation. To put this person on the phone or the front desk where it’s expected that they will lead the conversation, engage, and be proactive with our guests’ wants and needs, that’s going to be a big learning curve. This is a challenge we’re going to be facing more of in the future.
What do you think is key to managing a successful team once you have one?
Being willing as a manager or director to do everything, and to really get in the trenches. To be able to get in there and work with someone, whether it’s at the front desk or collecting towels, and to do whatever they are doing. You cannot stay in an office. Your team has to see you engaging the guests in the way you want the guests engaged. It’s being a part of the everyday operations as much as you possibly can. I’ve always been very hands on. At times, I’ve actually been chided by my superiors that I’m a little too hands on.
What are the key attributes of successful spa directors?
I believe it comes down to personal attributes. I have a little whiteboard, and I don’t even know why it’s a whiteboard, because I haven’t changed that whiteboard in years, but it’s right by my door and it has a list that reads:
- Honesty
- Integrity
- Real intent
- Consistency
That’s what it takes. You can have a lot of different technical skills and have mastered all the business acumen, but I feel that if you lack certain personal attributes as far as just maintaining human truths, you’re going to lack something.
How do you keep guests happy?
Keep your staff happy. If you’re treating them the way you want your guests treated, that sort of stuff is contagious and they’ll treat the guests as they should be treated. I know it sounds overly simplistic, and obviously, there are outliers with whom you’re going to have issues, but if you’re right there with your staff and you’ve trained them properly and given them the tools and the resources they need, they’ll take care of the guests.
Ahsi Day Spa At Turning Stone Casino
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