massage therapist

concierge

esthetician

spa coordinator

spa attendant

THE WOODHOUSE DAY SPA

I was brought in as a nail tech and promised a certain commission(which was low to begin with). I had one day of training which consisted of someone reading me a protocol, I received a book of the rest of the protocols, and then I was booked appointments. So no real training. I began on a Monday, by Friday I was told that they wanted to train me on facials Bc they were short staffed and since I had both licenses they wanted to utilize it. The very next day, the owner brought me in to tell me she’s lowering my commission Bc  it’s too hard for her to calculate the separate commissions for facials and nails. That she didn’t feel like doing it so they dropped my commission by 8% for nails and gave me 2% on facials saying it should “balance” out. Never had me sign anything for this change!!!!! Well that’d be great except I still get booked for mostly nail appointments. With how they do scheduling I fall 5th on the list to be scheduled an appointment. Most days I end up being on call Bc they aren’t busy. So I’m making hardly any money, and when I do get  appointments it’s for nails and I loose out on the original commission I was brought in on. I asked if after a month of doing this new commission and seeing how many nail vs facial appointments I get could we look back at the numbers and see if this lower commission was fair, and if it wasn’t would they make it right. I was told NO that they were paying me too much to begin with. 

Also if you’re a nail tech! DO NOT WORK HERE. There is no growth for you working here. You are only allowed to do basic natural nails. There’s no challenge to better yourself in this industry.

I’ve also had my scheduled changed without being asked if I had the availability. I’ve been taken off of days that I agreed to work. I’ve had appointments stolen off my books. We were introduced a new high price product that we could have made decent money on with our low commission, and the owners decided that we are only allowed to make half our commission so that they could make more.

ALL AROUND A HORRIBLY RUN SPA. These ppl are money driven and look out only for themselves. That have no idea about spa life and how to properly treat employees in this industry. 

About Me: 
 I've been a Massage Therapist for 16yrs. I have been financially fortunate in life and lucky as I have a set and secure monthly income, so I work because I love what I do, not because I need the money. I take jobs within the industry to later report back to the Massage Therapists & rest of the profession so you all can get an honest inside look at a company and the retail massage setting. My pay within the retail massage industry prior to this job averages at least $25 per massage session + gratuity (Avg $20). My lowest paying job leading up to this one was a M.E. gig that lasted just 1 shift at $19 per massage session. I have worked with each of the major retail massage chains.
 
I am not here to slander any business, owner, or company. I simply tell my experience and allow those reviewing this to make their own decisions. 

The Job: 
I worked at the Woodhouse South Glenn from Nov to Dec. The interview pitch of "Great Tips" is what made me bite and accept the job.  The Pay is poorest I have experienced in my 15+ years at $17 per hour, and from what I got from other new hires,everyone is paid the same which isn't unique to this company. 

 A report released back in March of this year, people living in the Denver and Metro area need to earn roughly $35 an hour in order to afford the cost of living.

My biggest pet peeve is they would charge more for additional services like deep tissue was $105 or 4 handed massage was in excess of $200 and Therapist was still just paid their $17. Increase cost of service certainly didn't guarantee higher tips, as stated above tips are about the same anywhere else I have worked.

If you are not booked you are expected to clean, put up inventory, or do laundry. I have never worked anywhere that laundry wasn't sent out so this may be standard for some of you reading this.

Training is virtually non existent, though I think they are working on that as I was leaving.

I have nothing negative to say about the owner, or the staff. I lost sleep for several nights leading up to making my decision to quit because I really liked working there. The owner her pup, the Manager, and Co-Workers were all great!

I worked at this location for 16 months and as a therapist,I was successful. I was the only full-time therapist hired on originally. I originally worked 38 hours/week before the pandemic. I made $20-25/HR. and the majority of the tips were great. There was absolutely no issue on my end when it came to income, although that was not always the case with my coworkers. But for the first 3 months, there was no management on site, and we pretty much ran the spa ourselves with management that was based in NKY advising us over the phone. Like most spas, appointments were back-to-back with "10 mins" in between treatments(more like 5). The amount of steps and products used in protocol for the services however made the service nearly impossible to perform within the amount of time given for the appointments. There was a tremendous amount of respect and support from clients and coworkers. Management did want to see you successful, but it was just too much asked by them without enough support and organization at our location. It was already stressful and ill-managed before the pandemic, but after returning from quarantine, it just got worse. We originally came back with 15 minutes in between the hour for proper time allotted for thorough disinfection and they were taking extra steps to ensure all of our health and safety. But after 2-3 months and without encouragement from the state governor(or our approval considering there was no choice or say in the matter), they dropped the 15 minutes in between appointments in order to make more money and forced us to disinfect within 5 minutes which was impossible. The clients paid high prices for their services and experience, but the manner in which we were forced to operate impacted the client's experience in a drastic, negative way. I had hopes to advance at this company in the beginning but operations truly broke me down and the end result was employees(including myself) leaving and not believing in the company anymore.

Woodhouse does a great job of being flexible with schedule changes / call offs, etc. The pay is amazing with commission + tips, but lots of gaps in my schedule. 

The flexibility is a double edged sword, as they don't operate from a business demand standpoint. They allow service providers to work and add hours even if others aren't fully booked, thus taking away the opportunity for more appointments for those already scheduled. 

There is a clique-y type vibe, where the employees who have been there awhile are stuck in their ways + don't seem very welcoming of new service providers.

The booking is not conducive to help new providers get booked. It's seniority based, so if you are new you will always be booked last unless the client books online and chooses you.  They removed the service providers' names from the general booking area, so if clients don't know to select your name in advance, they book at random.

A lot of negativity is thrown around, and festers like an infection in the common areas. 

Upper management does not respect their employees or area managers. Action is rarely taken on feedback given by employees.

The cancelation policy in place is almost never upheld. I've had numerous same day cancelations with zero compensation -- either because front desk doesn't feel like enforcing the policy, or the client reschedules (up to 3 times is allowed w/o being charged) + could be booked with another provider, so I never see that money anyway. 

I feel that there could be more services added to the menu to help drive business. Decrease in cost for manicure services would be my first suggestion to help build clientele as well as offering nail enhancements + nail art; as we only offer plain shellac + regular polish services.

I've been working at the Woodhouse for about a year and a half now. I started as a Spa Coordinator and quickly got promoted to General Manager after 3 months. I had the opportunity to travel to Texas to the corporate office for certified Woodhouse training. I’ve really grown to appreciate the brand and culture of the company by participating in various trainings and events throughout the year set up by the Home Office team. 

I have grown into this role with the guidance of the owner and other managers at both the Red Bank and Montclair locations. I work very closely with the owner. She is very approachable, accessible and always willing to listen to new ideas. She really cares about the success of her teams and wants each staff member to excel in their roles.

The spa is very structured and organized, which makes working here quite enjoyable. I think we have developed a great team-based working environment where our front desk and therapists work very well together. I really appreciate working with my team of professionals. While the days are a little longer, I am pleased with my alternating 4 days and 5 days a week schedule. Although we don't have healthcare benefits yet, it is something the owner wants to get and is currently looking into.

I’ve learned a lot about operations, the hiring process, staffing and scheduling. Our spa is in a great location and a beautiful place to work. I think any person who is willing to learn, dedicated and hard working will be successful in any role at this company. I am proud to work at The Woodhouse Day Spa and absolutely recommend working here.

I wanted to love this place and met some of the kindest coworkers. Unfortunately management is poor, and very unprofessional. I barely got any training and was basically thrown in, and slammed with clients. If you're only into skincare, good luck because they start you on nails only for the first 3 months. My schedule was all over the the place. Gave them my availability and I was scheduled every Sunday and 
Wednesday. (Weekends were listed as needed but I was scheduled every Saturday) Then I was oddly scheduled to work a normal day on Mondays and Fridays, but put on 11 hour long shifts on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There was a day on my schedule ahead that I would not be getting a lunch until an hour before we close. If you're working until close be prepared to stay 30 minutes late because they give you no time to close before actually closing. Tried talking to Management about being overwhelmed and they told me we'll talk about it the following week.

Management was extremely unprofessional when I informed them that I was resigning and threatened me if I left they would give me a bad review and that I couldn't quit. Also overheard the manager ask a client I had "Are you sure you liked your manicure?" Tried to collect all my tips that weren't on card my last day and I only got one of them. Desk person told me I definitely had more envelopes so now I have tips missing. I'd advise against working here. 

I have been working at The Woodhouse for about 2.5 years, starting as a Spa Coordinator then being promoted to Manager. Each ownership and management team is different, but here our owners and managers have lots of previous experience in the industry and it shows. Compensation and commission is good, for all departments. There are not benefits offered, since each location is independently owned and therefore a small business, but the atmosphere, compensation and other perks (contests, freebies, etc.) help to make up for this. Corporate support is good, not great, but is to be expected with the rate of expansion throughout the country. We have had technicians at our location stay with us for going on 10 years, and have relatively little turnover. There is some drama of course, as to be expected working with 25+ women, but management/ownership tries to keep that to a minimum and encourages open dialogue...we have several different personalities and strengths, and still operate very well as a team. We have a great atmosphere and we truly are like a family here...when staff comes first and you have happy employees, that translates to great customer service and happy guests. If you want to do what you love and love what you do, I would absolutely recommend working for The Woodhouse Day Spa.

My role with The Woodhouse was short (6 weeks), however I gained all the insight I needed in that time. I specifically asked for a structured and solid training program and open communication in my interview before accepting the position and was assured those would be provided. Finding out very quickly that there is absolutely NO training program in place, everything there from front desk to management is all "figure it out as you go." The management teams do not work together and there is no team collaboration, it's all "just do as you're told." The manager micromanages from the numerous cameras around the business and will call you to reprimand you. You're expected to figure everything out on your own and forget it if you ever ask a question because they will belittle you and gossip with the rest of the team about you. When you make a mistake (most likely because of the lack of training) you are put down, talked to condescendingly, and even possibly written up. The policies and procedures are based completely on the individual, some individuals are expected to follow every policy, whereas others don't have to follow those same policies. The compensation (the lowest of my concerns at that point) wasn't even enough for me to sign a lease for a 1 Bedroom apartment in that area, forget about a car payment, and utilities in top of that.

There’s entirely too much management. So much management that if you are a Spa Coordinator you will probably not be able to get your job done OR you will be doing the concierge’s work (which is not in the job description, but if you’re fine with cleaning the locker rooms and waiting on guests on hand and foot when you were told you’d be solely working front desk, then this is a perfect job for you) During training you may have to work with all 5 managers, which can be confusing because they’re never on the same page. I trained with 7. It becomes a headache due to the lack of organization. The masseuses can be really rude and clicky, the nail techs and estheticians are nicer and more welcoming. The guests are prestigious, demanding, and rude. If they start an altercation it is your fault in management’s eyes. And don’t let them fool you during hiring, there is no upward growth. Those managers are not giving up their careers. You’re under surveillance and need to be doing something every. single. second. of your 12 hour shifts. 
This location probably questions why it has a high turn over rate, but they need to check themselves and consider how they treat their employees as disposable first. This job will really test your nerves and make you question if you want to keep working in the spa industry.

I have over 8yrs of Massage experience and this place by far was my worst job ever!! The turnover rate here is awful. The Cincinnati spas are poorly managed. The people in charge are inexperienced and have no idea what the therapists go through. The insurance is bad. They show favoritism to people who kiss butt but have a fake front of this whole “Family” atmosphere. They will work you like a slave & don’t show their appreciation. You are locked in your schedule for a whole year so if something comes up, forget about it because no one wants to cover you since everyone is tired. The therapists are lazy standing in the prep room on their cell phones a lot and don’t give people their full time on their services! They lie and use Canola oil for services & make you perform services that they know have no benefit to the clients. What a ripoff. It’s a lot of it is smoke & mirrors. They charge customers high prices only to pay $22hr. If you need some quick money it’ll probably help IF you get booked but everything runs off of seniority. As far as a place to pursue your career long term, I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND! THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU AND WILL REPLACE YOU TOMORROW. Save yourself the stress!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Massage therapist 24 salaries reported	$56.79 per hour
Concierge 40 salaries reported	$15.84 per hour
Esthetician 4 salaries reported	$78,750 per year
Spa coordinator 1 salary reported	$13.00 per hour
Spa attendant 12 salaries reported	$12.05 per hour

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