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Booking Agent - Spahack App

Hello All,

I wanted to introduce myself to the group, as I wanted a good gauge of the massage industry. I am an avid lover of massage, love everything about the industry, that is why I am trying to get into the industry and advocate for how beneficial massage is, as I have found it to be a great addition to my life. I want to give people the ability to book more massages seamlessly, and directly with the therapist for a time slot at therapist's office.

First and foremost, I would like to point out, I am not trying to advertise, but rather gauge interest, see about suggestions and to start a conversation about this type of booking agent.

Spahack, which is an application that will be available through Android and Apple shortly will allow clients to book last minute massage slots with licensed massage therapists directly for their office. This is created so the therapist can continue to build their massage practice however to fill in the gaps they might not have already filled.

The prices are set by Spahack by market (Texas massage prices will not be the same as NYC to ensure we are charging close to market rates that are affordable). If you are looking to fill in gaps for your schedule, you can input your available time slots for the coming few days and as it gets near that time (today or tomorrow), clients can attempt to request a massage from you. You have complete control to say yes or no to a request when submitted by the clients. If you say yes, and the client selects you, you will be notified of the news.

Intake forms are completed by clients on the app, and are viewable by the therapists at anytime, we are in the process of making it printable so you can print if needed and add notes or what have you. This might eliminate having to request the client to show up 15 minutes early if they are new to fill out the paperwork.

How the therapist makes money: Roughly 24% of the massage price (not including the automatic gratuity of 20% that is added to the massage price) is taken by Spahack to facilitate the marketing, credit card transaction fees and such.

Example:

Price of Massage in Texas for 60 minutes: $50.00

Spahack Fee (including admin fee): $50*(.24) = $12

Automatic gratuity from client: $10

$50 - $12 + $10 = $48.00 directly to the massage therapist, you do not need to worry about credit cards, processing payment, or marketing, this is an easy way to fill a time slot might have gone unfilled.

Test market will be in Texas, we will be launching about mid to late February and would love to get input from all of you on what your thoughts are.

I am committed to the massage industry, and the people that support this industry. In order to bring more clients to the therapists I am creating this application, please do not hesitate to ask any questions or mention any concerns. I am interested in hearing your thoughts about this application as I would like to make it the best it can be to support this growing community

Thank you very much.

Spahack.com

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by J. Patel on January 19, 2016 at 10:02am

Pueppi Texas,

To answer your questions and address your concerns:

1. Name was loosely based of the common term: Life hack, things that make your life easier, in this case, booking spa appointments.

2. Since gratutity is a common practice in this field, that is why we have included it in the application. Most clients typically do not have a problem with gratuity, again as it is something that they do on a normal basis i.e. dining out, hair/nail services, and other service oriented establishments. Keep in mind these are not your normal clients either, as they are paying much less than what you currently charge.

3. Its a valid point in regards to the pricing of the massage, we wanted to create a platform that not only allows massage therapists to fill their downtime with ability to gain some more revenue for their business but also to break down the barrier of price being a reason why clients do not get a massage.

We completely understand some of the Massage therapists that charge $90 plus dollars an hour may not be interested in this application full time, however its designed for use here and there just to fill in your downtime.

4. We are glad you like that aspect of the application, we wanted to ensure the therapists had the ability to check their schedules one last time before confirming they are available for a client, as MT's have rapidly changing schedules.

On to the questions:

1. First round of the application is strictly for booking massages, as we go into perfecting the app (with MT's suggestions, or ideas we come up with, we will add those features to the application). Our primary focus is to ensure we get the basics of our application and design correctly and do what we intended to do smoothly.

2. Actually the prices can be changed by cities, so Spahack could potentially charge higher in one city that might be adjacent to another much like Houston, Spring, The Woodlands, Sugarland. As there is not too much price differences in the state of Texas we are planning to keep it the same for right now. As we receive more feedback from the MT's that practice using our application and more research, that may change. In my example, I mentioned Texas V.S. NYC as there is a huge price difference in the average price of massage in those cities.

I hope I have answered your questions, should you have any further questions or concerns, please write back, you can always reach on private message as well.

These are all great questions and thoughts, I look forward to reading more.

Jimit Patel

Spahack.com

Pueppi Texas said:

Items that do not interest me:

I would not be comfortable using a booking service with the name spa "hack". I feel that it does not lean toward a professional feel.

I am not comfortable with the "automatic gratuity of 20% that is added to the massage price". I do not ask for gratuity from my clients.

I think the varying fee by SpaHack may be a bit high. It is doubtful that I would pay $12 for your service fee on one session. Additionally, I am in Texas, and charge more than double of your suggested "Price of Massage in Texas for 60 minutes: $50.00"

Items that do interest me:

"...clients can attempt to request a massage from you. You have complete control to say yes or no to a request when submitted by the clients."

Question:

Will this be available to use on a computer, like Acuity Scheduling (which is what I am currently testing and interested in)? Or, only for smart phones?

Right now it looks like you are planning to charge by state. Since every therapist charges a different fee, I am not sure how you can figure a blanket market fee for a state. What will you do, when a therapist charges higher than your set market price?

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Permalink Reply by J. Patel on August 3, 2016 at 12:32pm

Hello All,

I just wanted to send a quick note:

Spahack App is live in Texas currently, I would love to see your thoughts.

Check us out at Spahack.com/Provider and download the app through Android Play store and Apple App store.

Please let me know if you have any questions!!!

Thank you very much.

Jimit

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Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on August 5, 2016 at 7:09pm

you should compare your app to Massagebook com. It'll have to be really something to compete with other booking services.