Dr. Michela Henke-Cilenti

05/22/2026

Every spa welcomes guests. Very few anticipate them. 🤍

Mystery shopping Woodhouse Spa this week — and before I'd even changed, my name was already waiting for me. On a beautiful piece of quartz on my locker.
Not a label. Not a screen. Quartz.

Someone made a decision that guests would be anticipated — not just received. And that decision changes everything about how a guest feels before a single treatment has begun.
78% of guests are more likely to return to a property that feels like it remembers them. The welcome moment is where loyalty begins.

Woodhouse — you didn't miss it. ✨

The smallest details create the deepest impressions. What's the most memorable welcome you've ever received?



https://wix.to/gUFR1LJ

05/13/2026

Right. Let's talk about next quarter.
Specifically, the fact that it tends to look suspiciously like this quarter. And the quarter before that. And the one before that.
I've been working with spa teams for 25 years. "We'll tackle recommending properly once things settle down" is the most expensive sentence in this industry. Things don't settle down. You know this. I know this. And yet here we are.
So let me give you something useful instead.
Global wellness spend is rising beautifully. Guests are arriving more informed and more willing to invest in their skin than at any point I can remember. Social commerce drove nearly $1 billion in beauty sales on TikTok alone in 2024 — your guests are absolutely spending. Just not always with the expert who spent an hour with their skin.
And in-spa skincare retail? Quietly sliding not so beautifully. Not because the demand isn't there. Because the recommendation isn't.
Here's the number worth sitting with: one enhancement or retail product recommended per guest, per day, at a conservative $30 — is at least $94,000 in annual revenue. That's not a stretch target. That's the floor. That's what's already on the table, every single day, not being picked up.
The belief gap causing the silence is entirely closeable. It doesn't need a six-month programme or a complete overhaul of how you train. It needs the right kind of conversation with each individual on your team — one that shifts recommending from something that feels uncomfortable into the most natural expression of the care they already bring.
That's exactly what The Spark and The Shift are designed to do. A fully personalized in-person session that surfaces and removes the real barrier for each individual — followed by 90 days of structured coaching that makes the change stick rather than fade by week three like every other training initiative you've ever run.
Because good intentions don't change culture. Structure does.
Start with the blog. Then let's have a proper conversation. 💛
📩 Email BRILLIANT to [email protected]
Link in bio. 👆
https://wix.to/mne3lnG

05/06/2026

https://wix.to/ZJ5vAmD

05/04/2026

Controversial opinion for a Monday morning:
Your most reluctant recommender is probably your best therapist.
I'll wait while you think about that. ☕
In 25 years of working with spa teams across Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, St. Regis and Marriott, the pattern is remarkably consistent. The therapists who hesitate most at the retail moment are almost always the ones guests request by name. The ones with the five-star reviews. The ones who remember what was said three appointments ago and quietly factor it into today's treatment.
Brilliant at their job. Technically exceptional. And almost completely silent when it comes to recommending.
It's not laziness. It's not indifference. It's something far more interesting — and far more fixable.
They became therapists to heal, not to sell. And somewhere along the way, recommending got filed in the same mental folder as pushy, opportunistic, and not what I signed up for.
So they stay silent. And call it professionalism.
This is what I call the paradox of the caring professional — and it is the single biggest barrier to recommending performance in luxury spa. Not product knowledge. Not scripts. Not training hours.
Belief.
The guest, meanwhile, is lying there hoping someone with actual expertise will tell her what her skin needs. She bought something off TikTok last week that didn't really work. She'd love a proper recommendation from someone who knows what they're doing.
She just didn't get one.
The full breakdown of why this happens — and what actually shifts it — is in my latest blog. Worth a read with that Monday coffee.
Link in bio. 👆

https://wix.to/XkdB7f6

04/29/2026

Your guest spent $47 on a serum she found on TikTok at 11pm in her pyjamas.
Guided by someone she's never met, who has never touched her skin, who had exactly 28 seconds to make their case.
And she bought it. Without hesitation.
Then she came to your spa. Lay down in front of a trained expert who spent an hour reading her skin, her stress, her whole story with her hands.
And left with nothing.
Not because she wasn't ready to invest. She clearly was.
Because nobody asked.
Social commerce drove nearly $1 billion in beauty sales on TikTok alone last year. The guests are spending. They are absolutely, unequivocally spending.
Just not always with us. And that, friends, is on us.
The full story and what to do about it — is in my latest blog. Link in bio. 👆
https://wix.to/mfbsped

04/24/2026

https://wix.to/x2WO2NA

04/21/2026

Your guest already knows what they want.
They just don't know YOU have it. 💛
58% of social media users are buying beauty products directly on TikTok and Instagram.

TikTok Shop alone drove nearly $1 billion in beauty sales in 2024.

They've already bought a serum from a 30-second video.
And then they lay down on your treatment table, in the hands of a trained expert who knows exactly what their skin needs and left with nothing.
Not because they weren't ready to buy.
Because nobody gave them a reason to. 🌟
That gap? It's entirely yours to close.
My new blog is about exactly that — and putting the power back where it belongs. In the hands of the experts who truly care.
Link in bio 👆

https://wix.to/khbYJJ8

04/06/2026

The feedback is in and apparently I'm 'very helpful.' My mum will be pleased. If your team struggles to recommend, let's change that.


https://wix.to/cdjyAq2

03/03/2026

https://wix.to/iwku9li

02/12/2026

What separates fast-growing hotels, spas and F&B groups from the rest? It’s a culture shift in how they approach upselling — purpose-driven, guest-first recommendations that build trust and revenue. Read the full breakdown and actionable ideas in my latest post: The Upselling Culture Shift: What Fast-Growing Properties Are Doing Differently

8-minute read → learn what to measure, how to coach teams, and examples that actually work.

Read more: https://wix.to/U822zqo

Living at the professional crossroads of purpose and revenue: as you would expect I've been honing in lately on what the some of the most impactful companies are measuring when it comes to customer relationships. And honestly? It makes me double down and underscore the importance of continuing to re...