27 replies to this topic

[spanky123]

The criticism that many businesses have had of Groupon is that it does not deliver repeat business. The claim is that "Groupees" simply travel from deal to deal looking for bargains.

If that is true then businesses need to do their research up front and not try to penalize the consumer. It is one thing to provide the service at a loss and not gain a customer but another to provide the service at a loss, not gain a customer, and then have the client tell 100 people that the service sucked!

[Monkey]

I think there definitely is a market for this, although I am not sure how well they will do in Victoria.

I work at a spa, and we frequently have men coming in and asking for waxing services. We do back and chest no problem, but we do not perform intimate waxing, nor does any other regular spa that I am aware of. Especially not with an all female staff.

I think it's great that we now have the facilities for men to relax as well. I have had quite a few male clients that were very noticeably uncomfortable in our spa, which is sad when the whole point is to relax. I think perhaps some men may feel more comfortable in an environment that is specifically geared towards them.

[Monkey]

I know this reply comes very late...but may I ask when you booked your appointment and mentioned you will be using a groupon deal, how long did you have to wait before the appointment?

Here is my story about this place. My wife got me a groupon deal for 1h massage at this place (Manscape Spa Deal of the Day | Groupon Victoria). The story starts here, my wife made a booking for me for a Saturday toward the end of June @ 10:30AM, I was late, and called at 10:34AM to inform them that I will be few minutes more late, because I was looking for parking. Ops, I was told, sorry we sold your spot, ok fine, I asked can I re-book another appointment? the receptionist said sure, ok, the earlierest we have for you is 3rd week of July, toward the end of week. What the heck? This long to get a booking for massage, they must be busy?! Anyway I did take the appointment. To satify my curioisy, I called them again the following week to book one hour massage, 1st question I was asked, are you a Groupon customer? I said no, and guess what I was able to book one hour massage for the next day! I booked the massaage but later cancelled...what is that? If you advertise on groupon, isn't the purpose to promote and capture new clientele so they have chance to expereince your business at better deal and hopign they become regular client at regular price?

The story went on.... so this time I showed up 5 mins before my re-booked appointment. I was taken straight to one of the treatement room (isn't it routine that the spa makes new client fills up a questionaire for potentional allergy or other medical conditions?). Anyway, the male massage therapist performed the massage, it was just boarderline ok, and the treatment ended in 40 minutes (where their groupon deal stated "massage for 1h"). Anyway, upon exiting, I was told my experence is the groupon client introductory experience, and if I book as regular client, I get even better experience and I can specify and target treatment to specific part of my body. What does this mean?! I felt so cheap and inferior because I am a groupon user... heck now, I will never go back nor refer anyone else there...hard to find parking to start...oh yes, I did score a free bottled water before I left

This is my experience for this MALE ONLY spa in town, which might be good if and only if you are not groupon user...

I feel that Groupon is a pretty flawed system, especially in this industry.

The management at my old work ran a Groupon for massage, and almost right away we were booked up for 2 months. It was insane, and on top of that, the initial request was for a 45 minute massage and it somehow was ran as a 1 hour. We were so exhausted from doing massage all day every day. I am sure that many clients felt that they were not getting our full energy, because we had none.

Like I said, it's just not a good industry for Groupons. If fully booked, it usually results in having to put Groupon holders on the backburner and book full paying clients first. It's just a lose-lose situation in my experience.

[Mike K.]

The whole point is to generate repeat business, but from what I've heard spas in particular do not see repeat business -- until they run another Groupon.

[Dimitrios]

I know this reply comes very late...but may I ask when you booked your appointment and mentioned you will be using a groupon deal, how long did you have to wait before the appointment?

Here is my story about this place. My wife got me a groupon deal for 1h massage at this place (Manscape Spa Deal of the Day | Groupon Victoria). The story starts here, my wife made a booking for me for a Saturday toward the end of June @ 10:30AM, I was late, and called at 10:34AM to inform them that I will be few minutes more late, because I was looking for parking. Ops, I was told, sorry we sold your spot, ok fine, I asked can I re-book another appointment? the receptionist said sure, ok, the earlierest we have for you is 3rd week of July, toward the end of week. What the heck? This long to get a booking for massage, they must be busy?! Anyway I did take the appointment. To satify my curioisy, I called them again the following week to book one hour massage, 1st question I was asked, are you a Groupon customer? I said no, and guess what I was able to book one hour massage for the next day! I booked the massaage but later cancelled...what is that? If you advertise on groupon, isn't the purpose to promote and capture new clientele so they have chance to expereince your business at better deal and hopign they become regular client at regular price?

The story went on.... so this time I showed up 5 mins before my re-booked appointment. I was taken straight to one of the treatement room (isn't it routine that the spa makes new client fills up a questionaire for potentional allergy or other medical conditions?). Anyway, the male massage therapist performed the massage, it was just boarderline ok, and the treatment ended in 40 minutes (where their groupon deal stated "massage for 1h"). Anyway, upon exiting, I was told my experence is the groupon client introductory experience, and if I book as regular client, I get even better experience and I can specify and target treatment to specific part of my body. What does this mean?! I felt so cheap and inferior because I am a groupon user... heck now, I will never go back nor refer anyone else there...hard to find parking to start...oh yes, I did score a free bottled water before I left

This is my experience for this MALE ONLY spa in town, which might be good if and only if you are not groupon user...

Just saw this....sorry for the 6-month delay, but I don't browse all the fora all that regularly.

Too bad you had a crap experience there. Mine was quite different - super relaxed, the guy was nice, service was good and in no way felt 'inferior' because of the Groupon thing.

I have chatted with a few other business owners about Groupon (Carlos' Cantina in Sidney, as well as the Red Fish/Blue Fish guys). Consensus is that doing a Groupon-type deal is a huge risk - it can be a net negative for the business, and only pay off in repeat visits. It seems that success can be greatest when some additional 'hook' is offerred to the Groupon customers - like offering them another good deal (like a buy-one-get-one-free meal) when they pay with the Groupon coupon or something similar. I could see how massage/spa services (which are a once-in-a-while treat for many people) would not work that well.

[JHHL]

I feel that Groupon is a pretty flawed system, especially in this industry.

The management at my old work ran a Groupon for massage, and almost right away we were booked up for 2 months. It was insane, and on top of that, the initial request was for a 45 minute massage and it somehow was ran as a 1 hour. We were so exhausted from doing massage all day every day. I am sure that many clients felt that they were not getting our full energy, because we had none.

Like I said, it's just not a good industry for Groupons. If fully booked, it usually results in having to put Groupon holders on the backburner and book full paying clients first. It's just a lose-lose situation in my experience.

I totally agree with your points. However with the mentioned Spa, when I phoned to book and metion that I have a Groupone deal, right away my appointment was nearly 1 month later; to satisfy my curiosity, I phoned back the next day to book a regular appointment, it was available for next day! Anyway, I have since visited another Spa at Westside Village from recommendation of my friend who was there on Groupon deal, I did not have a Groupon deal, so I booked my appointment as a regular client, it was available for the sameday afternoon on a Saturday. The service was excellent, so I also book and pre-paid for another 1.5h massage session for my wife on the following week. The bottom line is I just do not appreciate being treated as inferior client just because I was given the Groupon deal to try/experience their offering.

[JHHL]

Just saw this....sorry for the 6-month delay, but I don't browse all the fora all that regularly.

Too bad you had a crap experience there. Mine was quite different - super relaxed, the guy was nice, service was good and in no way felt 'inferior' because of the Groupon thing.

I have chatted with a few other business owners about Groupon (Carlos' Cantina in Sidney, as well as the Red Fish/Blue Fish guys). Consensus is that doing a Groupon-type deal is a huge risk - it can be a net negative for the business, and only pay off in repeat visits. It seems that success can be greatest when some additional 'hook' is offerred to the Groupon customers - like offering them another good deal (like a buy-one-get-one-free meal) when they pay with the Groupon coupon or something similar. I could see how massage/spa services (which are a once-in-a-while treat for many people) would not work that well.

I normally frequent massage therapist or spa for massage every 2 weeks. The groupon offers for discounted rate at 1st visit would for sure work for me, if the experience is good/satisfactory. In my case with Mansacpe, it was just totally un-satisfactory, in addition of major challenge on finding pay or free parking at the area (which is not their problem, I know). However, they are many other places that can offer me easy/free parking (Ocean Pointe,Safra Spa, Willow Stream...etc.) for similiar or slightly more expensive price. Anyway, this is just my two cents, and I am sure many others have different experience than mine.

[VicHockeyFan]

In fairness to some of the businesses though, the Groupon salespeople are not always (ever?) super honest about what the retailer can expect, they just want to get the most sales as they can, and don't have much motivation for suggesting a cap to retailers. After all, 60% of Groupon businesses will not renew, so the salesperson does not have to consider repeat business.