Meet Marty Langenderfer, Founder and CEO spavia (currently with over 60 locations in 25 states across the U.S.), he shares insights into the success of a franchise spa and massage business.
Can you tell me a little bit about Spavia?
Spavia’s philosophy is that wellness should be part of your daily routine, not an occasional luxury experience. My wife, Allison, and I founded Spavia in 2005, and today we operate more than 60 stores nationwide. From the beginning, our vision has been to create an affordable luxury experience that combines high-quality care, personalized service and a convenient membership model that guests can realistically sustain long-term. We’ve spent over 20 years building a model that is consistent, relationship-focused, and makes wellness approachable without sacrificing experience.
To what do you attribute the success of your spa franchise? What makes a spa stand out from the competition?
For us, Spavia’s success comes from a strong focus on hospitality, training and long-term guest relationships, rather than simply growth for growth’s sake. We are not focused on the number of spas. We are committed to helping to raise the standards of the industry itself. This means becoming one of the strongest hospitality and training organizations in the wellness space by providing deeper education, certification, operating standards and clearer long-term career paths for our guest advisors, massage therapists and estheticians.
We believe the winners in health and wellness in the future will be the brands that can consistently deliver great experiences at scale, and it all starts with people. Our spas are staffed by highly dedicated entrepreneurs who are locally owned and operated with deep ties to the community, creating a level of hospitality, care, accountability and consistency that is difficult to replicate nationwide.
When you combine strong local ownership, operational consistency, continuous learning and a culture centered on hospitality, it creates a very differentiated experience within the spa industry.
What is the biggest challenge in growing a spa franchise?
One of the biggest challenges in growing the spa industry is talent development, training and creating stronger long-term career paths across the industry. As consumer expectations continue to rise, the industry needs to continue to improve hospitality standards, technical training and professionalism in every role. That’s why we’re investing heavily in deeper certification in all skills, stronger hospitality training and clearer career paths, especially for Guest Advisors, which we ultimately believe can be expanded to the resort environment.
A big part of this commitment is the St. Moritz School of Massage, which was launched two years ago. The goal is to help build and train our future talent pipeline while promoting awareness and professionalism in the massage therapy and wellness professions more broadly. We intentionally call it an academy because we believe these professions deserve a higher level of respect, education and long-term career opportunities within the industry.
What prompted the recent renovation? What does it involve?
As the brand has evolved over the past 20 years, we have continued to refine the guest experience and physical environment to better reflect changing health trends, consumer behavior and local market needs.
One of the ways this evolves is through four different design themes that franchise owners can choose from based on local communities: Mountain, Coast, Vineyard and our urban-inspired concept Sway. Each aesthetic has been thoughtfully developed to provide owners with flexibility while still maintaining the overall integrity and consistency of the Spavia brand experience.
We opened our first Sway store in Denver in February 2025 as a more urban wellness concept focused on younger consumers, recovery and technology-driven wellness experiences. This summer we will expand to two larger Sway locations in Denver, where we will continue to test and further refine this concept. This includes a wider range of rehabilitation services, larger social wellness spaces and different wellness modalities including infrared and traditional sauna concepts. A big part of our philosophy is to continually test, learn, and thoughtfully improve the experience as consumer health behaviors continue to change.
How do you attract new and returning customers and encourage them to come back?
A big part of attracting new and returning guests is the consistency of the experience, word of mouth and deep involvement in the local community surrounding each spa. Our franchise owners are highly engaged in their communities through local partnerships, community events, wellness programs and ongoing relationship building, which over time builds deep, long-term relationships and a very loyal local following.
Our membership model also plays an important role. Because guests come in regularly rather than occasionally, we are able to build stronger relationships over time and become part of their ongoing wellness habits rather than a one-time experience. This consistency creates a deeper level of trust, personalization and guest connection.
We also put a lot of effort into building listening and feedback systems across the organization. Because we see many guests on a regular basis, we are constantly gathering insights about preferences, treatment interests, service expectations, and changing health behaviors. This feedback loop plays an important role in how we continue to improve the guest experience. We combine nearly 20 years of spa expertise with ongoing guest feedback to refine, enhance and modernize the Spavia experience while still maintaining the hospitality and consistency the brand is known for. “
How do you use digital marketing and social media to promote your business?
Digital marketing has become one of the most powerful tools for creating highly personalized wellness experiences before guests even walk through the door. As technology and artificial intelligence continue to evolve, we believe the future of wellness marketing will become increasingly customized and data-driven, allowing brands to better understand individual guests’ behaviors, preferences, routines and treatment interests at a more granular level.
At Spavia, we focus on localized digital marketing strategies, allowing each spa to create a genuine connection with its surrounding community, while still benefiting from the scale and sophistication of a national brand. Social media plays an important role in telling stories, educating and showcasing the real people behind our spas, but we have also made significant investments in digital infrastructure, guest data insights, search behavior, retention marketing and personalized communications strategies designed to meet the needs of our guests on their wellness journey.
How do you keep your employees selling? How do you keep your employees motivated?
Our philosophy has always been about helping guests establish consistent wellness habits and a long-term relationship with the spa. Because we operate a membership model, our beauticians, massage therapists, and guest consultants see guests on a regular basis rather than through a one-time transaction. This allows the team to better understand an individual’s relaxation, skincare and recovery goals and make more thoughtful, personalized recommendations naturally through trust and familiarity.
How do you keep your treatment menu fresh and relevant?
We always believe innovation is important, but we try to approach it with long-term discipline and thoughtfulness rather than simply chasing trends. We combine nearly 20 years of operational experience with ongoing guest feedback, treatment effectiveness data and ongoing education to continually evolve our menu in a modern, relevant and sustainable operation.
We were one of the first spa brands in the country to introduce seasonal treatments, which helps create a more rejuvenating experience for guests and teams. It keeps the menu fresh while also providing estheticians and massage therapists with the opportunity to continue learning about new ingredients, protocols and treatment experiences throughout the year. We also spend a lot of time listening. We pay close attention to guest feedback, changing health behaviors, and long-term industry developments. This has led us to expand beyond traditional spa treatments to more recovery and wellness-focused experiences, including saunas, cold baths, pressure therapy, LED light therapy, microcurrent and other technology-driven products.
We are also one of the first spa brands in China to introduce Aescape robot massage technology. We don’t see this technology replacing the human touch, but rather see it as an opportunity to introduce massage to new consumers and continue to evolve the modern wellness experience.
What are your plans for the future?
Our goal is to continue to position Spavia as one of the most trusted, trustworthy, and operationally advanced brands in the spa industry by combining exceptional hospitality, thoughtful innovation, strong franchises and large-scale, long-term client relationships. We believe there are significant opportunities to raise standards in health and wellness, as the industry becomes increasingly fragmented, trend-driven and transactional in many areas. Ultimately, we believe consumers are looking for brands they can trust long-term.
We’re also very focused on growth. Our philosophy has always been centered around thoughtful expansion and protecting the integrity of the guest experience as the brand evolves. With this approach, we currently plan to open more than 10 new stores over the next year.
In June, we will also announce the appointment of a Chief Operating Officer as Spavia continues to expand its national presence, deepen its franchisee support system, expand its membership base in existing and new markets, and begin evaluating long-term international expansion opportunities.