How much does a really excellent massage cost?

This is a question that has more than one answer, and the saying you get what you pay for doesn't always ring true.

When talking about massage. Having been in the well-being scene for over 25 years, I have seen the price of treatments rise to between £70 and £90 in the clinic for a 60-minute treatment; this is in line with the cost of living in the city of London and rightly so. Yet outside of London, in the UK, massage treatments have become cheaper and cheaper, often from individual new practitioners trying to get clients. The massage prices some practitioners charge are less than they were ten years ago in some areas of the UK, irrespective of the costs practitioners incur and inflation.

Spas continue to charge high rates for beauty therapy-style massage treatments from practitioners who have had basic training where the massage element of their course was minimal in comparison to the beauty therapy training (I'm sure we've all had a massage like that, the massage where the spa therapist is overworked, undertrained, and would rather be doing nails than massage).

Of course, we all know that hotel spas have high overheads, so this is included in the cost. Still, many people do not realise that most spa therapists only get paid 10% of the actual massage fee and are often required to perform 5-7 massages a day, which puts a terrible strain on the practitioners physically and emotionally, as well as affecting the practitioners' ability to give to that client entirely, as they are overworked.

Many solo practitioners charge from £25 to £45 for a treatment; "Good news"—£25-£45 for a treatment. "Good news," I hear you say. "What", I hear you say. Well, that is a mixture of yes and no. Practitioners offering low treatment rates are often very new to the work and may not have learned how to factor in the cost of their training, insurance, treatment room, and energy costs into their massage prices; they also may lack experience and training.

Practitioners and organisations offering treatments who know how to cost and value experience, training, and length of time in the industry, coupled with their overheads, are able to value themselves and others better while not overworking themselves or their staff. A team of practitioners or a solo practitioner who charges appropriately for their knowledge and experience will also understand the importance of offering fewer treatments per day and will therefore be present and fully engaged in the work that they love to do, being able to truly give intuitively rather than massaging so many people that they can hardly differentiate between who they worked with on one day to the next.

Of course, in difficult times, when many are struggling and often many people are touch-starved, it is always possible to offer a sliding scale to people in need of treatments; this way, you are catering to all whilst valuing yourself as a practitioner and ambassador of well-being.