Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Post float lounges are cool. Lots of float center owners use them to imbue their centers with their own personality, whether it be large sprawling rooms with comically large furniture, oxygen bars with artificial waterfalls, or just a place for you to hide mushroom sculptures for your customers to find. But these come at the cost of square footage for your center, which undoubtedly can cause problems. So, is it worth it? Ashkahn and Graham tackle the pros and cons, getting into the finer details of what it really means to have or not have these rooms in your center.
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Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Ashkahn: Alright. We got a question coming at you today. It is, “what are the pros and cons of having a post-float lounge?”
Graham: Which I assume is just having a post-float area to sit down. It’s separate though. Like a separate lounge, for people post-float and pre-float?
Ashkahn: Right. So I think we’re talking about one big communal lobby or is there some separate space you have where people can hang out after their float?
Graham: So, separate pre-float and post-float spaces?
Ashkahn: Right.
Graham: First of all at Float On our shop has very little extra room in it. We took up all the extra space in our center with extra floatings. So we don’t have room for a post-float lounge in our center. That’s a little bit of where we’re coming from, personally.
Ashkahn: Which is probably the biggest downside of a post-float lounge is that it takes up space.
Graham: Right. And that’s space that could be used for something else, an extra practitioner room, or-
Ashkahn: Ping-pong room.
Graham: Yeah. Bedroom for when you need take a nap in the center. There’s lots of things you can use that space for.
Ashkahn: So that’s, I would say, probably the biggest consideration is you gotta make sure you actually have enough space to do something like that.
Graham: Because if you’re in somewhere like Arizona or Alaska, it might be less of a concern than being in New York or Pittsburgh.
Ashkahn: I guess the other downside is there is something nice about people after their float, hanging out with people before they go in. It’s kind of fun. People have really nice interactions in that time, where people are seeing the people who just came out and seeing how relaxed they are. They talk a little bit. It makes the new people excited and maybe a little less nervous about getting in there.
Graham: For sure. We’ve walked into so many good conversations the people have just been having in the lounge, who have never met before. Between some of our most seasoned members and totally new first time floaters. “Flirgins”, as we call them.
Ashkahn: I guess one of the big benefits of having a post-float lounge is that your customers don’t have to interact with each other.
Graham: That’s really funny that it’s a benefit and a con. But it’s true. The nice thing is that, for people who are all post-floaty and don’t necessarily want to jump right back into the outside world. Not only do they not have to leave your shop, they don’t even have to interact with anyone who hasn’t just been in the float tank, plus the staff, who are naturally floaty anyway.
Ashkahn: You can make … there is perhaps a different vibe you’d want after a float, than beforehand. Our lobby in Float On is very bright. There’s big windows looking into the street. The walls are painted bright yellow. It’s a very loud, awake sort of space.
Graham: Playful, I would say.
Ashkahn: Playful. I could see more of a nap room type thing. It’s not how I’d necessarily design a post-float space, if that was the intended sole purpose of the room. Your eyes are more sensitive to light when you come out. You probably want something that encourages smaller conversation nooks or something like that.
There is a different goal in mind, I think, with a post-float lounge than with your general lobby.
Graham: Yeah. For sure.
Ashkahn: So, the other benefit of having a single lobby space like we do is, it’s easier for our employees to be able to interact with people. They don’t have to go check the post-float area and talk to people. Maybe get stuck in there talking to someone. While they’re in the lobby, they can be there when new people come in, they can talk to people who are sitting on the couch. If nobody is coming in, who just got out of their floats, it’s just a little bit more organic to be able to easily to talk to whoever is available, whoever seems like you should be talking to them, rather than having to check multiple spaces.
Graham: Yeah. Absolutely. The logistics of making sure that everything’s going okay in your entire center obviously becomes more difficult the more distinct rooms you need to actually keep tabs on. So yeah.
Even though at Float On, we don’t have one, it’s not to say that if we didn’t have extra space, that we wouldn’t have one. That was a lot of negatives. I think I got all those right.
We’ve gone to a lot of centers around the country and around North America that have really nice post-float lounges and they’re totally separate from the pre-float intake area. There’s one that’s really awesome. The entire center looks very clinical, almost. The front desk is very small. You just sit on these, almost like waiting room style … same with the hallways. But then, at the far other side of the center, you go through the hallways with all the tanks and come out, and it’s giant windows looking out into a forest and just bright blue floors, modeled after our floors. It’s a total transition. They almost go for more somber beforehand and more playful afterwards.
There’s also … you get a nice little reveal there that I really like. There are some really cool things that you can do with post-float lounges, for sure.
…If you have the space.
Ashkahn: If you have the space. Alright.
Graham: I think that’s it.
Ashkahn: Yeah. Alright. Good.
Graham: Good episode, buddy. I think people are really going to enjoy this one.
Ashkahn: Yeah. This is gonna be a nice one. I can tell.
Graham: If you want your own questions meanderingly answered on our podcast, definitely go to floattanksolutions.com/podcast. Type ’em in there. And we might get to ’em.
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In this post, I’ll discuss individual athletes who float and how to look at this from a marketing perspective. I’ll also discuss past and present research, and share some thoughts on how the relationship between the athletic and floating communities might continue to unfold.
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