Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Most float centers divide on floats offered between 60 or 90 minute floats, but some split the difference right down the middle and offer 75 minutes. Graham and Ashkahn share their thoughts on this tactic, what they see as the pros, cons, and things to consider when implementing it.
Show Resources
FTS Product – State of the Industry Report
(In this last year, 7 float centers reported offering 75 minute floats)
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: All right.
Ashkahn: Welcome everybody.
Graham: Hello.
Ashkahn: This is Ashkahn.
Graham: And I’m Graham over here.
Ashkahn: And boy, we’ve got a big one. We’ve got a big one today.
Graham: It’s not …
Ashkahn: It’s a normal sized one. I was just trying to make them feel excited, you know? Try and pump people up.
Graham: That’s great. It’s gonna be a great episode.
Ashkahn: It’s gonna be a really good one.
Graham: And you did a great job pumping people up too, I think.
Ashkahn: Thanks. Yeah. And you did a really complimenting me just now.
Graham: Oh, thanks. Anyway, our question for today is, “What do you think about 75 minute floats?”
Ashkahn: 75 minute floats.
Graham: The old 75-er.
Ashkahn: Yeah. The old siete cinco.
Graham: Yeah, I think they’re good.
Ashkahn: I kind of like them. So here’s the deal.
Graham: Your deal. Not the deal.
Ashkahn: Here’s my deal.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: I think it has to do with how many float tanks you have and how many tanks you’re trying to turn over in a transition. ‘Cause there’s definitely situations like what we’re in, where we’re doing 90 minute floats and we put 30 minutes of time in addition to that to turn all the rooms over and get the next people in. And we have six float tanks. And that’s kind of intense. It’s intense to turn over six rooms in 30 minutes.
Graham: Well, and we also do all of our floats at the exact same time.
Ashkahn: Yes.
Graham: So they don’t stagger at all. It’s not, like, three on one hour and three on another hour or so. Every two hours there’s six people getting out and six people getting in.
Ashkahn: Yeah. And we’ve thought about changing our transition times to something like 35 or 40 minutes, but then everything just gets on this, like, really weird time of day, you know? Your appointments start at like 6:25, and then the next one’s, like, 7:40, and …
Graham: Yup.
Ashkahn: So there’s just something that’s been slightly unappealing about that.
Graham: But-
Ashkahn: But if you were to want that kind of cushy transition time, a 75 minute float is a nice-
Graham: With a 45 minute transition because it keeps things on the hour.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: So it would be every other hour there would be a float. And you’d have a little nicer transition then. I actually know some centers that have been transitioning, huh. I didn’t actually mean to say that. But they themselves have been transitioning their transition time length to be longer.
Ashkahn: To be longer. Right.
Graham: I know one that went up to 60 minutes in between floats.
Ashkahn: Wow.
Graham: But they’re a single person running their center and they just wanted to actually have time to sit down with clients afterwards and get back to that homey kind of feel, you know?
Ashkahn: Right. Sure.
Graham: But yeah, I know more than one that’s also switched to 45 minute transitions.
Ashkahn: Yeah. And I know somebody else who does 60 minutes too. So yeah, it’s definitely, like-
Graham: I wonder if it’s the same person.
Ashkahn: We can talk about it after this.
Graham: Yeah, yeah. Thanks for that. So I was gonna say, the thing that I don’t like about 75 minute floats is related to the exact same thing, which is if you’re doing 75 minute floats to try and fit more in a day, all of a sudden you can’t actually start on the same times. Like uneven times. So if you’re running a 75 minute float but want a half an hour transition, now your whole time slots are getting into 15 minutes.
Ashkahn: It’s getting all crazy.
Graham: You can’t just say it’s every other hour. You lose a little bit of simplicity in it.
Ashkahn: Yeah. I do feel like 75 is, in my mind, a decent improvement over 60. I feel like 75 is starting at the range where I feel like I’d feel comfortable with someone going in there and getting a nice … And we’re big fans of 90 minute floats.
Graham: Yes, full disclaimer here.
Ashkahn: That’s my kind of hard-core opinion here, so I always think, you know, a 60 minute first time experience is not as ideal and that people will kind of sink into it and get that deeper experience with 90 minutes. But I feel like 75 is something that can get people a nice experience too.
Graham: Yeah, and it’s also the level where you’d stop worrying as much about 5 minutes here and there, which is really nice, you know?
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: Like, the thing about 60 minute floats is if someone gets in and you didn’t quite get them in on time, it just impinges so much, it’s such a high percentage of their overall float time. So I like 90 minutes, and even two and a half hour late night floats are better, you know? Like, you get one of our two and a half hour floaters in 10 minutes late because you’re the only one there and people were coming out slow and they’re like, “Whatever. I’ll chill and have tea.” You know? “Still got two hours and 20 minutes to hop in the float tank.” So I like that 75 minutes is edging on there. If you do get someone in five minutes late, it’s not as big a deal as with the 60 minute float.
Ashkahn: Yeah. I almost like 80 minutes. Like, and 80 minute float with a 40 minute transition.
Graham: Like 77?
Ashkahn: 77 and a half minutes.
Graham: Just in between.
Ashkahn: Just that nice time, you know?
Graham: It feels nice.
Ashkahn: So that would be my recommendation.
Graham: Then you have to have 27 and a half minute transitions.
Ashkahn: Uh-huh. And that extra half minute, I think is really what adds comfort to the entire thing.
Graham: Yeah, so in general I like them. I mean, I’ve floated for as short as only being in the tank for half an hour and as long as being in there for 12 hours. So as far as length of float and being able to have a good experience, I think it’s possible at any length that you’re doing it, long or short. So kind of what you were saying about first time experience too is interesting. Like, if someone is only offering 75 minute floats versus offering 75 minute and 90, or 75 minute and 60 is also kind of an interesting question.
Ashkahn: Yeah. It feels too close together. I feel like it’d be-
Graham: Weird to do.
Ashkahn: Not worth it to offer 75 and 90 or 60. Like, just 75 and
Graham: Three hours.
Ashkahn: Yeah. Something much more significant.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: And there’s some centers out there doing, we put out this industry report every year. Float Tank Solutions. And there’s a stat in there about what length of service people offer, so you can check it out. We’ll put it in the show notes of how many people out there offer 75 minute floats.
Graham: Yeah, and you can see the bulk of people really are just 60 and 90 minutes, and that’s …
Ashkahn: Yeah, it’s just like three weirdos out there. You know who you are.
Graham: Awesome. Anything else about 75 minute floats?
Ashkahn: You three weirdos. Get in touch with … I’m kind of interested to hear what peoples’ experiences are. I guess I want to see if there’s a center that only offers 75 minutes.
Graham: We answer questions, Ashkahn. We don’t ask them.
Ashkahn: Oh, okay. Well, nevermind. I guess this will just remain a mystery forever. No, I’m good then.
Graham: All right. If you are one of those centers though, reach out. And you can reach out if you have a question or anything you want to send us at floattanksolutions.com/podcast.
Ashkahn: That’s right. And we’ll talk to you later.
Graham: Bye.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Different Reasons for Writing a Float Center Business Plan – DSP 204
Writing a business plan can often feel like you’re throwing hard work into the void. If you’re not getting a bank loan, who’s going to see it? What’s the point of it if all the numbers are going to be different?
Graham and Ashkahn break down their experiences of starting Float On without a business plan and how useful it was writing one later, as well as how they’ve used that business plan to help dozens of other centers get funding and open their doors.
Is there any Reason to Not Let Someone Float during Menstruation? – DSP 203
Some float centers include a restriction in their wavers stating that people can’t or shouldn’t float during their menstrual cycles. Is there a valid reason for this?
Graham and Ashkahn clear up the confusion around this situation and why float centers started doing this and what every center should know about policies like this.
How Many Times Should A Float Center E-mail about Deals? – DSP 202
Let’s say you’ve got a discount going on and you’re counting on your email mailing list to get some traction. How many times should you email? A lot? A little? Well, the answer depends on who you ask and your own business philosophy.
Ashkahn and Graham share Float On’s philosophy on reaching out to mailing lists and how they reached those conclusions.
Should my Float Center Have Dynamic Pricing? – DSP 201
Dynamic pricing AKA changing prices based on demand or availability, is a pretty common tactic in certain industries. Airlines do it with tickets. Restaurants and bars do it with “happy hour” to get people to come in during slow times.
Graham and Ashkahn weigh in on this practice as it pertains to the float industry and, if you are going to do it, how to do it right so you get the most bang for your buck without confusing your customers.
How Many Managers Does it Take to Run a Float Center? – DSP 200
Not every float center owner wants to be tethered to working their shop for the rest of their lives. In fact, even some that enjoy that work immensely can be doing their business a disservice by focusing on day-to-day operations as opposed to dedicating their time to marketing or expansion.
So how do float center owners get out of the shop? How many managers (Or Taco Supremes as they’re called at Float On) does it take to effectively replace the shop owner at a business. Ashkahn and Graham have successfully implemented a system at Float On that allows them to be much more hands off on the business than when they first opened and they share how got to that point and how their business structure has evolved.
Latest Blog Posts
The Many Floaty Things We Are Looking Forward To…
Although we encourage people to live in the current moment, the team here at Float Tank Solutions is anxiously looking forward to what’s coming up at the 2015 Float Conference on August 13-17th. Admittedly, we’re a little spoiled being allowed behind the scenes access...
The 2015 State of the Float Industry Survey
Prior to the 2014 Float Conference we set out to get a snapshot of the floatation industry while we had the majority of the community in one place. From that survey we gathered the only statistics we have on floatation and publicly released those findings in our 2014...
Finding the Right Temperature for Your Floaters
What is the Perfect Float Temperature? I am sure we have all heard of the skin receptor neutral temperature that float centers preach. The sacred 93.5 degrees Fahrenheit. It seems to be the temperature that most centers set their tanks’ water to. We even do it at...
How to Properly Wake a Floater
aka What to Do when You’ve Got a “Sinker” There are multiple ways to let your floaters know that it is time to get out of the tank. According to float lore, the first centers to open back in the 70’s used to wake people up by popping open the hatch and giving the...
