Day-long chair massage fees?

[Feshe]

I have a small, beginning home-massage practice, and an active hospital-massage position.  Today I was asked by a hospital manager to provide a day-long chair massage at a departmental retreat for staff.  (on my off-day) I'm still finding out more about the details of the event (numbers of staff, location) but am not sure how to set my fees for a whole-day event: 8am to 3pm.  Charging my usual full hourly rate for 7 hours, plus travel fee, seems a bit much?  Or not?Your thoughts?

 

[Tabitha H]

I usually give a discount for all day things like that.  It's less cost for me being that I don't have to travel between clients or do separate linens for each client.  It's less set-up and take-down time as well.  Normally I charge $60 for an hour, but for a chair event I charge $40.I do one convention every year where the person that hires me tips me on top of his regular fee, hands out my business cards, and allows the people that sit in my chair to tip me as well.  Apparently his law firm doesn't need to market, but needs to be there for appearances, so he figures he might as well build my business instead.Good luck.  Opportunities like these are great for building your clientele.  Look at it as getting paid to market your business.Katykangaroo

 

[ray- b]

I usually charge $1 per minute for however long I'm actually doing massage. I'm a little jaded about discounting chair massage cuz it seems like I'm always getting hit up for free or heavily discounted chair massage and I finally decided if they want it, they are just gonna have to pay for it.  Interested to know what you come up with for pricing.

 

[hello goodbye]

Thank you for your input.  I wound up proposing my full usual hourly fee ($55.) for the entire time I'm there, doing chair massages or not (lunch and two breaks).  I told them "I won't charge you the usual travel fee."  They said, "Fine, send us your invoice and we'll have the check for you when you arrive."  Huh.  I'm getting more confident just sticking with my fees, and not being so anxious about "losing business."  Seems to be working, as the word gets out about quality massage services.

 

[Pompal 09.]

spadiva,I totally agree about sticking to your guns. I've done that free all day chair massage only once. (Client could "tip" if they wanted to.  I made $5 because a friend came over.)Care to guess how many clients became repeat clients? Zero. Yup, zero.  (And I didn't even get lunch until 3 pm I was so busy...)So, I agree, it better be an amount you are comfortable with!

 

[xoxogrl]

Definitely charge whatever your hourly rate is, plus your travel fee!  Because there isn't a guarantee that you will be tipped, and you want to be compensated for your time!  When people see a sign for free massage, they usually take advaneforum.xxxe of it and not tip!  So that you get paid whether you are working or not.  They want you there, then they have to make sure that you get what you deserve.  Have your cards out, as well as some information.  And make sure that you take proper breaks, a lesson I have learned!

 

[talal s]

My experience has always been a buck a minute, regardless of who pays for it.Sometimes the company will pick up the whole tab, orther times they will pay 1/2 of it and the employees will pay the rest.  Other times the employee pays the whole thing.  $1.00 a minute.

 

[mrsCULLEN]

Day-long chair massage fees?

I have found tips to be rare in workplace events.Tradeshows are another matter!I am not sure why everyone is so stuck on charging $1/minute. Everyone talks of raising their rates, but they never seem to do it for chair events.Chair work should be higher than your office visit rate for the simple reason you are going to them! You would never do a housecall hour-long massage for your in-office rate!

 

[bsk]

Day-long chair massage fees?

I'm sure that rates are different depending on the state you're in, but I would never, under any circumstance, charge less than $1.00/minute for chair massage in a corporation.I'm in NY & I know of at least one company that has paid $90/hr for on-site chair massage.Don't undervalue your craft.

 

[MeltandFlow]

Day-long chair massage fees?

Chair work should be higher than your office visit rate for the simple reason you are going to them! You would never do a housecall hour-long massage for your in-office rate!

I absolutely agree with this statement and Lorkie's, "Don't undervalue your craft".  You are still loading your equipment while traveling to them into a largely unknown situation.  

Remember to take your biz cards, brochures and appt book.