A massage spa looks simple from the outside: a few rooms, a few therapists, and clients who come back every few weeks. Underneath, it is a business that sells room hours, and the owners who do well plan the permits, the rooms, and the prices before the first client walks in.
This guide walks through each step in order. Permit rules differ by city and change over time, so treat this as a checklist of what to ask, and confirm each item with the office that issues it.
Decide what kind of spa you are opening
Your concept decides your space, your staff, and your prices. A neighborhood massage place with four rooms and walk-ins runs very differently from a day spa with couples rooms, showers, and long treatment packages.
- Who your clients are: office workers after work, residents on weekends, hotel guests, or tourists.
- What you sell: massage only, or massage with foot spa, body scrubs, and facials.
- How clients arrive: mostly walk-ins, mostly bookings, or both.
- Your hours: a spa near offices may earn most of its money between 6 PM and midnight.
Register the business
Start with the registrations every business in the Philippines needs. Do them in this order, because each office asks for the papers from the one before.
- DTI or SEC. A sole proprietor registers the business name with DTI, online at bnrs.dti.gov.ph. As of 2026, the fee depends on scope: ₱200 for one barangay up to ₱2,000 for the whole country, plus a ₱30 documentary stamp tax, and the registration lasts five years. A partnership or corporation registers with SEC instead.
- Mayor's permit. Every business needs a mayor's permit or municipal license from the city or municipality where it operates. Ask its business permits office for its checklist and fees, since each local government sets its own.
- BIR. Every business registers with BIR for taxes. Ask an accountant to help you register and set up your books and invoices from the start.
- SSS. If you employ anyone, including therapists and front desk staff, you register as an employer with SSS.
Get the health permits massage needs
Massage is regulated under the Code on Sanitation (Presidential Decree 856), which has its own chapter on massage clinics. These are the papers to ask about before you open:
- A sanitary permit. The rules for massage clinics say one may not open to the public without a sanitary permit from the local health officer. Your city or municipal health office inspects the space and issues it.
- Your therapists' registration. DOH's rules for massage clinics (Administrative Order 2010-0034) say only people holding a Certificate of Registration from DOH's Committee of Examiners for Massage Therapy may practice massage. It follows a written and a practical exam and is renewed every three years.
- TESDA certification. From 2015 to 2017, DOH paused that licensing and accepted TESDA's National Certificate in Massage Therapy (NC II) as the minimum. Ask which one applies to your hires today.
- Health certificates. The same DOH rules ask therapists to keep an up-to-date health certificate. In Quezon City, for example, a work permit for someone in a massage clinic asks for a health certificate number, and the business sanitary permit asks for employee health certificates.
Plan your rooms and hours
Rooms set the most you can ever sell in a day. Work it out before you sign a lease, because a space with one room too few caps your income for years.
Say you have 4 rooms, open 12 hours a day. A 60-minute massage takes about 75 minutes of room time once you add 15 minutes to change the sheets and reset. That is 9 massages per room per day, or 36 a day across four rooms. No price or promotion can sell more than that.
- Count beds, not rooms, if you have couples rooms. A couples room with two beds is two massages at once.
- Plan for the slow hours. Few spas are full at 1 PM on a Tuesday. Your prices have to work at the fill you really get.
- Leave space for laundry, storage, and a place for therapists to rest between clients.
In Onsuki, add each room or bed as a resource at your location, then set your massage services to need a room. Clients are only offered times when a therapist and a room are both free, so two clients are never booked into one room.
Hire and pay your therapists
Therapists are your product. Hire for skill and for how clients feel after the session, and confirm their certificates before their first shift.
- How many you need: decide how many massages one therapist can give in a shift and still give the last client a good one, then divide your expected daily sessions by that.
- How you pay: a base wage, a rate per service, a commission on each sale, or a mix. DOH's rules say a licensed therapist's base pay should not be below the minimum wage. For employment terms, ask an accountant or DOLE.
- How you schedule: spread shifts across your busy hours, not evenly across the day.
If you pay a commission or a rate per service, Onsuki's Commissions works out what each therapist earned for each pay period from the sales they made. See Team.
Price your menu from cost per room hour
Price each massage from what an hour of room time costs you, plus the therapist and supplies. Say your fixed costs are ₱180,000 a month for rent, aircon, water heating, front desk, laundry, and software. Four rooms open 12 hours for 30 days give 1,440 room hours, and if about half are booked, you sell 720. Each sold hour carries ₱250 of fixed cost.
| Service | Room | Therapist | Oil and linens | Cost | Price | Left for you |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60-minute massage | ₱250 | ₱250 | ₱80 | ₱580 | ₱900 | ₱320 |
| 90-minute massage | ₱375 | ₱350 | ₱100 | ₱825 | ₱1,300 | ₱475 |
The 90-minute massage leaves more per booking, and it needs one 15-minute reset for 90 minutes of selling instead of one for every hour. Extras work the same way: a hot stone add-on or 30 more minutes adds to the price for little extra cost. In Onsuki, add these as add-ons to a massage, each with its own price and time, so the calendar keeps the room for the full session.
Sell packages to bring clients back
Massage clients often come for a sore back and stay for the habit. A package turns that habit into money paid up front. Say five 60-minute massages cost ₱4,000, which is ₱800 each. That is ₱100 off the single price and still ₱220 above the example's ₱580 cost.
Give the package an expiry, such as three months for five massages, so clients keep coming at a steady pace. In Onsuki, sell it on your booking site and at the counter, and turn on Start at first booking so a client who buys ahead loses no days before the first massage. See how to sell treatment packages.
Take walk-ins and bookings on one calendar
Most massage spas get both: regulars who book ahead and people who walk in after work. Running both on paper is how one room gets promised twice. Keep everything on one calendar, and let your booking rules protect the bookings.
- Walk-ins: in Onsuki, select Walk-in, pick the massage, and see each therapist who can start, such as "Now" or "In 12 min". Each start shown fits the whole session, room included.
- Online bookings: set a Booking window so clients give you enough notice, and leave the last gaps for walk-ins.
- Late cancels and no-shows: for long or late-evening sessions, ask for a deposit and set a cancellation window. See how to reduce no-shows.
Decide how clients pay
Clients will want to pay by GCash, by bank transfer, by card, and in cash. Decide which you take before you open, and say so on your booking site and at the counter.
In Onsuki, add your own GCash, QR Ph, or bank account, and clients see it at checkout with the amount filled in, pay from their own app, and upload a receipt. The money goes straight to your account. Turn on Pay in person for clients who pay after the massage, and request PayMongo from Settings when you want card payments online. See Payments.
Onsuki runs your rooms, therapists, bookings, walk-ins, and packages from one calendar, with a booking site clients can book and pay on. See Spas.
