Spa Business Issue 4 2010
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spawww.spabusiness.com business2010 4 INTERVIEW CHRISTOPHER NORTON Overseeing 50 new spas for Four Seasons SPA SPOTLIGHT Montenegro, Morocco and the UK SPA PHILANTHROPY: Th e art of giving well JOAN LUNDEN Th e woman who created the Camp Reveille spa getaway HOT NUMBERS ASK AN EXPERT: ISPA 2010 US TURNAWAYS Spa Industry Study Tracking & recovering US SPA SECTOR FIGURES UNCOVERED lost business READER SERVICES contributors SUBSCRIPTIONS julie albone +44 (0)1462 471915 Susie Jennifer Ellis Harbottle CIRCULATION michael emmerson +44 (0)1462 471932 Susie Ellis is president Jennifer Harbottle of SpaFinder Inc, one of has been a regular EDITORIAL TEAM the world’s largest spa contributor to Spa EDITOR media and marketing Business magazine for liz terry +44 (0)1462 431385 companies. A respected analyst of the the last six years and has established MANAGING EDITOR spa and beauty industries, she serves herself as a leading commentator in katie barnes +44 (0)1462 471925 on NewBeauty magazine’s editorial the industry. Currently based in India, NEWSDESK advisory board and is also a board she focuses on writing about the Asia- sarah todd +44 (0)1462 471927 member of the Global Spa Summit. Pacifi c leisure sector. tom walker +44 (0)1462 471934 peter hayman +44 (0)1462 471938 Anni Rhianon martin nash +44 (0)1462 471911 Hood Howells NORTH AMERICA EDITOR Anni Hood is a leading Rhianon Howells was peter sargent +1 239 949 3394 global spa and wellness the launch editor expert. She specialises of Spa Business ADVERTISING TEAM in the conceptual and established it PUBLISHER/ADVERTISING SALES development, performance optimisation, as a journal of note. As consulting astrid ros +44 (0)1462 471911 strategic planning and brand expansion editor, she is closely involved with its ADVERTISING SALES of spas. She is also the founder and continuing development, while also julie badrick +44 (0)1462 471919 visionary behind KIS Lifestyle® – a new writing widely on health, fi tness, travel john challinor +44 (0)1582 607970 pro-active health and wellness concept. and leisure as a freelance journalist. stephanie rogers +44 (0)1462 471902 jan williams +44 (0)1462 471909 Andrea Terry ADVERTISING SALES – WWW.SPA-KIT.NET Jezovit Stevens sarah gibbs +44 (0)1462 471908 Andrea Jezovit, a native Dr Terry Stevens is the ADVERTISING PRODUCTION Canadian, has written managing director of ed gallagher +44 (0)1905 20198 on business, travel and UK-based leisure and SPA RECRUITMENT/TRAINING SALES lifestyle for publications tourism consultancy Canadian Business Toronto emma matthews +44 (0)1462 471907 including and Stevens & Associates. The company Life. She now lives in the UK and is specialises in strategic planning, with WEB TEAM working towards a Masters in Electronic a focus on changing market trends, WWW.SPA-KIT.NET/ Publishing. Previously, she was also a especially in the context of health and PRODUCT SEARCH ENGINE managing editor at Leisure Media. wellbeing tourism. sarah todd +44 (0)1462 471927 SPABUSINESS.COM Th e views expressed in individual articles are those michael paramore ( ) +44 0 1462 471926 of the author and do not necessarily represent those tim nash +44 (0)1462 471917 of the publisher, Th e Leisure Media Company Ltd. dean fox +44 (0)1462 471900 © Cybertrek Ltd 2010. All rights reserved. No part emma harris +44 (0)1462 471921 of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by katie eldridge +44 (0)1462 471913 any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, DESIGN recording or otherwise, without prior permission of andy bundy +44 (0)1462 471924 the copyright holder, Cybertrek Ltd. Registered at Stationers’ Hall 30851, Spa Business ISSN 1479-912X FINANCE is available on annual subscription for UK £28, sue davis +44 (0)1395 519398 Europe £38, USA/Canada £28, rest of world £38, denise gildea +44 (0)1462 471930 from the Leisure Media Company Ltd. Portmill on the cover House, Portmill Lane, Hitchin SG5 1DJ, UK. Printed CREDIT CONTROL Joan Lunden created Camp Reveille, by Mansons. ©Cybertrek 2010 ISSN 1479-912X. rebekah scott +44 (0)1462 733477 a women’s spa camp in the US (see p46) Digital edition at www.spabusiness.com/digital FIND spa business spa opportunities GREAT STAFF Uniting the world of spas Jobs, news and training online FOR YOUR SPA Spa Business subscribers work in all areas of the and in print updated daily spa market worldwide. The magazine is available in Spa Opportunities magazine focuses on print, on digital turning pages and as a PDF edition, in recruitment, careers and news and is published every two weeks. It addition to a daily website and weekly ezine. has a daily website showing all the latest jobs and a weekly ezine. 4 Read Spa Business online spabusiness.com / digital SPA BUSINESS 4 2010 ©Cybertrek 2010 editor’s letter More than mediocre f I want a technical massage, very complex soft tissue People are prepared to work or other specific bodywork, I have to confess, pay regularly for great I’dI be unlikely to visit a spa. treatments which improve Most of the treatments I have which make a fundamental diff erence to my their quality of life, body are carried out in dingy treatment health and wellbeing. rooms with hard beds and strip lighting: one therapist I visit works in a space They’re not prepared to which is little more than a cupboard. pay for fl uff and at the Yet these specialists – practising in the moment, unfortunately, fi eld of complementary medicine – are world-class and normally booked solid that’s often what you get for weeks or even months ahead. when you visit a spa My spa experiences are generally the opposite – fabulous facilities, and service, but when it comes to therapeutic value or the level of advice on off er, they oft en fall short. falling steadily since the late 90s as the number of spas has Occasionally it comes together in a beautiful spa with a great grown. In the US, for example, visits per spa per year stood at therapist to create an outstanding experience, but this is unusual over 16,000 in 1999, but are now below 7,000 (see p34). – I’d say 15 per cent of the time. Of the rest, the best you can say Unless we can make a spa visit an essential part of people’s is they’re satisfactory and (hopefully) don’t do any damage. body maintenance rather than a discretionary extra, we won’t Unfortunately, the recession has created a situation where achieve the volumes necessary to fi ll the spas that are being built. it’s increasingly diffi cult for spas to off er this compelling People are prepared to pay regularly for great treatments which combination. Th is is partly because many operators have improve their quality of life, health and wellbeing, they’re not responded to falling revenues by hiring more part-time prepared to pay for fl uff and at the moment, unfortunately, therapists who have less time for training and partly because that’s oft en what you get when you visit a spa. training budgets have been cut back. Th ere’s a danger that the balance sheet is driving the industry Th ere’s also been an understandable drive to commercialise – there’s just too much emphasis on the bricks and mortar and and streamline the experience, meaning treatments are oft en not enough on the treatments and quality of experience. We standardised, rather than personalised to the individual. need to refocus on off ering personalised, eff ective, therapeutic But the main reason is that we’re still failing to engage with services if we’re going to build up the valuable regular custom therapists working at the more curative/medical end of the which will really underpin enduring success. spectrum where these higher skill levels are oft en found. Th e industry needs to drive volume to keep up with its own Liz Terry, Editor ambitious growth targets, because visits-per-spa have been [email protected] twitter: @elizterry spa business HANDBOOK spa-kit.net Th e global resource for spa professionals Th e search engine for spa buyers The annual Spa Business Handbook brings Find the suppliers you need to equip your spa together research and vital reference content. quickly and easily. Over 57,000 buyers each Visit the website: www.spahandbook.com or month use the service, which includes sector- view it online at www.spahandbook.com/digital specifi c linked websites and a weekly ezine. SPA BUSINESS 4 2010 ©Cybertrek 2010 Read Spa Business online spabusiness.com / digital 5 in this issue Four Seasons’ Christopher Norton on opening 50 hotels with spas in the next five years, p20 La Mamounia, Marrakech, p40 Joan Lunden, p46 5|Editor’s letter 26|Everyone’s talking about: 40|Deeper underground Liz Terry on why spas need to the Indian spa market We visit Jacques Garcia’s spa at La provide more therapeutic services Andrea Jezovit talks to key figures Mamounia, Marrakech and give a about the opportunities and threats snapshot of the city’s spa market 12|Letters to India’s burgeoning spa industry Saying sorry is more effective than 46|Celebrity focus: Joan compensation, says Johannes Abeler 30|Family matters: Lunden & Jeff Konigsberg The Hougaards The US TV star and her husband 14|News The husband and wife behind India’s speak to Rhianon Howells about Starwood reveals the new in-house Serena Spa facilities and training their Camp Reveille ‘spa camp’ spa brand for St Regis hotels; Hilton institute on their successes and concept and rollout unveils its global spa concept; and ambitions.