Having spent most of my career presenting sales training for hotel front desk and room reservations agents, it has been interesting these last few years to see an increasing number of upscale hotel and resort spa managers reaching out for the same type of sales and guest service excellence training.
Over the past decade the spa industry has been booming all over the world. Many spa associations, spa certifications, spa academies, and spa awards have flourished. The goal is to guarantee the best spa experience to customers and to deliver the best service based on strong policies and procedures. A story about my most recent Spa Experience
Over the next decade, the global spa industry will be influenced more and more by trends emanating from Asia, writes Ingo Schweder, the CEO of Bangkok-based spa consultancy GOCO. Not to mention the fact that outbound travelers from that part of the world will account for an ever-growing proportion of the world's international tourists – and their expectations will be high.
Are hotels in tune with the health and well-being needs of their guests – especially those that have just arrived following a long and tiring journey ? Not always, says Sara Stewart, Managing Director of Jax Coco UK. By making five simple improvements in the things they offer their guests, hotels could make a real impact on their well-being – not to mention demonstrate their attentiveness.
As in the rest of the world, the spa industry will face some interesting challenges in the next decade in North America. How will the industry cope? How could it evolve? RALPH NEWMAN is the Chief Operating Officer of Rockville, Maryland-based WTS, a spa consultancy, and here he shares his insights with us on the outlook for the ten years to come.
That's the question we posed to Alison Howland, President of Spa Success Consultants in Palm Beach. To answer it, her systematic approach was to look at the special characteristics of each age segment, fast-forward to 2020, and visualize their future expectations. Here are the fascinating results of her thought process.
How could spa develop between now and 2020? What trends are at play, and how could they influence the shape of the business a decade from now? We asked SUSIE ELLIS, President of SpaFinder in New York and the founder of the Global Spa & Wellness Summit, to gaze into the future and describe the scenarios she sees. Her ideas make for some fascinating food for thought.
Over the years, PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR) has analyzed the cyclical nature of lodging industry. Most recently, a lot of attention has been paid to the pace of recovery from the depths of the industry recession in 2009. Typical of historical recovery sequences, lodging demand and occupancy levels bounced back strongly in 2010, followed by real increases in average daily room rates (ADR) in 2011.
The great recession appears to have been harder on hotel spa operations than on hotels themselves. According to a new study released by PKF Consulting USA (PKFC), hotel spas experienced deeper declines in revenues and profits than did hotels, as measured by RevPAR, in 2008 and 2009 and also are taking longer to recover. While the hotel industry began to improve in the second quarter of 2010, hotel spas did not show signs of a rebound until 2011. The good news is that spa revenues are expected to continue to grow and even outpace hotel RevPAR changes over the next few years as the economy improves and personal income levels begin to rise.
In July, Ramen shepherds the hotel and resort group's spas through its most significant makeover yet, jettisoning products, adopting new organic lines from Voya, Ila and SpaRitual and bearing down on holistic principles.
More and more hotels are recognizing the importance of spa in their product offer, with recent research demonstrating that the presence of a spa justifies higher ADR – not to mention its potential to attract guests who are increasingly wellness-minded. We asked SUSIE ELLIS, the President of New York-based SpaFinder, Inc. to share with Hotel Yearbook readers her insights on which spa trends will have the biggest potential to have an impact on the hotel industry next year.
With the economy slowly pulling itself out of the doldrums, businesses are still cautious as are consumers. Every dollar is being scrutinized to maximize purchase. Over the past two years consumers have demonstrated that their discretionary spending is limited to high value/price goods and services. The spa industry has been similarly affected. The "...build it and they will come" approach is outdated because simply offering pampering and self indulgent services doesn't seem to resonate with most consumers. Savvy spa goers expect more, and spas need to adopt, promote and deliver on value propositions that address customers' needs and concerns within the framework of the current economic conditions.
Newberg, Oregon is the site for one of the newest lifestyle resorts in the United States. Since its opening in September 2009, The Allison Inn & Spa, a Preferred Hotels & Resorts member, has established itself as the premier destination resort in Oregon’s renowned wine region in the Willamette Valley. Both the resort and spa were individually featured in the Conde Nast’s Traveler 2010 Hot List. Demonstrating that luxury can also be “green,” the resort was awarded LEED Gold certification by U.S. Green Building Council. The Allison’s development team recognized early that a spa would be a key ingredient for the resort’s overall success. The fruitful result is an integrated, full-service luxury spa that provides the perfect complement to the Inn’s winning formula of relaxed style, comfort, and service.
What’s the outlook for hotel spa development in 2010 ? MIA KYRICOS, Director of Global Spa Brands & Programming for STARWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS WORLDWIDE, Inc., gives us her take via that tried and true standby, a S.W.O.T. analysis.
As we enter 2010, words like, “economic downturn” and “recession” are still lingering in everyone’s minds. The service industry among others was significantly impacted by the events commencing in the fall of 2008 and unfortunately, hotel spas were not immune. Hotel spa operators reported that they began to feel the impacts of the economic events early on in 2008, especially those within the luxury hotel segment.
RENEE-MARIE STEPHANO, President of the West Palm Beach-based MEDICAL TOURISM ASSOCIATION, and DAN CORMANY, graduate student at the UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA-LAS VEGAS, offer hotels a detailed guide to innovative new revenue opportunities.
What’s the outlook for hotel spa development in 2010 ? MIA KYRICOS, Director of Global Spa Brands & Programming for STARWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS WORLDWIDE, Inc., gives us her take via that tried and true standby, a S.W.O.T. analysis.
Spa Benchmarking is one of the “hottest” topics in the spa and hospitality industries. It is a relatively new discipline; therefore, it is filled with challenges and opportunities. While spa benchmarking studies are very much needed, not all studies are useful... some can actually be quite damaging and harmful. There are too many studies that lack credibility, integrity, quality and reliability, yet they receive significant press coverage. Poor information, conclusions and recommendations can be very detrimental when a spa relies on this information to make operational, personnel, marketing and investment decisions.
Skyrocketing healthcare costs in the United States and other nations have spawned increasing interest in seeking medical procedures abroad. The phenomenon, known as medical tourism, is bringing increasing demand to select lodging markets in foreign countries. High demand for this synergy between global tourism, hospitality, and healthcare services has the potential to fuel mutual growth, putting international hotel and resort operations in a position to take advantage.
Many people have said that spas are recession-proof. People go to a spa in tough times to relieve stress, and they go in good times to celebrate. Spas are places for “me” time to relax and find some balance, but they are also places for “we” time to connect with others for personal and professional reasons. While spas can physically, psychologically, socially and emotionally meet the needs of many people, the challenge is to do so in a financially feasible way. Many spas have been their own worst enemy by getting caught up in the “greed” factor (very high treatment prices). This has caused consumers to re-evaluate the genuine “need” and ability for them to visit the spa. Spas are realizing that their “feel good” bubble may burst if they do not respond to the challenging economic realities.