Wellness & Wellbeing Opinion Articles

March 29, 2013

The coming Asianization of the spa business

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.

By Ingo Schweder, Founder & CEO at GOCO Hospitality, Managing Director at Horwath HTL Health & Wellness, GOCO Hospitality

Opinion Article

March 29, 2013

Wellness: Five health needs of hotel guests

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.

By Sara Stewart

Opinion Article

March 29, 2013

Spas In North America In 2020 - An increasingly integral part of hotel development

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.

By Ralph Newman, Senior VP Spa Division, HYB

United States

Opinion Article

March 12, 2013

What will it take to serve the needs of the spa consumer in 2020?

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.

By Alison Howland

Opinion Article

February 22, 2013

The Future of Spa - Lisa’s wonderful world

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.

By Susie Ellis, President of SpaFinder, HYB

Opinion Article

March 16, 2012

Hotel Spas Lag Industry Recovery

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.

By Andrea Foster, Andrea Foster is Senior Vice President - Development, Marcus Hotels

United States

Opinion Article

January 20, 2012

Hotel Spas Lag Industry Recovery, But Will Lead In Healthier Times

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.

By Andrea Foster, Andrea Foster is Senior Vice President - Development, Marcus Hotels

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The next-gen metrics that move hotel P&L

Hotel tech has changed what's possible – and measurable. RevPAR and ADR aren't enough; discover the metrics that really matter.

Mews

Opinion Article

August 10, 2011

Spa Trends - Purer Products and Protocols | Q&A with Brenda Ramen, Global Spa Director for GHM Hotels

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.

By Brenda Ramen

Opinion Article

January 17, 2011

Top ten hotel spa trends to watch in 2011

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.

HYB

Opinion Article

November 2, 2010

Spas See Greener Days Ahead

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.

Cayuga Hospitality Consultants

Opinion Article

August 6, 2010

Allison Inn & Spa - Vision, Commitment, Communication & Team-Work Lead to Success

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.

HFD Spa (Health Fitness Dynamics, Inc.)

Ad Guide

The next-gen metrics that move hotel P&L

Hotel tech has changed what's possible – and measurable. RevPAR and ADR aren't enough; discover the metrics that really matter.

Mews

Opinion Article

July 6, 2010

Spa: More Than An Indulgent Promise

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.

HYB

Opinion Article

March 18, 2010

Hotel Spas Recession Overload | By: Gabrielle Lerner

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.

CBRE Hotels

Opinion Article

March 11, 2010

Medical Tourism: A new breed of traveler with a new set of needs

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.

HYB

Opinion Article

March 11, 2010

Spa: More than an indulgent promise

HYB

Opinion Article

December 23, 2009

Spa Benchmarking: Reliable Research Versus Press Release Research

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.

HFD Spa (Health Fitness Dynamics, Inc.)

United States

Opinion Article

October 5, 2009

Medical Tourism and Hospitality in Latin America: The Lodging Industry’s Latest Nip/Tuck

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.

HVS

Opinion Article

June 19, 2009

How Spas Can Avoid a Financial Decline in 2009

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.

HFD Spa (Health Fitness Dynamics, Inc.)

Opinion Article

May 28, 2009

Spas in 2009: Bringing new professionalism to bear on ancient practices

The spa industry mixes time-honored practices and rituals with cutting-edge applications. Assessing their top five expectations for the spa industry in 2009 are Ingo Schweder, Managing Director, and Brad Fixler, Chief Marketing Officer of Bangkok-based Spatality International. Rooted in ancient traditions and long-established regional customs, the practice of spa is centuries old, yet the spa industry is relatively young. The industry’s noticeable growth of the past two decades finds it caught, not unpleasantly, in the inexorable yin-yang of the time-honored practices that have nothing to do with financial models and profit, and of, well, financial models and profit. It’s this juxtaposition that’s truly fascinating; it’s also what makes predicting trends in the spa business a worthy exercise. An exercise that beckons us to view the potential on the horizon while gently reminding us why Salus Per Aquam (“health through water”) exists in the first place. With this in mind, here are five trends we expect to see in 2009.

HYB

Opinion Article

January 8, 2009

Hotel Spas in the U.S: The Potential to Be Buoyant in 2009, However, Not Invincible

Spas continued to contribute to the top and bottom lines of U.S. hotels in 2007. Total spa department revenue increased 5.0 percent from 2006 to 2007, while spa department profits grew 5.8 percent. These are among the findings reported in PKF Consulting’s (PKF-C) recently released 2008 edition of Trends in the Hotel Spa Industry, a report that examines the revenue, expenses, and profits of hotel-operated spas in the United States.

CBRE Hotels