Tag Archives: Hamam

2) SpaFinder Spa Trend 2010: Year of the Hammam – Revisited

Continuing on with my review of SpaFinder’s 2010 Top 10 Spa Trends (and then evaluating how the trend actually developed), we predicted an increasing popularity of hammams.

Admittedly this trend took many people by surprise, in fact, I don’t think anyone really saw this one coming! (I love it when that happens!) Our research, however, put this one on our radar. Having the chance to speak with many companies who create hydro and thermal experiences for spas, I knew that there were more hammams on the drawing board than in years past. The spas at the Mandarin Oriental in Las Vegas and Trump Soho in New York were under construction and both would have hammams. I knew that would be big news. What I didn’t know was whether or not these spas would host authentic hammams, or if they would simply put the name hammam on a steam room (which is one of my pet peeves). I was happy to learn that both committed to the traditional experience, even using authentic terms such as kese, pestemal, and belly stone for example. The New York Times even made it a point to compliment the effort toward authenticity.

Here is what we wrote about the trend a year ago:

Spa Trend #2: The Year of the Hammam

With spa-goers increasingly seeking authenticity, tradition, and that magical spa experience that also offers true results, the Eastern European/Middle Eastern/North African hammam (hamam in Turkey) represents one of the hottest trends for 2010, albeit with a distinctly modern expression. This is the year in which people who’ve never heard the term hammam will learn its meaning, and those already familiar with it will discover new places to experience it.

Anyone who has sampled this age-old ritual of cleansing and purification will not be surprised by its rising popularity. The combination of a vigorous full-body scrub and bubbly soaping, now often capped by a full-body massage, makes for an extraordinary experience, with results that last weeks. A traditional hammam, from an Arabic word meaning “heat,” consists of a hot room (the sıcaklık, or hararet), a warm, intermediate room, and the cool room (or soğukluk). And these are not ordinary rooms but typically architectural marvels.

Spa-goers love hammams because one can extend this Eastern European/Middle Eastern/North African multicircuit bathing experience for hours. Spa owners love them because of their photogenic “wow” design and the opportunity to make money, since the treatment requires a therapist and allows for top dollar/Euro pricing. And although traditionally they’ve been a same-sex experience, new modern twists have broadened the experience to couples.

Travel to venerable hammams like the 16th-century Çemberlita in Istanbul will increase, while brand-new spas will unveil distinctly modern incarnations. Introduced to the modern spa scene by lavish Middle Eastern resort spas (such as Dubai’s One and Only Royal Mirage or Morocco’s La Mamounia), next-generation versions are already gaining popularity in Europe, where top spa builders and product manufacturers report a serious increase in requests for a hammam component in new spa design. The trend is hitting North America: Ten Spa in Winnipeg, Canada opened a few years ago with a hamam and offers a variety of experiences including their “Hamam Fully Loaded” treatment. This year both the Drift Spa at Palms Place and Mandarin Oriental in Las Vegas recently rolled out hammams, as did the new InterContinental Montelucia in Arizona. Trump Soho in Manhattan (slated for early 2010) will boast separate luxury hammams for men and women. And expect Turkish hammams in both the Traymore and Epic Hotels in Miami. You can also expect more floating versions on cruise ships soon.

And delegates attending the 2010 Global Spa Summit (fittingly taking place in Istanbul next May) will sample both ancient and modern local interpretations. In the future, look for sauna or steam rooms around the world inappropriately labeled “hammams” to be taken to task as the industry commits to higher standards of authenticity.

So how did we do? I think this one was a mixed bag; clearly there was buzz about hammams as expected, however, there were several on the drawing board that were nixed due to the recession. I was somewhat disappointed to find out that some hammams in the U.S. (Drift Spa, Traymore and Epic) are still used as steam rooms without the great scrubbing, soaping, and detoxing ritual that makes it such a great treatment.

On the other hand, I was really impressed with some of the exciting new products that gave nods to the hammam including: The Red Flower Hammam Range, Davines Hammam Soap Ritual, and the wonderfully fragrant line of hammam blend oils from [comfort zone].

Finally, I am proud of the fact that our alliance with NewBeauty Magazine, which now includes a SpaFinder supplement with each issue, showcased hammams in their inaugural issue! Furthermore, because the Global Spa Summit was held in Istanbul, and most of the 250 delegates experienced a traditional hammam ritual, I am very optomistic that we will continue to see more true hammams develop around the world.

So, my grade for this trend would be an A -. I am giving myself some extra credit for having taken the risk to predict something totally out of the blue!

More information on Hammam.

My twitter address: @susieellis

A Day of Good News for Spas

A Day of Good News for Spas
by Susie Ellis, SpaFinder Insider

Peter (my husband and CEO of our company for those who are new to the blog) was in Florida this weekend and stopped by to say hi and congratulations to Paul Lehr, President of Pritikin Longevity Center and Spa. We had recently heard the exciting news that next month Pritikin is moving from their current location at the Turnberry Isle Yacht Club in Aventura, Florida, to the lovely Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami. (More details here.)

I think it will be a great move for Pritikin and the Doral. Pritikin has one of the highest success rates of any health and weight-loss program in the world, however their facilities weren’t the greatest. Now they will have the whole package. (I also noticed that they have a fresh new website and a hip new logo.)

Although it was fun to hear details about their upcoming move, the most exciting news to me was Peter reporting Pritikin was 100 percent full this week! Wow – that is great news.

But there was more good news to come. Yesterday morning, here in New York, I was having breakfast with Deborah Szekely (founder of Rancho La Puerta). I asked her how everything was going at the Ranch. Her answer? “Things are going very well, we’ve been 100 percent full.” Wow – more music to my ears!

I mention this because while it’s one thing to read news like Deloitte’s recent survey reporting that Consumers are More Optimistic, it’s another thing to hear the real numbers out there. While the spa industry has been more resilient during the recession than hospitality in general, it certainly was affected and it’s nice to see that people are once again investing in their health.

The only negative – I was just beginning to enjoy being able to call a spa last-minute and get in right away for a massage. Oh well.
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Calling All Spas to a Higher Level of Professionalism

By Susie Ellis, SpaFinder Insider

Houston, we have a problem. Within the past two weeks we have had these headlines:

“What Happened at the Weston MedSpa that Left Rohie Kah Brain Dead?” (Sept. 30)
(A woman in Florida went in for Carboxytherapy, a “medical service” that injects carbon dioxide into a patient to improve the appearance of cellulite or stretch marks.)

“2 die and 16 Are Sickened at Spa in Arizona” (Oct. 10)
(They were part of a group of about 48 people taking part in a sweat lodge ceremony at Angel Valley Retreat Center in Sedona.)

“Astoria Spa under fire over ‘fish pedicures” (Oct. 12)
(Astoria’s Ritz Nail and Spa in Astoria, Queens New York practiced a “fish pedicure,” where part of the exfoliation process involves fish nibbling on client’s toes, which is considered by many to be unsanitary.)

Sadly the term “spa” is in each of these headlines. We can no longer argue the case that these facilities were mis-labeled. The term spa has become an umbrella term under which many businesses operate. Categories include: resorts and hotels with spas, new age retreats, med spas, mineral springs spas, beauty clinics, integrative wellness centers and others. The generally accepted definition of spa, as defined by the Global Spa Economy Report (now in wide release and available on the website), states that “spas are establishments that promote wellness through the provision of therapeutic and other professional services aimed at renewing the body, mind, and spirit.” This means that the three places mentioned above would likely consider themselves a spa. In the first case, a health retreat, in the second a med spa, and in the third a day spa.

Even those who have, for years, argued that a spa must have water therapies would not be able to distance themselves totally from the fish pedicure, which originated in a hot spring near Kangal, Turkey. The Garra Rufa fish were well-known there for their benefit in battling skin diseases.

Arguing about labels is not going to be fruitful. We must do much more.

While I have written about this in the past, I would like to emphasize it again: the spa industry must take itself more seriously. Not only should we consider what we do important in terms of contributing to people’s health, transformation, and the prevention of illness in general, but we must also require a higher standard of ourselves, our employees, and all places of business which use the spa label.

Our industry is making a great deal of headway in terms of prevention and providing valuable solutions to lifestyle issues through our emphasis on exercise, healthy nutrition, stress reduction, and education. Just this past month I attended Dr. Brent Bauer’s (Mayo Clinic) presentation at the ISPA conference on prevention, health and spas; presented Dr. Andrew Weil the 2010 SpaFinder Visionary Award here in NYC for his role in embracing the value of spas for health and well-being; and secured Dr. Ken Pelletier, author of dozens of books including New Medicine as a participant and speaker for the upcoming 2010 Global Spa Summit in May.

No doubt negative headlines sadden us all. And just like hospitals, corporations, government agencies, and the like, which occasionally get bad publicity because of mistakes, poor judgment or worse, we must do everything we can to minimize and ideally eliminate negatives associated with spas. Here are a few things I think we could do in response:

1. Headline science and not sensationalism. We should quit feeding the media stories like massages with snakes, pedicures with fish, or massage oils with diamonds (which even I have written about). Drop the tarot cards and astrology readings. Embrace the many evidenced based modalities that have been shown to produce real benefit (massage, exercise, good nutrition, breath work, meditation, body scrubs, etc).

We should produce a work titled something like, “Spa Treatments: The Science” and give it to every spa professional around the world and make it available to the media and consumers. It should catalog scientific studies which support the spa treatments we advocate in our spas.

2. Insist on transparency. We should encourage consumer input, industry feedback and make good use of shopping services – or establish our own. We must be transparent in our dealings and communications and insist on transparency from others.

3. Adhere strictly to regulations. We should confront and report those who are attempting shortcuts. We need to make certain that we are fully licensed in every aspect and even go beyond the minimums in many cases. That includes licensing for medical spas, licensing for massage therapists and aestheticians, enforcing rules on sanitation, how long you sterilize manicure tools, etc. We must commit to adhering to regulations in full and not be afraid if additional requirements are added.

Finally, I think it is important that every spa and every company in our industry does its part. Some initiatives that are helpful include ISPA’s code of conduct to which spas voluntarily submit, SpaQuality and other organizations who check standards, provide education, assessment, and certification programs, articles in industry spa magazines which showcase best practices, the Green Spa Network’s effort to promote sustainability, and many more.

A few examples from SpaFinder:
a) We added and encourage consumer spa reviews to give the consumer a voice in identifying issues that need to be addressed (and we allow the spa manager to respon.d)
b) We do not allow tanning beds to be marketed on Spafinder.com
c) We take spas off of our site when we see a pattern of complaints
d) We try to educate the industry on such things as the impropriety of writing fake reviews
e) We are currently taking
extra steps to check out the medical spas listed on our site to make sure they are licensed and give more information about the doctor’s licensing to the consumer

There are more initiatives in the works however after the recent flurry of unfortunate headlines, I think it would be great if we all step-it-up-a-notch. I hope many will join us.

Please do share your thoughts.
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Report re European Spa Summit at Beyond Beauty Expo in Paris

Report re European Spa Summit at Beyond Beauty Expo in Paris
by Susie Ellis, SpaFinder Insider

It’s always a treat to be able to attend a spa conference outside of the U.S. There are fresh viewpoints, new spas to discover, and emerging trends to observe. There’s just nothing like being present to witness actual dialogue and the exchange of ideas – sometimes quite different than my own.

One example is the French woman who dominated the microphone during question and answer periods and minced no words in voicing her opinion that the French have led the spa industry for centuries and don’t need to be taught anything from foreigners. Another example is the gentleman from Austria who was embarassed by, and felt strongly that the number one problem for the European spa industry is the lack of gracious hospitality. Interesting perspectives.

There were approximately 20 presentations and 30 speakers. Here are a few tidbits, which resonated with me:

1. Marion Schneider, from Toskana World in Germany, spoke about the importance of teaching your staff English – or at least enough English so that they are comfortable conversing with guests. As she so clearly said….”if you don’t teach your staff English, they will hide.” I had never really thought of it that way, however I think she makes a good point. The language barrier isn’t just an issue when it comes to not being able to understand the guest’s needs, but it is a further impediment because the therapist feels intimidated and therefore is shy about interacting with guests at all.

2. Kevin Turnbull, from SpaFinder EMEA in the UK, used Bill Clinton’s successful campaign slogan as a reference point – he suggested that instead of the line, “It’s the economy stupid,” our industry adopt the line “It’s the customer stupid.” We do have a tendency to spend a lot of time discussing industry issues, when in fact we should be paying more attention to the consumer and their likes and dislikes. Kevin also made a good point that when it comes to the European spa industry, “we are going from wellness to wellness.” The roots are wellness, and we are back there again.

3. Raoul Sudre, from Aspen Spa Management in Florida, gave several talks. My favorite one was his presentaiton on spa trends (of course). Raoul has been in the spa industry 50 years and I respect his perspective on trends as a result!

It isn’t just about the amount of time he has been in the spa arena (half a century!)…after all there are many others who have been in the spa industry that long: Deborah Szekely (Rancho La Puerta and Golden Door), Enid and Mel Zuckerman (Canyon Ranch), Sheila Cluff (The Oaks), and Dorthy Purdue (Champneys) come to mind. However, Raoul has a broader global view because unlike the others mentioned here, he did not focus primarily on one or two properties during his career. Rather, Raoul traveled all over the world for decades and has consulted and developed spas in more countries than probably anyone else.

A few trends he predicts:

Greater customization
No more locker rooms
Adjusting spa design as people become more claustrophobic.
Change in terminology….i.e. the word spa will always have something else attached to it. Examples: Yoga Spa, Sexual Health Spa, Boot Camp Spa, Medical Wellness Spa, etc.
Energy medicine
Spa and fitness separating (I disagree with him on this one)
Spa packages are coming back “in” – but now they are packages including hydro and thermal treatments rather than facials and massage and such.

4. Christopher Norton, GM of Four Seasons George V in Paris, and his spa manager Verena Fox, gave a memorable presentation about their spa’s continued increase in revenue despite the challenging economic climate. They were very transparent with their numbers – which everyone appreciated. (Even the French woman who had been dominating the Q & A had something positive to say about their presentation!) Here is a recap of their yearly revenue in Euros:

2007-1.9 service, 258,000 retail, 5.6% profit

2008 2.2 service, 414,000 retail, 18% profit

2009 (year-to-date): on track to beat both service and retail and currently showing 19% profit!

Then the very astute Verena shared some secrets of how she made this magic happen: more sales training, more up-sell training, more day guests, inviting journalists for free treatments, offering free makeup sessions for clientele, encouraging men as guests (because they spend more money than women) and…..(this was a new one for me) training on how to wrap packages!
Oui, oui, ou la la!

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Flying Will Never be the Same – Spas to the Rescue

Flying will Never be the Same – Spas to the Rescue

by Susie Ellis

SpaFinder Insider

As I was boarding my American Airlines flight from New York to San Francisco there was a young woman handing out free Internet cards to anyone who wanted one. I immediately realized that this must be one of those flights where you can connect to the Internet while in flight. I knew that some airlines on some routes were now offering this, however this was the first time I would actually have a chance to test it out.

And so I did. The card gave me a promotion code which allowed me to save the $12 fee that they would normally charge me to be connected to the Internet for the entire length of the flight. A fair price I thought.

To my surprise, it was extremely easy to connect to the Internet and the connection was fantastic the entire time, even during turbulence. I was in email heaven. 5 1/2 hours of uninterrupted time to send and receive emails. No phone calls, no co-workers stopping by to ask questions – I really got a lot done.

The only downside was that my eyes became extremely dry. I learned from my eye doctor many years ago that when we work on the computer, we don’t blink as often and so our eyes can become irritated and red. Since it is very dry on airplanes, the not blinking as often can cause even more problems.

So my time to read and relax on planes is probably over. That’s sad. However the option to work via Internet is really exciting. My husband is already upset since airline trips were the one place he felt that he didn’t have to compete with my Blackberry.

kindle 788913 Flying Will Never be the Same Spas to the Rescue

But there is another change I noticed during this flight. That change had to do with what people (who weren’t on the Internet) were doing. It seemed like almost everyone around me was reading on a Kindle. (shown here on the left) And that’s when it hit me…..these developments are going to accelerate and become an even greater negative for the print industry. We all know that print media is struggling because of the Internet’s increasing dominance, yet the one bright spot that many had pointed out to me was that people still loved buying magazines at airports to read during flights. Well, I imagine that’s going to change.

With Internet service on flights and Kindles which give you access to books, newspapers and magazines, a new era is being ushered in. On the one hand it is sad to see these changes, on the other hand the technology has given us more options and more convenience.

What it does say to me, however, is that spas are becoming more important than ever as people’s stress levels continue to escalate. The spa is still a sanctuary where we can de-stress and rejuvenate.

Let’s just hope that no one figures out how to get the Internet or Kindles into the massage room.

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