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Calling All Spas to a Higher Level of Professionalism

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:

abcnews generic 731096 Calling All Spas to a Higher Level of Professionalism
“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.)

nytlogo379x64 761728 Calling All Spas to a Higher Level of Professionalism“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.)

nyp logo 360x50 728561 Calling All Spas to a Higher Level of Professionalism“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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Flying Will Never be the Same – Spas to the Rescue

internetonflights 730136 Flying Will Never be the Same Spas to the RescueFlying 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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Grand Hotel Europe’s Planet Fitness Spa

I check in. Grand Hotel Europe is an Orient-Express Hotel and one of the grand dames in the field. I feel instantly at home. A quick call to reception lets me know that, yes, there’s a spa. I call and book a manicure/pedicure and massage. Naturally I want to see what these will be like in Russia.spa 704555 Grand Hotel Europes Planet Fitness Spa

The facility is just okay. You have to go through the pool area to get to the fitness area and through the fitness area to get to the solarium, and through the salon to get to the locker room, etc. Looks like a result of adding on rooms haphazardly. But the skill of the therapists made up for all of this. My pedicure was more of a medical pedicure and was simply outstanding. My massage was performed by a gentleman who likely had medical training as they all do here.

A few nuances: The nail therapist scooped everything out of jars using a sea shell; I was offered a choice of neck pillows with different aromatherapy scents (which she would later heat); and the spa used several product lines: Kerstin Florian, a line from Bali, and a line from Austria, which I thought was quite interesting. The rooms had candles. The menu was quite extensive. One staff member spoke English and served as interpreter for any non-Russian-speaking guests. I believe there were only two other spa guests while I was there.