Tag Archives: Mayflower Inn

“Biggest Loser” Ranch Is Like a Hardcore Destination Spa

biggestloserlogo 769510 Biggest Loser Ranch Is Like a Hardcore Destination SpaI have gotten hooked on a few reality shows over the past years, but the only one on my TiVo list this season was The Biggest Loser. Even if you haven’t been following it, you will probably come across something about last night’s finale today. It was quite extraordinary.

The winner was Erik from New York. He lost 214 pounds in about eight months. What amazed me was how fit and healthy he looked – trim, muscular, energized. The footage of him when he started at more than 400 pounds, with high blood pressure (which you could see in his face) and diabetes (with which he was diagnosed during the filming of the show), was such a contrast to the man he had become at the end. It brought tears to my eyes.

Something else that struck me about the program is that all of the people who were “on the ranch” for the four months lost a great deal of weight. The show’s formula really works: exercise, nutrition, education and motivation from leadership, and forming a community among the participants. Their format is so much like some of the destination spas (pure spa settings) I know.

Last year, we started getting calls at our Spa Finder office from people wanting to know where “the ranch” was so that they could sign up and go. Well, we have learned that “the ranch” is in California, and it is only “made for TV.” But thankfully there are destination spas.

Some Spa Insider Thoughts

Other highlights of my trip to the Caribbean Spa and Wellness Conference:

  • Spending time with Nime La Fauci, our account rep for the Caribbean, and finding out that she can really make friends on the phone. Everywhere we went, people just couldn’t wait to meet her – and embraced her like a long-lost friend – despite never having met her before!
  • Reconnecting with Tiffany, who used to be my late-night-at-the-office buddy.

seepc gazebo 759359 Some Spa Insider Thoughts

  • Getting a tour of Secrets Excellence and Sunscape in Punta Cana from the impressive spa director Juan Monitijo and hearing his enthusiasm for the new couples’ treatment room they are developing, which sounded truly unique in its inclusion of a couples’ Vichy shower and a couples’ hydrotherapy tub. This is an especially good idea for properties that are “adults-only resorts,” where almost all guests are couples. He saw a need and is filling it!
  • Spending some time with Andrew Barnard, who manages the very popular Body Holiday at LeSPORT on the island of St. Lucia (and is developing additional resorts – sevmap 730408 Some Spa Insider Thoughtseral with a real estate component). We had a fascinating conversation one evening in which I found out that he participates in an extreme-sports events called the 4 Deserts. It is a series of seven-day foot races, each covering 250 kilometers, across the world’s largest and most forbidding deserts, including the Gobi in China, the Atacama in Chile, the Sahara in Egypt, and Antarctica. Andrew has already completed three of these races and is now training for the final one – Antarctica. It makes the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii look like a race for weenies.

Moroccan Spa in Dubai

DubaiParkHyatt 765788 Moroccan Spa in DubaiThe next stop was back in Dubai: Park Hyatt, Amara Spa. Loved it! The entire property was impressive with a beautifully done Moroccan theme, while avoiding being “over-themed”. I understand why people quite often describe Dubai as something between Las Vegas (without gambling) and Disneyland.

We arrived at the Park Hyatt just as the sun was setting. The entire spa was illuminated by thousands of candles and fires, which were cleverly surrounded by water features. It was really magical. I thought of calling my friend Gordon Tareta, who is the very talented head of spa operations for the Hyatt brand, to let him know how impressed I was with the spa and the management. I don’t know how he does it with so many spas under his command all around the world, but this is yet another winner!

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Tasteful desert resort and spa

Bab 736638 Tasteful desert resort and spaWow…am already back in the U.S. The last few days of my Dubai trip was a whirlwind, but I don’t want to neglect mentioning the other spas I saw and what I learned about the spa industry as a result of my visit.

Jumeriah Bab Al Shams Desert Resort and Spa is what I envision when I think “Arabian Nights”. Tasteful and stunning. This property is a 45-minute drive from Dubai straight out into the desert. Someone suggested that my sister, who was with me, take a brightly colored cloth with her on our trip. She was puzzled and asked, “Why?” The answer from the smart-alecky guy was “So you will remember what color looks like.” OK, very funny. As it turns out, we loved the pale desert setting and the understated décor of Bab Al Shams. The long stretch of desert dunes was a welcome contrast to the glitz and brash color combinations found in many of the Dubai hotel and resort settings.

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Schlep to Singapore

The plane from New York directly to Singapore is 18 1/2 hours long, a record for me. Actually, I didn’t know that planes could fly that far without stopping to refuel. Then another two-hour flight from Singapore to Bangkok and another one-hour flight from Bangkok to Hua Hin. I must say I was quite pleased when my colleague Sallie, COO of Spa Finder, Inc., and I arrived at Chiva-Som. It was a return trip for me to this award-winning destination spa in Thailand and a first for Sallie. Chiva-Som means “haven of life,” which was just what we needed after the lengthy trip to get there. I couldn’t think of a better place to collapse.
Chiva 3 774754 Schlep to Singapore
Sticking with my personal policy of having a spa treatment as soon as possible after a plane trip, I booked a Thai massage, which was performed one hour later. This was followed by a visit to my favorite relaxation room in the world. I remembered it well from my last visit. It is a dark room with just a few flickering candles and two very large waterbeds separated by hanging white gauzy silk-like material. The beds are slightly heated and covered with comfy towels and sheets. Someone I couldn’t see was snoozing away on the bed in the back, so I surrendered my body to the bed in the front–and promptly conked out. Woke up an hour or so later when the therapist came in to retrieve the other person in the room. To my surprise, it turned out to be Sallie, who had apparently also found this cocoon the perfect place to sleep off some jet lag. We had a good laugh later.

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If you wish to be put on a list that automatically sends my blog posts to your email, just let dulcy.gregory@spafinder.com know and she will add you to that list. Thanks so much!