Tag Archives: Peter Ellis

A Conversation Comparing Spa Hospitality Management Programs

HMI026 Emanuel Berger small 747082 A Conversation Comparing Spa Hospitality Management ProgramsHad an interesting conversation this evening with Emanuel Berger, managing director for the Victoria-Jungfrau Collection. Several of his properties – all in Switzerland – have outstanding spas. I asked Mr. Berger which hospitality school in the world he would rate number one. He said that he still feels Lausanne Hotel School is best – and confessed to being a bit prejudiced because he is on the school’s advisory board.

I did think it interesting to hear him compare Lausanne with Cornell (the school he considers number two). He feels that the emphasis at Cornell is on numbers – marketing, profitability, revenue management, etc. – and that the Swiss school stresses the art of service and management. He did also say that a spa management course is very much needed. At the moment there isn’t anything spa-related at the Lausanne Hotel School. I know that Cornell has had a spa course taught by Dr. Mary Tabacchi for quite some time. Both schools, in my opinion, could use more spa management training programs. We need that expertise in our industry.

New Spa Brand Added to Club with Twelve Golf Courses!

missionhillslogoball 719013 New Spa Brand Added to Club with Twelve Golf Courses!Where is the world’s largest golf club? If someone had asked me that question, I would not have guessed China. But that is the correct answer.

Mission Hills, located about 30 minutes outside of Hong Kong, has been accredited by the Guinness World Records as the World’s Largest Golf Club. It has twelve 18-hole golf courses! The previous owner of this title was Pinehurst in the U.S., with ten golf courses.

And now Mission Hills is focusing on its new spas with the goal of becoming the leading wellness and leisure brand in Asia.

Currently the brand has these spas either open or under construction:
1. Spring Hill – Clubhouse Spa
2. Forest Springs – Clubhouse Spa
3. Spring Valley – Resort Spa
4. Wellsprings – Destination Spa

The company’s destination spa, set to open in the third quarter of this year, will have some of the most elaborate and exquisite European-style bathing facilities and rituals anywhere in Asia.

They are spending 123 million HKD (about $15.8 million or 12.1 million euros) on their four spas.

I’m looking forward to watching the development of this project combining golf, spa, residences, and hotel and resort living to create a mammoth health-oriented community.

Now if I could only keep the names of the four spas straight in my head…

Got “BlackBerry Thumb”? Spas to the Rescue!

blackberry 7100x 776107 Got BlackBerry Thumb? Spas to the Rescue!Well, I just finished a quick video interview for NBC as part of a story they are doing on spa services such as the BlackBerry Hand Massage. They are trying to ascertain whether or not this is a trend. Since we had the BlackBerry Hand Massage as part of our “Hot and Getting Hotter List,” it was easy for me to confirm that we do see this as a trend.

Preparing for the interview gave me a chance to read up on RSI (repetitive stress injuries) and to take a look at what spas are doing to address some of these technology-related maladies. I found names such as “tech neck,” “BlackBerry thumb,” and “iPod finger.” Some of the more progressive spas out there are indeed offering treatments to help clients suffering from these problems.

It’s fascinating how widespread (and expensive!) these injuries have gotten. Here is a quote I found astonishing: “Repetitive musculoskeletal injuries like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome have become the nation’s leading workplace health cost. RSI represents 62% of all North American WC claims and result in nearly $15-20 billion in lost work time and Workers Compensation claims each year.” That’s from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

And I think this is just the beginning…..

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.

In This Case a White Spa is the Ultimate Luxury

In This Case a White Spa is the Ultimate Luxury“Wow, that spa is so clean!” Those were the first words my brother-in-law, Bill Formby, said when I asked him how his massage was at the new Mayflower Spa this weekend. I had to laugh because there are so many extraordinary aspects of this new spa that could be mentioned (the setting, the artwork, the spaciousness, the quality of treatments), but he reminded me that for many people cleanliness is still the ultimate measure of spa quality. And this one gets an A+ for cleanliness.

My husband and I did our annual trek to the country this weekend to see the color change. We usually drive up to the Mayflower Inn in Washington, Connecticut for lunch during the peak color season, but this year we decided to stay overnight since my twin sister and her husband, Bill, were there for a five-day spa vacation.

Part of the reason why this spa is super clean is: Because it has to be. Adriana Mnuchin and her daughter, Lisa Hedley, who are the proprieters, were brave enough to select white as their dominant color – with accents of the most beautiful eggshell, pale blue, yellow, and celedon. When entering the 20,000-square-foot facility, everyone is asked to take off their shoes and put on slippers. Dining room chairs are in plush white fabric (can you believe such a thing?), lounge chairs are in creme and white upholstery with white chenille throws, etc. Draperies are of various white sheer fabrics, the tiles are pale mosaics in very light colors with a hint of shimmer, and the entire pool and Jacuzzi are tiled so that while you are swimming light dances on the water. Even the book coverings in the library are mostly white!
2006SeptOct 704225 In This Case a White Spa is the Ultimate Luxury
This kind of detail is what makes the Mayflower Inn and Spa so extraordinary and why it has already garnered praise (such as Good Morning America naming it the No. 1 Spa in America after it was opened only a few months), and why it made the cover of a recent issue of Luxury SpaFinder Magazine.

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