Tag Archives: Spa Trends

3) SpaFinder Spa Trend 2010: Not “Going to” But “Belonging to” a Spa – Revisited

membership 3) SpaFinder Spa Trend 2010: Not “Going to” But “Belonging to” a Spa RevisitedContinuing on with my review of SpaFinder’s 2010 Top 10 Spa Trends (and then evaluating how the trend actually developed), let’s looks at #3: Not “Going to” But “Belonging to” a Spa.  This trend has been huge for 2010 and, in some ways, even exceeded our expectations; there has been a significant effort to create this “belonging” aspect online as well!

In fact here is an article by Jane McGonigal called The Engagement Economy that shows just how important engaging customers is becoming, and how doing so online is becoming a real art.  (You might also enjoy her recent TED talk.)

3) Not “Going to” But “Belonging to” a Spa

No longer a place where you infrequently “go” for the occasional treatment, spas are being creatively reimagined as places of “belonging”—not only literally, through the rise in membership programs, but also in the diverse ways spas are being recast as social or communal hubs—contributing the additional, although unspoken, benefit of emotional health.

Five years ago, it would be difficult to imagine the spa as your “hangout,” where everyone knows your name, but new industry approaches are making “spa belonging” a reality, and in 2010 consumers will further bond with their less forbidding spas, as they increasingly hit the spa to connect with others.

According to a recent SpaFinder global survey, only a small percentage of spas have some kind of membership program today, but 23 percent report they’re actively considering implementing one. The membership model is an extremely savvy strategy for tough times (and beyond), keeping valued clients close; filling therapist time; helping “stay” spas attract local, day customers; and increasing revenue from membership fees/dues. (Note: Spa clients spend on average 18 percent more after they become members.) And consumers love the (often significantly) reduced treatment rates, the incremental, personal discounts, and rewards/loyalty programs.

Every species of spa is rolling out memberships: popular day spa chains like California’s Burke-Williams and Total Woman, urban hotel spas like the Peninsula NYC and the Intercontinental in San Francisco, destination spas like the Oaks at Ojai in California, even spa residences like Canyon Ranch Living and mobile spas like the UK’s TherapyClub.com.

But “belonging” transcends mere membership, as spas are transforming themselves into places of community, education, and social mingling with events like free meditation sessions at lunch, wellness speakers/classes in the evening, parties, fundraisers, local philanthropic events, spa hiking/walking groups, and book clubs. The industry is getting innovative with this “Social Spa-ing 2.0”: Consider the wine lounge at the new Caudalie Spa at New York’s Plaza Hotel, where bathrobe-clad spa-goers enjoy wine tasting while chatting with the sommelier (and each other) posttreatment.

Look for significantly more programs at spas next year that bond consumers to spas and people to each other. After all, winning designs submitted by grad students at the 2009 Global Spa Summit Student Strategy Challenge revealed that the next generation of spa designers find the current spa environment, in a word, boring and imagine the “spa of the future” as a multiuse communal space revolving around a lounge/bar/”hangout” area, even incorporating online social media connections.

I think it will be interesting to watch how spas continue to engage their customers and how valuable consumers find this ongoing relationship with their spa – whether it is in person or online.  (hint hint… one of the 2011 trends we are tracking looks at the next generation of ”belonging to the spa.”)  But I digress.  On this 2010 spa trend prediction I would say we deserve an A for identifying it, and a minus for not having mentioned that this also pertained to online.  Grade?  A-

My twitter address: @susieellis

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

trump hammamimage003 300x274 2) SpaFinder Spa Trend 2010: Year of the Hammam RevisitedContinuing 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

Top 10 Spa Trends for the Past DECADE

top10 745981 Top 10 Spa Trends for the Past DECADE

Susie Ellis, SpaFinder Insider.
 
2000 – 2010
While SpaFinder has been predicting spa trends yearly for most of the last decade, this is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to sum up the top 10 spa trends that developed over the past 10 years.
And what a decade it was! From organic to indigenous, social spa-ing to the online spa scene, ‘spa’ was transformed as the industry met global challenges with innovations that will positively impact us all for years to come.
Our list of the decade’s ‘Top 10’ includes trends that we forecast over the years that proved to be the most enduring. However, I also challenged our team to take a look at some trends we may not have selected for our yearly top 10 list – those that weren’t evident, yet in retrospect were a real game-changer. Indeed, we found one ‘biggee.’
Here then is what we judge as the top 10 spa trends of the past decade:
1. Indigenous Treatments While one would see the use of local ingredients and local customs on occasion at spas decades ago, during the past decade this became an almost unspoken rule. Not only do local ingredients and customs provide a healthy native flavor, they are a special experience that could not be easily replicated. From a lomi lomi massage in Hawaii to the Royal Javanese Lular wedding ritual from Indonesia, indigenous treatments gave spas a sense of place that made each spa-going experience around the world truly unique.
2. Medicine and Spa In the early 90’s there was very little overlap between medicine and spas. That has changed dramatically over the last 10 years. With more doctors ‘discovering’ that spas add to health and reduce stress through their own experience (perhaps a massage after a round of golf at a medical retreat) the spa world and the medical world began talking. Then when Botox arrived in 2002, a new type of aesthetic/medical spa was born and the spa and medicine connection was solidified. Spas also got their act together, becoming more transparent and down-playing the ‘woo woo’ factor.
3. Organic This was the big story in spa products for the decade. The popularity of organic and ‘green’ helped several obscure organic lines make it big, and nearly all spa product companies launched their own branded organic lines. The organic trend also helped open the door for a new eco-friendly, environmentally conscious zeitgeist in the spa arena that while it's not yet garnering universal praise, at least has gotten things going in the right direction.
4. Men While the decade saw a range of new demographics enter the spa arena, from teens to pre-teens to babies and seniors, it was the steady stream of men who began making spa-going part of their lives that has had the greatest impact. While it took some doing to get men to try a spa for the first time, almost universally their first time resulted in a second and third, etc. Men found that there was more to this spa-going thing than just idle pampering – it was, in fact, the quickest way for them to reduce stress (something that there was plenty of in this decade) , help improve their sports performance and a healthy way to move from feeling poorly to feeling great.
5. Wellness The word wellness was hardly used in the 90’s and did not really appear on the scene until after the millennium. Starting in Europe as a term that combined fitness and well being, it gained momentum because for Europeans the word ‘spa’ had a different connotation (water treatments for sick older people) and the newer spas (ushered in by the swanky Brenner’s Park Hotel and Spa in Baden Baden) were associated with expense and pretension. Thus the word wellness was a good word to describe places that offered fitness, massage, medical testing, and healthy nutrition – the very things that spas are known for.
6. Yin of Luxury, Yang of Discount While the decade may have ended with more emphasis on the yang of discount, the decade definitely spent quite a bit of time in the yin of luxury. The reality is that with more than 80,000 spas in the world now, there is plenty of yin and plenty of yang to go around. One can find bargain-priced massages and other spa treatments in most countries alongside sky-high-priced options with bejeweled massage oils and exotic over-the-top settings to suit any taste and budget.
7. Spa Comes Home The influence of spa on the home started at the beginning of the decade as a simple purchase of a candle to use in the bath and perhaps the addition of a loofah sponge. It has blossomed into an entire industry of spa-type products, services, and furniture experienced at home. Taking the trend even further was the birth of ‘spa real estate’ –luxury high-rises and communities with spectacular spas where one could purchase a residence and truly live the spa lifestyle. Spa-ing burst out of the confines of the walls of an establishment labeled 'spa', and the new term ‘spa lifestyle’ described a way of living for those looking for a healthy life.
8. Online Spa I remember lamenting to my husband at the turn of the millennium that I wished there were more spas that had a website. His answer? Just wait, they will all have one soon. Well of course he was right. Today every spa – and even therapists and practitioners – has its own website and consumers can book spa appointments online, buy spa products, review spas and fully engage in spa-related social networking. And with technology solutions for wellness coaching and medical diagnosis, the entire spa experience is becoming available through the Internet. Only the therapists’ hands haven’t been brought online – yet.
9. Social Spa-ing While spas put emphasis on the pillars of exercise, nutrition, body and beauty treatments, the social aspect of spa going was not often discussed until recently. Now we know that social spa-ing – just like spa programs for sleep health and brain health – is a recognized contributor to health. From the isolation of a massage therapy room and a whisper-friendly relaxation lounge, has come the idea that mingling and socializing is a healthy thing to do.
10. Gift Certificates, Vouchers, Cards And finally we come to a trend that was so gradual that we hardly noticed its importance and never even mentioned it in a top trend list. And yet it has probably had more to do with the explosion of spas and the number of spa-goers around the world than almost any of the other trends – or even all of them combined! That is the emergence and popularity of the spa gift certificate, card and voucher that introduced so many new people to the spa experience. (In fact, research has shown that approximately one third of all spa visits are a result of certificates and vouchers.) The spa gift whose reach was galvanized collectively by every spa which sells them as well as third party universal programs, not only gave people permission to pamper thems elves, it also ushered in an attitude that gifting 'spa' was an expression of true thoughtfulness and care. To put it in perspective: while SpaFinder is the largest retailer of spa gift certificates, cards and vouchers in the world, we didn’t make our first certificate sale until 1999. Today over 5,000 spas worldwide are part of our gifting programs and our cards/vouchers are available in virtually every major drug and grocery chain.
 
It's been quite a decade. ** Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/susieellis ** 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!