Tag Archives: Sturgis

Spa Lifestyle Real Estate Experiences a Hiccup: Spa Lifestyle Living Still Resonates

Spa Lifestyle Real Estate Experiences a Hiccup: Spa Lifestyle Living Still Resonates
by Susie Ellis

Sad news. Canyon Ranch Living Chicago, which was in the design and pre-sale phase, has been cancelled. This article, “End of the Trail”, gives some of the details. From the few mentions I could find on the web, it appears that there were insufficient sales of condos and that it fell victim to the current market crunch. Too bad. The design seemed really inspired and I love the idea of “wellness condos.”

But timing is a big factor in these kinds of things. What would have worked several years ago – and may very well work several years from now – is struggling today amidst the bad economic news. Who knows, it may have been the size of the project, the price point, the location, or maybe the marketing plan that didn’t work. And I can’t help but wonder if the condo project was kept alive longer than it might have been because of its unique spa aspect.

One thing I am convinced about, however, is that the idea of spa lifestyle real estate is here to stay and it will find its ideal expression as time goes on. Canyon Ranch Living in Miami looks to be a successful project – as does Miraval Living in New York. Red Mountain keeps building more residences because of the demand and our spa real estate section on Spafinder.com keeps growing.

This situation reminds me a bit of the time when the internet bubble burst. Remember? The bubble grew from approximately 1995 – 2001 and then it “burst” and share prices fell dramatically. The pendulum swung from being gung-ho regarding the Internet to doom and gloom. I remember noticing only one person during the “down” time who kept saying, “don’t worry about it. The future of the Internet is still so amazing that even with this “correction” there will be huge upsides and the Internet world will continue to grow exponentially.” That person was my husband. In time, he was proven correct.

Alas…I feel the same way about setbacks in the evolution of spa lifestyle real estate. To me it is a two steps forward and one step back kind of thing. The fundamentals are just too compelling: aging baby boomers who are reaching retirement age, who value their health and well-being above almost anything else and who have money (much of it inherited) to spend. We also have a younger generation embracing the LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) lifestyle and wanting to raise their families in a healthy environment.

Real estate with spa components is here to stay.

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Philippine Hilot Massage

pic mac chipg03 782961 Philippine Hilot Massage Swedish massage and Thai massage have been around for a long time. Philippine Hilot Massage has only recently been introduced outside of the Philippines but has been practiced here for thousands of years. I was excited to finally experience it.

First I learned that I had been mispronouncing the name Hilot. The correct pronunciation is like saying “he” and then “lot”.

The massage is done with virgin coconut oil, and the pressure is strong. It can be somewhat painful when they find blockages and use their thumbs to work out these blockages. The idea is to get the energy moving by using a banana leaf as a diagnostic tool. The leaf is skimmed over various body parts. It slides easily over parts that are not blocked but begins to drag at certain points. They say that these are the points of blockage.

I don’t know about the science, but like many indigenous healing techniques, hundreds of years of experience have resulted in the Hilot massage becoming a very important part of the Philippines’ contemporary healthcare culture. Daily Hilot massage was prescribed for people in areas without access to medical care and those unable to afford it.

I was also told that the treatment is very much about the supernatural gift of healing hands. Not just anyone can do Hilot – a person needs to be gifted in order to perform it.

The Luxury of Spa in Seoul

Well, my Korean massage ended up being terrific. Joe was my therapist’s name. The massage given at the Seoul Airport Massage Center is really perfect for the period between long flights. They don’t use oil (good idea, as that would be a mess between flights), and they give you long white cotton shorts and a t-shirt to wear. The massage itself is a combination of stretching and deep pressure-point massage. The showers are good enough, although I was looking everywhere for a towel and finally found a tiny white one, which I thought was for the floor. I realized that this was the towel massage clients are meant to use for drying off. Ok…it wasn’t luxury, but after a 15-hour flight from New York, it felt great.

Fun with Spa Brands

I have been spending the past few days doing something I absolutely love – restructuring the brand overviews on Spafinder.com. I know that others think I am a bit crazy for getting so much enjoyment out of this project, but figuring out the best way to represent spa brands is something I find genuinely exciting. It might be because I spent so much time with the Golden Door brand, The Greenhouse brand, and now with the Spa Finder brand that I understand how important the history of a brand is, including who birthed it, how the name came about, what the logo means, what the brand stands for, what makes the brand different from all the others, where the company is going, etc. This just makes my toes tap!
logo guerlain 100x85 705265 Fun with Spa Brands
So here are some of the logos of the companies I am working on currently. In some upcoming blogs I will share with you what these logos mean and how they came about.