Tag Archives: Trends

NY Times Article: Destination: Wellness – Not so Flattering

Happy New Year to everyone!

While I had planned this New Year’s Day post to be my answer to the often debated 2012 question “Should our industry get rid of the word spa?” that will have to wait until my next post. I feel compelled to share the December 28th NY Time’s Article called Destination: Wellness written by Jesse McKinley as well as my response to the piece. First…check out his lengthy article that was, I am afraid, not very flattering to our spa and wellness industry. (Check out the comments also.) Continue reading →

Spa Trends 2012 Revisited – Cold and Ice Are Hot: B+ Grade for this Prediction

Let’s revisit the”Cold and Ice are Hot trend.” Probably the best way to support the fact that this really is a trend is to mention the new “Snow Facial” by Sonya Dakar. Here are the terms used in the description of this new treatment: Icelandic Glacial Water, cold stream, porous soft gel mask with anti-aging snow layered on top, cold blast, instant ice bath, and icy therapy. Results mentioned include: getting the circulation pumping, constricting facial muscles and blood vessels, reducing bloating, minimizing lines and wrinkles and under eye circles. So while I think we get an A for pointing out this trend, I think we need to lower the grade a tad for having slightly misjudged the enthusiasm that cold treatments would elicit. People aren’t keen to go out into the cold…they would rather stay in where it is warm. Despite the many benfits. B+ Continue reading →

Spa Trends 2012 Revisited: Spas Go for the “Wow” (Grade A- because we could have seen more creative “wows.”)

For many years, most people probably thought that one hotel or day spa sure seems a whole lot like any other: the same beige, Zen look, the same menu of treatments and homogenized experiences. But now spas are really piling on the “wow” factors, serving up both big and small wows (and true surprises) in a quest for individuation. “Wows” and efforts towards greater differentiation are rising now, as a countertrend to the strong spa branding/franchising trend we identified for 2011. And given the fact that, if once upon a time, conformity helped the budding spa-goer know what to expect when stepping into the spa realm, now spa-goers are far more seasoned, and they crave truly new “aha” experiences. Continue reading →

2012 Spa Trends Revisited: Wellness and Beauty Coaching (gets an “A”)

The Coaching Trend was one we predicted for our top 10 spa trend list for 2012 and indeed it turned out to be a big one. In fact, I just received an email from my colleague Kathryn Stolle referencing that trend and I thought you might enjoy some of what she said. Here is her introduction (you can read the rest in the comment after this blog post): “Ideas can be life changing – we all know that. But sometimes an idea or concept can have a profound impact on not just a single life, but in a chain reaction, on a number of lives. A year ago, Susie Ellis’ 2012 Spa Trends introduced a concept/trend that would change my life forever: wellness coaching.” So if I was to grade us on how we did on this trend prediction….I will take a modest A.“Health coaching,” “wellness coaching,” even “eyebrow coaching” — coaching is a concept gathering steam at spas, with new approaches ranging from the very serious…to the simply engaging and fun. Continue reading →

Medical Tourism Taking a Back Seat to Wellness Tourism

I rarely do this, however am making an exception in this case because I feel it is that important. Rather than just giving you a link to an article, I am retyping the entire article here for you (with attribution, of course). It is from today’s (Feb 20, 2012) Manila Standard Daily newspaper and titled, Tourism plan zeroes in on ‘wellness.’

The reason this is important is because it shows that what the research from the Global Spa and Wellness Summit has been predicting, is, in fact now happening. I don’t think many people really “got it” before because it was more theoretical however this is reality. The spa industry should be all over this – and making sure that government entities recognize how valuable it would be for them to help promote their country’s spa tourism.

Tourism plan zeroes in on ‘wellness’

Medical tourism is likely to take a backseat to health and wellness programs because the Aquino administration intends to focus on those booming tourism sectors, an official said Sunday.

Tourism Undersecretary Daniel Corpuz said most of the Philippines’ major hospitals were internationally accredited but only a few foreigners were going here for treatment.

“So we would rather concentrate on non-invasive procedures or the health and wellness [programs] than procedural operations.” Corpuz told reporters at the sidelines of the National Tourism Statistics conference 2012 in Manila.

He made the statement even as Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez said his department would be pushing the municipality of Oslob in Cebu as a tourist destination because of its famous whale sharks. Tourists visiting the area and Donsol in Sorsogon in Sorsogon could swim with the giant but docile creatures.

Corpuz described medical tourism was a complicated market segment and therefore hard to push. The Tourism Department launched its medical tourism program in 2007 to boost the country’s tourism industry. It pushed aesthetic surgery, complex orthopedic procedures and cancer and cardiovascular care among other things.

The department said the country’s beaches and resorts, world-class facilities and friendly people would entice foreigners to come here for treatment. Macon Ramos-Araneta.

(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on /2012/february/20.)

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