Tag Archives: VIPS

That Famous Spa in Switzerland, Clinique La Prairie and the Product Line, La Prairie – Sorting it All Out

That Famous Spa in Switzerland, Clinique La Prairie and the Product Line, La Prairie – Sorting it All Out
by Susie Ellis
SpaFinder Insider

(Note, if you aren’t seeing any photos in this blog post, then please read the blog at http://www.blog.spafinder.com/ as the photos will be a big help in following this timeline!)

By now I have probably lost a few of my blog readers, but I promise that this is my last post on the story of Clinique La Prairie! After many hours of research to figure out how Clinique La Prairie and La Prairie skin care products are related (they aren’t anymore), I thought I would share the timeline I created. Who knows, maybe there is one other person out there who finds this sort of thing fascinating. Also, there are a few more pieces of the puzzle to complete – like how much the skin care line was initially sold for – so I welcome any additions or corrections to this timeline.

Here is the bottom line: To keep things straight you have to be conscious of the fact that Clinique La Prairie, which refers to the famous medical spa in Switzerland, sold their product line, La Prairie, in 1982. Since that time the companies have been totally separate. Always check if the word “Clinique” is being used – if so, that means the reference is to the facility in Switzerland. If the word “Clinique” does not appear, then you can assume the affiliation is with the skin care company. Except (and, of course, this adds to the confusion), the URL for Clinique La Prairie is http://www.laprairie.ch/ and the URL for La Prairie the skin care product company is http://www.laprairie/.

Here is a snapshot of what I have found to be a fascinating story:

timeline.1 708002 That Famous Spa in Switzerland, Clinique La Prairie and the Product Line, La Prairie Sorting it All Out1931: Clinique La Prairie opens in Montreux, Switzerland. Professor Niehans begins fresh fetal ovine (sheep) liver cell injections as a method to slow down the aging process. Over half a century later, the product became known as “CLP Extract” which is used in the clinic’s signature “Revitalization” injections today.

timeline.pope 781924 That Famous Spa in Switzerland, Clinique La Prairie and the Product Line, La Prairie Sorting it All Out1953: Professor Niehans treats Pope Pius XII. Clinique La Prairie becomes word famous.

1971: Professor Niehans dies.

1976: Armin Mattli, a Swiss banker, purchases Clinique La Prairie.

timeline.3 724488 That Famous Spa in Switzerland, Clinique La Prairie and the Product Line, La Prairie Sorting it All Out1978: Mattli creates La Prairie Cosmetics, a range of skin products based on the clinic’s expertise in cellular revitalization.

1982: Mattli sells his skin care line Laboratories La Prairie, Switzerland to the American-based Cyanamid Company (a large, diversified, American chemical manufacturer) for a reportedly huge sum of money which he used to finance new buildings and medical programs. (I find it absolutely fascinating that he created and sold this line so quickly and so successfully!)

1987: American Cyanamid Company sells two of their product lines, La Prairie and Jacqueline Cochran, for $54 million to Sanofi.

timeline.georgette 770449 That Famous Spa in Switzerland, Clinique La Prairie and the Product Line, La Prairie Sorting it All Out1987: Sanofi, very shortly after purchasing La Prairie, turns around and sells it for a $20 million profit to Georgette Mosbacher for around $30 million. La Prairie has $20 million in worldwide wholesale volume.

timeline.beiersdorf 739824 That Famous Spa in Switzerland, Clinique La Prairie and the Product Line, La Prairie Sorting it All Out1991: Georgette Mosbacher globalized the La Prairie line, doubled its sales (impressive!) and then sold the company for an estimated $45 million to Beiersdorf Group of Hamburg, Germany. Mosbacher is now CEO of Borghese.

1991: Clinique La Prairie adds a new Medical Center on their property in Switzerland. It is a hospital and has a surgical theater with specialties in myriad of areas, radiology, dentistry, plastic surgery, etc.

timeline.swiss.perfection 759948 That Famous Spa in Switzerland, Clinique La Prairie and the Product Line, La Prairie Sorting it All Outtimeline.swiss.perfection.family 724242 That Famous Spa in Switzerland, Clinique La Prairie and the Product Line, La Prairie Sorting it All Out1992: Mattli launches Prestige Products of Switzerland from which he developed a new skin care line, Swiss Perfection. It is based on Iris flower cells. Apparently his son now runs this part of the business.

2002: The World of ResidenSea – a resort community circumnavigating the globe which has private apartment residences available – launches with the first Clinique La Prairie Spa.

timeline.LaPrairie.ritz.carlton 756157 That Famous Spa in Switzerland, Clinique La Prairie and the Product Line, La Prairie Sorting it All Out2002: The first spa in the United States with the La Prairie name opens in New York, called La Prairie at the Ritz-Carlton Spa.

2004: La Prairie opens its first California spa at the Beverly Hills Hotel, now called the Beverly Hills Hotel Spa by La Prairie.

2004: A La Prairie Boutique spa opens at the Ritz-Carlton Berlin.

2005: Clinique La Prairie in Switzerland adds a health spa to its facilities. They added wellness rooms, thalassotherapy, a salt water pool, etc.

2006: The Ritz-Carlton Silver Rain La Prairie Spa opens in Grand Cayman.

ten Museum Park 746314 That Famous Spa in Switzerland, Clinique La Prairie and the Product Line, La Prairie Sorting it All Out2006: A spa-inspired condominium project in Miami is announced. It is a new project by Armin Mattli as he spends his time between Switzerland and Miami. He is calling it Clinique La Prairie Lifestyle Residences at Te
n Museum Park. This will have a Clinique La Prairie spa without the medical aspect.

2007: Clinique La Prairie sues Ritz-Carlton over the use of the name La Prairie in New York.

2007: Banyan Tree Spa replaces Clinique la Prairie as operator of the spa on the World ResidenSea.

2009: Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage is to open a $25 million La Prairie Spa.

Final comments:
Re La Prairie Skin Care: I have tried some of their products and really like them – especially the subtle fragrance and the clean feel. Many people swear by them. However, I haven’t tried the entire range or used them long enough to give a thorough analysis.

Re Clinique La Prairie: After visiting, I give it a thumbs up. What I saw was impressive. To me, they appear to be a superb medical spa, possibly one of the most advanced in the world. They have a first-rate hospital. The staff is professional. They are in a fantastic location right on Lake Geneva. Lovely rooms, tastefully designed dining room, and I am thrilled to see that they now do have a very nice spa. I think that the popularity of spa around the world necessitated that recent addition and upgrade. Good for them.

So…as we left, my husband suggested I come back sometime for an “in-patient” visit. Not sure if he was referring to my need for plastic surgery or testing to see if I would try the “Revitalization therapy.” But after giving it some thought, I had to admit that the idea of coming here for a total tune-up, inside and out, was appealing. And yes, I would probably give that “Revitalization therapy” a go – in the interest of spa research of course. (Yeah, right.)
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More Thoughts on the Spa (Skilled) Labor Shortage

More Thoughts on the Spa (Skilled) Labor Shortage

By Susie Ellis, SpaFinder Insiderhelp.wanted 789665 More Thoughts on the Spa (Skilled) Labor Shortage

In my last blog entry day I quoted Jacqueline Le Sueur, Managing Director of Creative Health & Training as saying, “Our industry does NOT have a labor shortage. What we have is a shortage of spas willing to invest in training.” In essence we have a skilled labor shortage.

Someone must have forwarded my blog to Jacqueline right after posting because I heard from her right away. I subsequently asked her to share additional insights in the “comment” section of that blog. It’s worth a read.

It has always amazed me that spas spend tens of millions of dollars to build gorgeous facilities, and then when it comes to training staff, there is either minimal or no budget. This really does not make a lot of sense since we know that customers rate their spa experience – not so much on the facility – but on the therapist!

Fortunately, there are now quite a few training programs for spa personnel around the world. We just need more people to be trained as therapists, aestheticians, spa managers, etc.

drums.olympic 770353 More Thoughts on the Spa (Skilled) Labor ShortageRemember the spectacular opening ceremonies of this year’s Summer Olympics in China where they had 2,000 people performing in unison on ancient drums? It is a good example of not waiting to find skilled performers, but rather hiring 2,000 people and training them to perform – perfectly!

Of course training costs money. Since our industry is not an exceedingly lucrative one (that’s another part of the challenge) and relies heavily on some of the perks (like great environment and personal well-being), it is unrealistic to expect staff to share all of the burden. Spas have to invest.

I hear that many hospitality management graduates of famous schools such as Cornell and the Lausanne Hotel Schools don’t end up in hospitality management. Why? They are finding jobs in other areas such as finance or banking where they can make more money.

Here is a suggestion…instead of spending, for example, $10 million to build a spa….how about spending $9 million and investing the rest in getting the most talented staff possible for many years to come? No one will miss all that marble, art, or razzle/dazzle tiling.

As Rachel Caldwell, long-time manager of Golden Door in California once said in answer to the question, “What if I train my staff and they leave?” She answered, “What if you don’t train them and they stay?”

Bingo.

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Lowering my C-Reactive Protein score at Canyon Ranch Spa

Canyon Ranch fitness class 733106 Lowering my C Reactive Protein score at Canyon Ranch Spa So, here are the seven ways to lower your C-Reactive Protein (CRP) scores and, therefore, relax your immune system for better health.
1. Breathing – Not breathing properly stresses your immune system.
2. Eating – Large meals stresses the immune system. You are better off eating smaller meals more frequently. Eat fish for omega 3 which is critical for immune system health.
3. Most people need more fiber – You get most of your fiber from beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds. Some also from fruits and vegetable.
4. Sleep – This is when our immune system relaxes. We need to learn to sleep well which includes relaxing before bedtime – not doing emails or watching the world’s negative news.
5. Exercise – The best exercise to relax the immune system is a surprise. It is dancing! Apparently the rhythmic movement is of great benefit.
6. Vitamin L – That would be love. A deep emotional connection with someone, something, nature, etc. Since our immune systems are listening to our mood, fears, anger or despair, this will affect our immune system’s response.
7. Sooth the immune system. – Use massage and also take a multivitamin before your larger meals to help process the food and soothe the immune system.

All seems very useful. I need to work on all of these to some extent.

From Ultraprevention to Ultralongevity at the Spa

longevity 790505 From Ultraprevention to Ultralongevity at the SpaOn Sunday afternoon, I attended Dr. Mark Liponis’ lecture here at Canyon Ranch entitled “UltraLongevity“. Dr. Liponis is the Corporate Medical Director of Canyon Ranch and was one of the authors of “UltraPrevention“, which was published in 2003. He was among the pioneers who preached prevention and the clever book title helped catapult the idea throughout the spa world.

In September, he is coming out with his new book “UltraLongevity” and this afternoon’s lecture was kind of a sneak peak into its contents. The bottom line is that he believes we have overactive immune systems and they are causing us a whole lot of medical problems. The barometer of how active our immune systems are can be measured by what is called the C-Reactive Protein (CRP) test. You want the number to be as low as possible so that your rate of aging is slowed dramatically. A level of three is considered normal but he argues that you are better off having a number less than .7. Then he shared seven ways to lower your CRP.

A 4th of July Kick Start

zuckerman 790853 A 4th of July Kick StartPeter and I are at Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires. This is the second year in a row we decided to spend 4th of July here and I am once again glad we did. There’s nothing like the great food, exercise and education here that gets me motivated to make some changes for the better in regards to my health. And all the green trees everywhere make me feel that I am getting more and better oxygen than I do in Manhattan.

On the first day here Peter ran into Mel Zuckerman in the gym. On the second day Mel was there again working out. That is really telling. Mel and his wife Enid founded Canyon Ranch in Tucson in 1979. I believe he is over 80 now. Seeing him still so committed to exercise and a healthy lifestyle is a great inspiration to all the staff and guests here. Deborah Szekely (Golden Door and Rancho La Puerta founder) is also over 80 – in fact she just turned 85. Both of these icons in the spa industry have been practicing what they preach. Lucky for us, we get to see by their example how these principles really work.