Articles by Susie Ellis

This article caught my eye this morning, “Swiss Spa Files Suit Against Ritz-Carlton for Trademark Violations.” It is one of the issues I brought up during my presentation at the Monaco Spa Conference in January when I was asked to give a list of suggestions for the spa industry going forward. My #6 suggestion was: […]

Spa living communities are on the rise. Spa living like Miraval living is a great example of how this can be all you’ve ever dreamed.

My final thought on Canada…It has become even clearer to me why the only spa I have ever been to (about 4 years ago) where I felt I could stay for months at a time was in Canada. It’s the genuineness and friendliness of the people that is so nurturing and healing. This was definitely […]

After visiting six spas in Canada on this trip and combining these experiences with what I learned from visiting a few other spas in Canada in the past, here are the things that surprised me the most about the Canadian spa scene: 1. I didn’t realize that therapists in Canada go through much more extensive […]

Attended the Leading Spas of Canada conference in Toronto. Since I don’t know Canada well, I enjoyed learning about not only the spa scene but also the country itself and its tourism market. Some tidbits that caught my attention: The Canadian Tourism Commission recently performed a “Brand Canada” study including a survey of the top […]

Well, my trip to Canada is coming to a close. Flying back to New York this morning. Got so busy with the Leading Spas of Canada Conference that I wasn’t able to carve out blogging time. I wanted to share a few more things about our trip, including our stay at Ste. Anne’s Spa, which […]

The view at Grail Springs is the first thing that captured our attention. They are right on a lake which, when we visited, glistened in the sun although covered with ice and snow. They have made good use of that view from their great room, the dining room and from many of the bedrooms.Stacey and […]

After a scrumptious breakfast on the sun drenched dining porch of the Hillcrest mansion (with a view of Lake Ontario from every window) we headed to our next spa – Elemental Embrace. Stacey gave me some background about the property explaining to me that they are very much into ayruveda and that we would be […]

Flew to Toronto this morning with our associate publisher, Stacey McLoughlin. After visiting several spas in Canada we will be attending the Leading Spas of Canada conference in Toronto next week. I am really excited to learn more about the Canadian spa scene. The Hillcrest, A Valenova Inn & Spa, was first on our itinerary. […]

I see this mostly when I am visiting a spa outside of the U.S., but I saw it today in a spa in New York: a spa trade magazine lying in the lounge area of a spa, for consumers to read. Ugh. When I am in Bali and I see one of our North American […]

Last Friday I had the pleasure of meeting Russell Sanna, Ph.D, who came all the way from Boston to visit us at our Spa Finder offices here in Manhattan. Dr. Sanna, the Executive Director of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard, had contacted me after reading the NY Times Article on Sleep, in which […]

I am focusing much of my time now on details for the upcoming Global Spa Summit, which will be held here in New York City this May. This inaugural event was envisioned by a group of spa professionals who felt that there needed to be one spa gathering during the year – global in scope […]

My favorite session at the International Esthetics, Cosmetics & Spa Conference here in New York was the one given by Eva Jensch, a spa consultant from California who has been in the industry almost as long as I have and has probably worked in more “emerging markets” than anyone I know. She presented a sort […]

Yesterday I attended the International Esthetics, Cosmetics & Spa Conference in New York’s Jacob Javits Center. In the afternoon I spoke on the panel entitled “Residential Spa Market Update.” Andrea Foster, who is the director of corporate strategy for Miraval Holding, LLC/Miraval, Life In Balance, was the other speaker. I think Andrea and I both […]

My thanks to Marina Kuchurkina who took an eight-hour train ride from Moscow to St. Petersburg to give me a spa tour and teach me about the spa industry in Russia. Even though her English is very good, she arranged for an interpreter so that we could communicate flawlessly. Over cappuccino at the Grand Hotel […]

On my recent trip to Russia, I visited an interesting day spa in St. Petersburg called Beauty Palace Madam Grand. One of the first stand-alone day spas in Russia, it opened just a year ago. Here are the features I found unique: The décor is over-the-top luxury, tsar-style opulence, and dripping in gold. Despite its […]

Well, it doesn’t get more Cinderella-like than going to a grand dinner party at The Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg. At-attention torch bearers welcomed our Virtuoso Travel group (both property reps and agents), who were all in black tie and ball gowns. We strolled through various palace rooms dripping with gold leaf and chandeliers and […]

Am currently in St. Petersburg visiting spas. The Russian spa industry is in its infancy, but already I can see the seeds of great spas. I thought I would share with you one particular observation that you might find interesting. Have you ever had a Russian massage therapist? Or an esthetician trained in Russia? If […]

Had 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 […]

It’s Saturday evening in St. Petersburg. Tonight the Virtuoso group was invited by Sir Rocco Forte to a cocktail reception and dinner at his Hotel Astoria. Sir Rocco Forte is the man behind a collection of ten (soon to be 12) luxury hotels, including Brown’s Hotel in London and the Balmoral in Edinburgh. He is […]