spa industry

A painless drive gets us to the Borgata in about two hours. From inside of the hotel, I have the sense, if I bat an eyelid, this could be Las Vegas. The sizeable entrance, which showcases grand pieces by stunning master glassblower Dale Chihuly, reminded of the Vegas-based Bellagio’s famous flower chandelier by the same artist. The Borgata is beautifully designed, colorfully modern and simply bustling with a young, well-dressed crowd, full of energy.

It’s the New Year and it feels like some exciting changes are ahead.  In fact “change” is part of the theme for the upcoming Global Spa Summit that will be held May 15-18 in Bali, 2011 as we will be encouraged to “Engage the Change.”  Two initiatives that were birthed at last year’s Summit are now underway.  I think they could […]

Awards season is almost here! Kicking off the tradition of awarding the year’s most buzzed about films is VH1 with the 16th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards ceremony on Friday, January 14th. This week and next Hollywood’s top actors will be primping and prepping for red carpet appearances. That means super facials to fortify against HD cameras and pedicures to prepare for open-toed Louboutins!

Am enjoying a quiet moment here at the counter of my kitchen at our home in Palm Desert, CA.  The sun hasn’t even risen yet.  I’m still on New York time I guess.  Am reflecting on this past year – 2010 – the highs, the lows, what I have learned and what I feel may […]

What do we all need to decompress after the holiday rush?  A little relaxation of course!  Give yourself, and your wallet a break with some absolutely fabulous spa deals brought to you by SpaRahRah™! Try out an award winning HydraFacial™ at the extraordinary Argyle Salon & Spa in West Hollywood for just $85!  Sample Lifestream […]

Some of the year’s hottest spa trends.

Want an insider’s look at the top ten spa trends for 2011? Our expert and president Susie Ellis shares her insight on the spa industry in SpaFinder’s annual 2011 Spa Trend Report™. This global report, now in its eighth year, is based upon analyses from industry experts who visit hundreds of day and stay spas […]

Guests who come to Cal-a-Vie experience a magical place with unparalleled facilities and programming provided by owners Terri and John Havens.

They had me at the Red Ferrari Cake Peter and I finally had a chance to experience the famous Montage in Laguna Beach California.  We had driven by it many times, heard people rave about it, and watched it win numerous awards – including top honors for their spa.  The fact that it was the […]

In a recent survey, travel agents reported the #1 emerging spa travel trend was people increasingly hitting stay spas for special occasions. Occasions like the big ’0s’, anniversaries,

Last year at this time we predicted that there would be more need in the real world and more emphasis in the spa world on…stillness.  Well, the former has definitely happened however the latter has a ways to go. After you re-read our #10 trend prediction for 2010, I will grade myself and comment once again […]

Rereading our Diversity Trend from last year’s trend report it strikes me that the statement, “Spa-going has become so mainstream that the face of the spa-goer will now continue to reflect the wider global population” pretty much sums it up.  And I think we gave a fair amount of good examples that were on the radar.  […]

When we predicted this trend last year we decided to draw attention to the scary and silly spa stories to make the case for ‘evidenced based medicine’ (EBM) to begin being associated with spa modalities.  We considered using the term ‘evidenced based medicine’ in the title of the trend but then decided that it was likely […]

    Is northern Michigan the next place to spa? A coalition of eight spa resorts in the area says yes. Midwestern charm and hospitality is at its best this month as the Northern Michigan Spa Tour, a collaboration of spa resorts from Thompsonville and Traverse City to Mackinac Island and Bellaire and beyond, preps […]

Reviewing this trend prediction for 2010 makes me smile.  That’s because I think we were right on; in fact, this trend exceeded our expectations!  That has some very important implications for the future of our spa industry. Go ahead and reread what we wrote about Wellness Tourism a year ago and then at the end I will […]

The Spoil Me Spa & Salon in Mountain View, California, will play host to a ladies-only Spa Day Benefit November 7. Proceeds will go to nonprofit organizations such as the American Red Cross, Humanity First, and Islamic Relief to assist victims of the recent flooding in Pakistan. Spoil yourself with one (or both!) spa packages […]

We’ve tallied the votes, we’ve notified the winners, and now it’s time to present to you (drum roll, please)…the winners of SpaFinder’s 2010 Readers’ Choice Awards!

Grading our prior year’s predictions.

So let’s take a look at our 5th spa trend prediction for 2010 called “The Hybrid Spa” and see how we did. (Hint, my grade is lower than the first four trends on this one.) Last year at this time we were noticing a movement toward fusing several concepts together.  For many years we had seen […]

Reviewing our spa trend prediction for 2010, “The Online Spa,” I think it is pretty clear that this did in fact happen during an unprecidented year of advancements and adoption of everything virtual.  If anything, I would say there have been some things that became big news in the tech world this year that we didn’t mention.  More on that in a bit. […]