SpaCast

Spas – How To Stay On-trend And Make Money

Spas are “hot” but it is easy to get “burned” unless your spa development, marketing and management plans are on-trend and market-driven. Spas are part of just about every new four and five star resort, condo-hotel and lifestyle real estate development. They are also being added to existing properties so that the property does not lose its market share or competitive positioning. Consumers are very spa savvy so it’s important to know how to make your spa different from and better than that of your competitors.

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Guests are the fish food at this Tokyo Spa

In Tokyo, sushi is finally getting its revenge. In May 2006, the Ooedo-Onsen-Monogatari, a 4-year-old hot-springs spa in the city's Odaiba area, added a new treatment to its menu: Doctor Fish's "pedicure" and "manicure." In a reversal of the food chain, the fish dine on you — or at least parts of you.

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Tiamo Eco-Spa's Green Program

The place runs on solar power, the furniture is made with recycled materials, the laundry is air-dryed, glass is crushed and used in concrete, and even human waste is composted.

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West Baden Spa Reborn with a New Look

Local Sprudel mineral waters drew visitors from all over the world to Southern Indiana 150 years ago. They're among the many treatments at the Natatorium, back in business at West Baden Springs Hotel in French Lick.

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Institute of Spa Management Announces Tuition Scholarships for Online Spa Management Program

The Institute of Spa Management is now offering full and partial tuition scholarships to potential students who have a desire to work in management within the booming spa industry worldwide, but need assistance with tuition, either partially or fully. The ISM Spa Management Program is offered via distanced education and is self-paced, allowing students the ability to keep a full time job and still study towards a rewarding spa industry career.

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Growing competition forces major Reno-Tahoe resorts to upgrade

Major Reno-Tahoe resorts are pumping millions of dollars into expansion and improvement projects as competition in the gambling industry heats up.   Local hotel-casinos plan to spend nearly $800 million in upgrades and expansions in the next year, according to the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority.

Resort owners said they must improve their properties because of the growing threat of tribal gambling in California and plans for new local hotel-casinos.

"It is imperative (to reinvest) if you want to stay competitive with other regions," said John Farahi, chief executive officer of the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno.

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Miraval Living: Luxury Spa Services in your Condo

When Glenn Becker began hunting for a three-bedroom apartment for his family, he sought the typical luxuries that many developers now sandwich into space-challenged Manhattan condominiums: a gym. A pool.  After all, he was moving from a full-service building with "wonderful amenities," he says, including those perks plus a running track. But that was nothing compared to what Becker found at Miraval Living, a condominium building on the Upper East Side (New York) which is set to open in September. It offers spa-inspired amenities that raise the bar for luxury apartment living to a level normally found at A-list resorts.

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Miri Marriott Resort & Spa does a good deed

The Miri Marriott Resort & Spa (Boorneo) marked two historic milestones - Malaysia's 50th Independence Day which also coincides with the hotel's 50-year anniversary. To mark the occasion, the hotel feted an event for senior citizens, special children and underprivileged families.

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Manhattan Spa Sued for Renting Facilities to Porn Stars for After Hours Activities

A swanky Manhattan spa that's annually rated among the best in the city doubled as a site for kinky swingers parties and X-rated movie shoots, according to a lawsuit filed by a physical therapist to the stars.

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British Airways Strikes Deal with Elemis

Passengers who are members of the First, Club World and Gold Executive Club initiatives run by British Airways will soon be able to enjoy revamped spa facilities in certain airport lounges. The airline has signed a deal with spa brand Elemis which will see the firm take over the management of facilities in current British Airways lounges at Heathrow Airport and JFK Airport in New York, as well as planned services at the new Heathrow Terminal 5, which will open in March 2008.

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More on Airport Spa Lounges

Doctor in Spa Death Punished

More than two years after an N.C. State University student died from using a numbing gel before undergoing laser hair removal, the N.C. Medical Board has resolved the last case against a doctor associated with the incident.

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University of New Hampshire Provides Massage for Students

While recruiting professors, counselors, assistants and coaches, the University of New Hampshire is also looking to hire massage therapists.

The job description? “Provide massage therapy to UNH students, faculty and staff during the academic year,” according to the university’s help wanted ads.

New on campus this fall: hot stone massages

Toes for Timmy Pedicure Campaign in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

It's been five years since Tim Rose lost his life in a car crash because he wasn't wearing his seatbelt. To help keep his memory alive and raise awareness around seatbelt safety, his father, Larry Rose -- a detective with the Waterloo regional police -- created a scholarship in his name.

Krista Martin is the owner of Pure Esthetics, located inside Creative Touch hair salon in Waterloo. During the entire month of August, she's donating $10 from every pedicure to the scholarship fund.

Pure Esthetics is at 57 King St. in Waterloo. For more information or to book a pedicure, call Martin at 519-574-9910.

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New Rules Pending for Labeling Sunscreen

The FDA has tried at least as far back as 1999 to get sunscreen makers to stop using what the FDA called "unsupported, absolute and/or misleading and confusing terms such as 'sunblock,' 'waterproof'" and others. But delays in approving new rules, caused by scientific advances and industry lobbying, means compliance eight years later is voluntary.

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New Technologies Tighten Skin From Head To Toe

Speaking recently at the American Academy of Dermatology’s Summer Academy Meeting 2007, dermatologist David J. Goldberg, MD, JD, FAAD, clinical professor of dermatology and director of laser research at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, N.Y., discussed the rapidly expanding area of skin-tightening techniques and how they can safely and effectively treat sagging skin on the jowls, neck, arms, and stomach, as well as cellulite.

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Know standards for proper sanitation before getting a pedicure

For every national news story about someone who sues a salon because the person caught an infection that caused his or her toenails to fall off, there are scores of reputable spas where health and safety standards are a priority.

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Australian Massage Therapist Protests USA / AMTA Restrictions and Requirements

A massage therapist who operates schools in 11 different countries says it's time for states to change laws that he argues discriminate against non-western techniques.

Brandon Raynor, an Australian, brought his protest to Carson City, Nevada on Tuesday, calling on Nevada lawmakers to support a Health Freedom Act that would eliminate the restrictions on required training for massage therapists created by the American Massage Therapy Association.

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Mobile Massage Therapist Raped During Service

A woman who works as a massage therapist was raped by one of her clients in the suspect’s home, sheriff’s deputies said.  The Sheriff’s Office said the unidentified 32-year-old woman works as an in-home massage therapist and the suspect was one of her clients.

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Former Techies Find Profit in Massage Envy Franchises

After becoming casualties of the tech bubble's bursting in Silicon Valley, Jon and Bonnie Brovitz decided to move to the Valley to pursue real estate interests.

In the meantime, they started visiting a local Massage Envy franchise in Chandler, Arizona to relax. They liked it so much they decided to buy the place.

Starting with the franchise in Chandler in November of 2003, the couple now owns five Massage Envy franchises. The most recent acquisitions are the Gilbert and Ahwatukee clinics that they acquired last month.

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Foot Massage Wars in Southern California

The Oriental Natural Treatment Center is at the hub of the hotly competitive world of foot massage in the San Gabriel Valley — home to the nation's largest Chinese American community.

Square foot by square foot, it is the foot-massage capital of the country. 

When the first foot-massage parlors opened, therapists charged $70 an hour. But competition has pushed the average price down to well under $20.   The price war has made foot massages available not just to the well-heeled who can afford the luxury, but to waiters, busboys, store clerks and hair stylists — the working-class version of the Burke Williams Spa for people who spend their days on their feet.

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Massage experts put squeeze on their rivals on the Riviera

Asian masseuses working on French Riviera beaches face a police crack-down after becoming popular among holidaymakers but a headache for their Gallic counterparts.   The action follows claims from the French Council of Masseurs and Physiotherapists that the mainly Chinese newcomers are illegal, unhygienic and even dangerous.

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The Dominican Republic to Build World's Biggest Thermal Spa

The Dominican Republic announced that it will cooperate with Spain to build one of the world's biggest thermal spa.

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Spotlight on Austrian Massage

Austrian spa therapist Harald Kitz is the mind behind the innovative haki method, a massage technique that has been lauded amongst those in the Central European spa industry over the last few years. But the secret’s out: haki has been nominated for the Spa Asia Treatment of the Year Award.

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Spa of Colonial Williamsburg Now Open

On August 9, 2007, the recently opened Spa of Colonial Williamsburg brings the Best of the American Experience to the International Spa Association (ISPA) NYC Media Event. Spa Director and former ISPA Chairman Kate Mearns will present the Spa's philosophy of The Continuum of Wellness, sharing with the media five centuries of colonial, African and American Indian wellness practices blended into the modern spa experience in an inventive, invigorating setting. Consultant and 2006 ISPA Visionary Award-winner Sylvia Sepielli created the Spa philosophy and menu of services based on extensive study in The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's research library, lending historic authenticity to the spa's series of signature treatments.

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Massage for the Cure, Houston, Texas, September 10

"A free massage for you can help someone else.”

That’s the theme of a day-long event coming to the Houston area on September 10 . . . but you have to think ahead. This is the first year for Massage for the Cure in Houston. On Monday, September 10, all 22 Greater Houston-area Massage Envy clinics will provide free 1-hour therapeutic massages to any man or women in support of the Komen for the Cure Houston.

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Events / Aromatherapy Conference Expo, August 31, Aurora, Colorado

International Clinical Aromatherapy Conference and Wellness Expo
October 18-21, 2007
Aurora, Colorado
Learn from the world experts in Clinical Aromatherapy, one of the fastest growing natural healing modalities in the US and UK.
Register by August 31st.
www.Alliance-Aromatherapist.org
303.531.6377 (MST)

Czech Spas Target Foreign Market

Spas and balneal establishments in the Czech Republic are increasingly turning to foreign markets as health insurers reduce or deny payments to Czech patients and the number of domestic health insurance clients continues to drop. Of the over 340,000 people who visited spas in West Bohemia in 2006, more than 274,000 were foreigners.

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Vail Cascade Resort & Spa to undertake $30 million renovation

Gregg Pate, managing director for the Vail Cascade Resort & Spa, today announced the property will undergo a $30 million transformation over the next 18 months to enhance the leisure guest experience and position the resort as the preeminent meeting facility in the Vail Valley. Many of the improvements at the Vail Cascade are designed to take advantage of the resort’s private location along one of the Vail Valley’s most distinguishing characteristics – Gore Creek.

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The Spa Food Philosophy

The philosophy behind spa food is simple, not to mention universal. It is designed to feed your body on all levels, with colours and textures that are visually appealing and tastes and aromas that satisfy, stimulate and cleanse.

Contrary to popular belief, the food served up at modern spas and health resorts does not consist of a few meager bean sprouts or a bowl of mushy porridge, as some people may think.

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Events / ExTracts: Green Issues, August 12-16, 2007, NYC

A series of special features – including educational seminars addressing “green” issues impacting the personal care industry, as well as complimentary breakfasts, massages and facial-lifts – will be offered at EX•TRACTS®: New discoveries in beauty and wellness, a market for 75 suppliers of personal care resources for spa, salon and specialty retail, Sunday, August 12, through Wednesday, August 15, 2007, at New York City’s Metropolitan Pavilion.

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Events / ExTracts: New Discoveries, August 12-15, 2007, NYC

An expanded EX•TRACTS®: New discoveries in beauty and wellness, featuring nearly 75 suppliers of personal care resources for spa, salon and specialty retail, will showcase current and emerging trends in personal care including natural ingredients, innovative packaging and creative marketing strategies, Sunday, August 12, through Wednesday, August 15, 2007, at New York City’s Metropolitan Pavilion.

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