Spa and Hotel news from SpaCast.com. Part of Spa Index Media Network.

How Ritz Carlton's CEO Simon Cooper Marries Luxury and Social Savvy

SpaCast Staff Post

This week's staff meeting at Spa Index Media turned lively when the topic turned to the social networking platform of Twitter, and the trend called #LuxuryChat, which takes place the third Wednesday of every month.

Our principal, Kevin McClain, has long been a proponent of Twitter (in fact, he was the first user among our staff), reads each and every one of our Twitter posts, and  frequently tweets a little something to remind us that while we're busy spotlighting spa specials, grand openings, recommendations, healthy spa recipes and such, trending is going on in the social media arena that we need to examine more closely.

McClain leaned forward and pricked up his ears when our Twitter Staff announced that Simon F. Cooper (@SimonFCooper) President of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company (@RitzCarltonCSR  @RitzCarltonPR), was the special guest for July's #luxurychat.

"You're witnessing a tipping point for luxury brands in social media" he said.  "If Simon Cooper of The Ritz-Carlton can spend an hour to answer a salvo of questions from consumers and industry professionals,  CEOs of other luxury brands are going to be hard-pressed to excuse not doing so."

"Won't they just say 'we've never chatted up our luxury goods and we don't need to start now' or something like that?" we asked.

"Sure, and reveal themselves to not be forward thinking, or to reveal they see no value in socially engaging  entrepreneurs, brands, clients, friends and followers in a consumer enterprise." he replied. "The Ritz has always engaged its guests. It's just using smart, new tools to do so."

He also added "Luxury travel has been hit hard in our industry.  Incredibly, SPA -- health through water -- has become a dirty word, we all know that.  Event planners are saying 'take the word spa off your resort's name on my invoicing or I won't book my convention with you this year'."

"Luxury brands have to be careful to balance hospitality viewed through a social lens and the concept of delivering luxury -- without apologizing for it. Cooper's example shows an iconoclastic global luxury brand taking a new tack, using a new tool, to expand on what they've always done -- demonstrate unwavering luxury hospitality and showing that it's approachable.  'Welcome to my luxury brand.  At the Ritz, as my guest, you have more than luxury. You have my ear'."

So what does "luxury" even mean and why do we need to chat and tweet about it? 

It means many things to many people,  so we'll borrow a line from Supreme Court Justice William Brennan and say "We know it when we see it."   

In #luxurychat, you had in a one-hour time frame, nearly 200 hundred people, from writers to consumers to marketing representatives, engaging one another on a virtual tree branch, projecting not simply luxury trends they observe in the industry, but discussing those trends directly with a CEO of a luxury brand.  A luxury mash-up in a fast-paced classroom. Take what you need from it, and leave the rest.  

Take a look at some of Cooper's responses to many questions posed during the #luxurychat (as limited by the 140 character format, of course):

• What value do I see in social media? ENGAGEMENT! 

• It's exactly what we have always focused on as an organization. Engaging with our guests.

• Social media provides us with so many new channels with which to communicate with people who want to know more about our brand.

• If someone takes the time to send us any kind of [negative] comment, we view that as an opportunity to review and improve.

• We use all channels available and hope that we are seen to be not only an aspirational brand, but approachable too.

• We are always looking to introduce our brand to new audiences. Multi-generational, Multi-cultural, Multi-lingual, you name it!

McClain has long been involved with socially responsible causes, sponsors socially responsible entrepreneurs, and admires The Ritz-Carlton brand for their dedication to Corporate Social Responsibility through their Community Footprints and Giveback Getaways .  "Cooper and the Ritz just 'get it.'  They use social media not solely for financial motives, but to assure that guests and contacts alike get the best experience possible when interacting with their brand.  I don't define that as simply 'being social.' I define that as luxury." 

Special acknowledgments and thanks to the equally forward-thinking moderators of the Twitter #LuxuryChat:

@EliteTravelGal
@LuxuryPRGal
@TierraFilhiol
@MissSmartFlyer
@luxmextrvlchica
@leyla_a
@LuxeTiffany

For more information about the July Luxury Chat click here

 

Middle East Spas stripped down to enable profitability.

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Despite this trend, less than half the spas in the Middle East are in fact profitable. That is the assertion of Jo Clare, director of Spa Solutions, a consulting firm founded in Dubai in 2001, whose project portfolio includes spa hotels from Armani to The Address and Marriott to Le Méridien

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New Gene Juarez Spa CEO aims for growth

In the three years since Janet Denyer was hired as CEO of Gene Juarez Salons and Spas, the Bellevue-based business has revamped its spa offerings and launched a hair product line under the iconic Pacific Northwest name.

Denyer, 53, came to the company from Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon and Spas, where she supervised the opening of 18 new spas. After Evergreen Pacific Partners bought the business from its namesake founder, Denyer was recruited to open locations in the Puget Sound area and beyond.

“It just came out of left field,” she said. “And when I looked at the company and saw how strong and how much depth there is in the company relative to the education – all the support given to the professionals, I thought, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I think I’m supposed to be there.”

By weekday she’s a spa guru, and by weekend she’s a “closet rock star” who plays guitar and goes to Death Cab for Cutie concerts – when she and her husband aren’t snowboarding.

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Tikkun Gives a Jewish Treatment to the Korean Spa

Tikkun Holistic Spa is probably one of the few Korean spas in the Los Angeles area where the receptionist greets clients without a Korean accent. Founder Niki Schwarz wanted to make sure non-Koreans who walk through the door (after taking an elevator to the basement) encounter no struggle in their quest for the perfect day of rest.   Jews especially. They’ve struggled enough. And sometimes their ritual day of rest, Shabbat, may not suffice to rejuvenate their performance of Judaism’s greatest mitzvah: tikkun olam, repairing the world.

Tikkun, which opened in May on the grounds of a former Burke Williams Spa in Santa Monica, approaches massages, body scrubs and detoxification treatments like they’re sacred commandments. According to Schwarz, a Korean American who converted to Judaism, Jews and non-Jews alike cannot heal the world if they don’t heal themselves.

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Lush Cosmetics launch new spa

Lush Cosmetics founder Mark Constantine unveiled the company’s new spa in Chelsea – and told us he’s planning on opening another seven over the next 12 months. With the economy in freefall, we ask Constantine: “Are you mad?”

“This is a time when people desperately need to be spoilt,” says Constantine. “The recession is an opportunity for companies such as Lush to be creative. And frankly, launching a few spas is far cheaper than opening another 50 stores.”

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Starwood going ahead with $4 billion Sheraton overhaul

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide said on Monday it was moving ahead with a $4 billion overhaul of its Sheraton brand despite an economic slump that has spurred a sharp drawdown in travel spending. Like other hotel operators, Starwood has suffered from lower revenue per available room from the broad decline in leisure and business travel amid rising unemployment and political pressure on businesses to curtail corporate spending.

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Interview with Susan Harmsworth of Espa

Sitting with Susan Harmsworth in the sunny breakfast solarium at Gleneagles Hotel, she leans over and brushes my cheek. "You really need a facial," she says gently, sympathetically. Coming from her, it doesn't sound like an insult, although it does sound like a salespitch :  Harmsworth sells spas.

She is the founder and driving force of Espa, a renowned spa design and management company as well as high-end spa product manufacturer based in Surrey.  In February, she became partly owned by a leading Dubai sovereign wealth fund, which means her already global luxury brand is about to go platinum.

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An Organic Spa Greens New York

As the owner of Priti, the only all-organic spa specializing in luxurious manicures and pedicures in New York City, Australian native Kim D’Amato is at the forefront of a natural beauty revolution. While it’s easier than ever to pop in for a quick manicure and pedicure (or facial or eyebrow wax) at one of the thousands of salons lining the streets of the five boroughs, D’Amato is the only one who has taken a close look at the ingredients contained in the average bottle of nail polish and decided to take a different approach.

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Interview: Bonnie Brown, Massage Therapist for Google

Bonnie Brown was working as massage therapist at Google from 1999 to 2004. Before that, she ran a private school for 10 years. Now, Bonnie is traveling and also wrote a book called Giigle: How I Got Lucky Massaging Google.

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