In the wake of mass affluents pulling back on their vacations and businesses also restricting budgets to deal with increased costs of business travel, the tourist industry has had to be even more creative in providing perceived value for money to attract guests in an environment where facilities and pricing do not differ materially within any one category—all while staying within their own restricted budgets. READ MORE

Do you want your spa to be profitable? Do you want your spa to help improve your hotel's occupancy and increase the revenue per guest? If yes, have you invested any resources (money, training or coaching) to help your spa director to be a better financial business manager? If you haven't invested in educating your spa director to be a spa "business" director, don't expect your spa to be as profitable as it could and should be. READ MORE

High operating expenses combined with increased “discounted” competition with day spas have painted hotel spas into a financial corner, making tight margins skin tight. Given that the average hotel spa can charge a premium of 50 to over 500 percent over the local day spa and still only achieve a departmental profit of somewhere between 9% and 15% is not only staggering, but leaves little room to navigate into more profitable seas. The global economic melt down that started in the latter part of the 3rd quarter 2008 and the tenuous progress that continues today has the potential to make a difficult situation dire. So the question at hand is how should a hotel or resort enhance, expand or reposition their spa and how best can they justify their “enhanced pricing” and still remain competitive? READ MORE

In the spa world of 2012, the word organic has been tossed around for some time, however the definition relayed to the general public has changed. While retailers, spas and cosmetic companies customarily have some type of organic ingredient in their demographic, not every company incorporates organics for the same reason. Some see organics as offering a higher concentration of pure ingredients and in turn, healthier for the skin while others view organics simply as an ingredient labels which helps sell the product or treatment. And, some see organics as a marketing ploy that doesn't make any difference in retail. Ultimately, we need consumer “buy in” to demand quality organic products on the market. READ MORE

A hotel may be elegant and deftly designed. The materials may be of the highest quality. It may provide five-star service and amenities. But if a hotel looks the same in Chengdu as in Chicago, then it is only an elegant, high-quality, five-star hotel. It says little about the place. And a unique guest experience is inextricably linked to place. What are the challenges and solutions to creating a memorable guest experience by design? READ MORE