luxury

This is going to be a big week for Miraval. They are hosting a kick-off celebration for Miraval Living here in Manhattan with Steve Case and Dr. Andrew Weil in attendance. I am so sorry I won’t be able to attend (I am leaving this evening for a trip to China) because their kick-off should […]

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 […]

Another interesting tidbit came out of our L.A. press breakfast on the topic of the latest spa trends. In addition to sharing Spa Finder’s predicted top ten spa trends of the year for the U.S. in general, I presented some specific information from the current area. We talked about the hot trend in L.A. of […]

The day after Christmas, I received an unwelcome surprise — a toothache resulting in my first root canal. It was a three-hour ordeal (not fun, although thankfully not too painful), and all the while I was thinking about my favorite dental spa experience, which occurred a while ago at Dell’Acqua Dental Studio in Palm Desert. […]

Other highlights of my trip to the Caribbean Spa and Wellness Conference: Spending time with Nime La Fauci, our account rep for the Caribbean, and finding out that she can really make friends on the phone. Everywhere we went, people just couldn’t wait to meet her – and embraced her like a long-lost friend – […]

“Wow, that spa is so clean!” Those were the first words my brother-in-law, Bill Formby, said when I asked him how his massage was at the new Mayflower Spa this weekend. I had to laugh because there are so many extraordinary aspects of this new spa that could be mentioned (the setting, the artwork, the […]

Even if you have never been to Brenner’s Park Hotel and Spa in Baden-Baden, Germany, you may have seen this famous photo of their pool, which overlooks a glorious park. We were lucky enough to be there on a crisp sunny fall day where the leaves were turning, and I had to wear a scarf […]

450 people working every day for three years: That is what it took to create the extraordinary place called The Farm at San Benito, along with the resolve of a man, Eckard Rempke, who was stubbornly committed to his vision of creating a place of healing unlike any other in the world. When I envision […]

I’m at the Shangri-La Mactan Island Resort & Spa in Cebu, Philippines. Arrived after midnight and after a good night’s sleep decided to try out their famous Chi Spa. Since this was my only day to have a spa treatment (because the conference begins tomorrow), I decided to call early in the morning to book […]

The plane from New York directly to Singapore is 18 1/2 hours long, a record for me. Actually, I didn’t know that planes could fly that far without stopping to refuel. Then another two-hour flight from Singapore to Bangkok and another one-hour flight from Bangkok to Hua Hin. I must say I was quite pleased […]

I’m back in New York after my whirlwind trip to LA. Just a quick recap of that press breakfast and the LA Spa Expo. For the press I reviewed the top 10 spa trends for 2006 that we announced at the beginning of the year. (I decided to give them catchy names this time – […]

Someone just called me from the West Coast and asked me if I thought the “metrospiritual” phenomenon will become a talked-about trend in the spa industry. Although I’ve been enjoying the break from “metrosexual” and “übersexual”, I must admit that the term “metrospiritual” did immediately resonate with me. After all, we’ve been talking about body/mind/spirit […]