spa industry

Saw Michael Moore’s documentary, Sicko, yesterday. From the full capacity crowd at the theater and the occasional spontaneous applause during the movie, I can see it will be a huge hit – and likely a topic of conversation for some time to come. In addition, I think it will do more than ignite conversation. I […]

Our time at Canyon Ranch is coming to an end. Here is my bottom line assessment of how things went for me this visit. I had four treatments – a Cleopatra bath and massage, a Thai massage, an Ayurvedic Bindi and Shirodhara, and a Sisley Facial. All of them were absolutely excellent. In fact every […]

So, here are the seven ways to lower your C-Reactive Protein (CRP) scores and, therefore, relax your immune system for better health.1. Breathing – Not breathing properly stresses your immune system.2. Eating – Large meals stresses the immune system. You are better off eating smaller meals more frequently. Eat fish for omega 3 which is […]

On Sunday afternoon, I attended Dr. Mark Liponis’ lecture here at Canyon Ranch entitled “UltraLongevity“. Dr. Liponis is the Corporate Medical Director of Canyon Ranch and was one of the authors of “UltraPrevention“, which was published in 2003. He was among the pioneers who preached prevention and the clever book title helped catapult the idea […]

Peter and I are at Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires. This is the second year in a row we decided to spend 4th of July here and I am once again glad we did. There’s nothing like the great food, exercise and education here that gets me motivated to make some changes for the better […]

Today’s New York Times had a huge story in their Style Section entitled “Beauty Regimens Reach for the Gold Standard.” It was an article written about three women in Beverly Hills describing how much they spend – and what they have done – in terms of their beauty regimes each week. Even I was quite […]

I learned something remarkable the other day. I learned that Botox is being used to get rid of the strong vertical lines which appear on our necks as we age and that the procedure really works! These muscles in our neck are called platysma muscles and as we get older a downward pull creates vertical […]

Have you even noticed that after some massages the first thing you want to do is head to the shower to get rid of the itchy oil and after other massages you want to let the oil soak in? (not that it does) On the last night of our vacation Peter and I had the […]

Last Saturday as Peter and I flew to California for a week’s “vacation”, I promised him that I would deal with my email issues. My email issues are such that if there was an email recovery group (and maybe there is) I would have to stand up and say, “Hi, my name is Susie and […]

During dinner with Ian Brewis, who runs all of the Chi spas for Shangri La, we began discussing spas in Vegas and Macau. He had just come from Las Vegas where the Hong Kong-based Shangri La brand is apparently looking at possibilities for a new hotel and spa.We talked about how Asians – and especially […]

Dinner with Ian Brewis, head of the Chi Spas from the Hong Kong-based Shangri La group, is always a lot of fun because Ian is a lot of fun. (Good thing too, since I surprised him in Shanghai by using the Shangri La website as an example during my speech on spa website design. The […]

During my short visit to the Cliffs Communities in South Carolina last weekend, six of us had the chance to go via helicopter to see all of their communities from the air. It was a beautiful sunny day so we were able to see all of their golf courses, the lakes, miles of the nature […]

I had the privilege of flying down to Greenville, South Carolina on a private plane Friday with the guys from Cliffs Communities. They have been wanting Peter and me to see their wellness communities ever since we all first met. I think it was about two years ago when I was in my office working […]

I just received a follow-up email from Dr. Swati, the Indian born doctor in Ayurveda, Natural Medicine, and Yoga Therapy who I met at Parrot Cay. Dr. Swati just joined the staff at Como Shambhala, and I must say she is a very impressive addition. She gave a presentation to our group, which was the […]

I am 3 for 3. Three scheduled spa services and three great services! And even more amazing, my husband, Peter, was 3 for 3 as well. After taking in all of the optics – setting, views, decor, materials used, etc. – the core part of the spa experience is when the therapist puts their hands […]

Flew directly from New York to Turks and Caicos on Friday – 3 1/2 hours. Nice to have this direct flight. Since I have lived most of my adult life on the West Coast, where we vacation in Hawaii, the Caribbean is still somewhat new to me. The chance to experience Parrot Cay while training […]

This press release about the Global Spa Summit (GSS) went out yesterday and since it isn’t posted anywhere yet, thought I would cut and paste it here. We have already received one response from someone questioning whether or not it is a good idea to “air the spa industry dirty laundry” by citing the challenges […]

Since I haven’t been able to catch my breath quite yet and get to the really exciting part where I get to share the insights from the Global Spa Summit with you, I thought I would at least share with you some of the feedback that is rolling in. I must say I am a […]

The Global Spa Summit was over late yesterday afternoon and the feedback has been great. With our sold out event of 150 delegates plus 50 spouses, we had a stellar international group of spa VIP’s. Milana, one of our Spa Finder VP’s, who was among the people who helped with logistics, just walked into my […]

When Mary Tabacchi asked me to join the panel of “Successful Entrepreneurs,” I knew immediately that I would not be talking about myself as an entrepreneur, but rather my husband, Peter. Although I may have some entrepreneurial traits which surface now and then with various projects (like the Global Spa Summit which has required some […]