wellness summit

At this year’s Global Spa Summit in Bali, we were treated to several short social networking/technology talks from my favorite tech guru Marc Smith from Connected Action.  Marc is the only presenter I know in the technology space who might also make it as a standup comedian!  Click here to access a short 10 minute video of Marc […]

INTRODUCTION I am so honored to be Co-Chairing the event this year with Susie Ellis and Jeff Mathews.     This has been an exciting and busy year and I have a new appreciation for the work and commitment of Susie and Dulcy Gregory and others who have worked so hard on the Summits before this one. […]

Let the Spa Research begin!  (Guess what…it already has.) When it comes to Evidenced Based Medicine (EBM) research studies that support many spa and wellness modalities (such as massage, exercise, meditation, yoga, Reiki, and the like) we need not wait to create them – they already exist. In my previous blog post I wrote about the two Global Spa […]

Continuing on with my review of SpaFinder’s 2010 Top 10 Spa Trends (and then evaluating how the trend actually developed), we predicted an increasing popularity of hammams. Admittedly this trend took many people by surprise, in fact, I don’t think anyone really saw this one coming!  (I love it when that happens!)  Our research, however, put this one on our radar.  Having the chance […]

Disappointing.  Informative.  Those are the two words I would use to describe my experience earlier this week at the Spa and Resort Expo and Conference here in NY City at the Javitz Center.  The show room floor was less than inspiring due to the fact that few spa product or service companies were exhibiting. I […]

‘Spas’ and ‘Medical Tourism’ Two Booming Industries With Strikingly Parallel Paths and Issues By Susie Ellis, President of SpaFinder Inc. – the world’s largest spa media, marketing and gifting company Am currently attending the 3rd annual Medical Tourism Conference in LA.  While I will summarize the very latest information  in an upcoming blog, I thought […]

Learning from a winner in Medical Tourism – Bumrungrad International Hospital, Thailand Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand is the largest hospital in the world treating international patients. Bumrungrad looks like a 5 star hotel and gives people confidence and super service. (my experience also) Bumrungrad takes care of over 400,000 international patients yearly. Over 1 million […]

Attended two different events in Sao Paulo, Brazil last week. 1. The Medical Travel Meeting Brazil – where I spoke on Spas and Wellness Tourism 2. Beauty Fair (and spa conference) which I will tell you about in a future blog. I tweeted somewhat comprehensively from the Medical Travel Meeting for those who want the […]

Last Thursday I had my first “adult spa camp” experience.  Joan Lunden (of Good Morning America fame) invited my colleague Sallie, COO of SpaFinder, and I to join her and 140 other women at her yearly Camp Reveille in Maine.  I haven’t been to camp since I was 13 or 14, but vaguely remember enjoying […]

One of the goals of this year’s Global Spa Summit (GSS) , held in Istanbul, Turkey in May, was to look beyond our industry for fresh ideas and inspiration.  So early on, the board of the GSS decided to invite a futurist. Edie Weiner immediately came to mind.  She is a prominent futurist known for “saying […]

Anitra Brown, from Spas.About.com emailed me a few days ago saying she noticed I hadn’t been blogging as often lately (or tweeting for that matter) and wondered if everything was ok. Well, the answer is ‘yes’ things are ok – now – and thanks for noticing that I was out-of-action for a while. In brief […]

I was in Bangkok a few weeks ago (when the Red Shirts who were demonstrating still looked more like a Sunday parade) attending the Asia Pacific Spa and Wellness Coalition (APSWC).  Since I usually take pretty comprehensive notes at conferences (keeps me awake and alert), I have selected some points I found particularly interesting, surprising, […]

Just returned from a spa trip to Asia.  First stop – Tokyo for a SpaFinder Japan press conference.  Yoriko Soma, our partner in Japan, hosted a lovely event honoring recipients of the Crystal Awards for top spas in Japan. Consumers voted these the top 10: 1. The Peninsula Spa by ESPA Tokyo 2. The Ritz […]

By Susie Ellis, SpaFinder Insider Thought you might enjoy this article, “Istanbul’s Booming Spa Culture Is Revisiting Old Turkish Bathhouse Rituals” for your weekend reading! Jayda Uras who is quoted in this Wall Street Journal article just sent me the link and I am delighted to share it with you right away so you will […]

By Susie Ellis, SpaFinder Insider. First things first. I just returned from attending the very creative TED Active conference in Palm Springs, CA. To say it was inspiring would be an understatement. Rather, for me (and I think many others who attended) TED was a game-changer. While I will explain what I mean by that […]

by Susie Ellis, SpaFinder Insider. Just returned from the Medical Tourism Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Organized by the University of the Incarnate Word, it was well-run, insightful, and I learned a great deal. Dr. David Viquist and his dean are the visionaries behind positioning their university at the forefront of medical tourism research. Before […]

Continuing down the list of the top 10 spa trends for 2010 we published a few weeks ago, the second one is what we are calling “the year of the hammam.” This one turned out to be a surprise for many however the reaction has been enthusiastically positive! Here is the description and then some […]

A Day of Good News for Spasby Susie Ellis, SpaFinder Insider Peter (my husband and CEO of our company for those who are new to the blog) was in Florida this weekend and stopped by to say hi and congratulations to Paul Lehr, President of Pritikin Longevity Center and Spa. We had recently heard the […]

Expert’s Favorite Spa in SpaFinder’s List of “Top 10 Sexiest Spas for 2009” by Susie Ellis SpaFinder Insider In my last post I shared with you our list of the Top 10 Sexiest Spas for 2009 (voted on by spa editors and experts around the world). Although I gave you the list of ten in […]

Walter Cronkite, Spa, Wellness and a Good LifeBy Susie EllisSpaFinder Insider Being “of the moment,” I can’t help but weigh-in on today’s headlines which are all about Walter Cronkite’s life and death. Although I never actually met the man who became the most trusted voice of TV news, I feel somewhat connected to him through […]