It’s the wild west out there and there’s a land grab going on as interested parties make their play to own the well-life consumer. It’s not clear yet how this will pan out as the industry matures, or where spa stands in the pecking order, but the threats are clear
By Liz Terry | Published in Spa Business 2016 issue 2
Personal health and wellbeing is emerging as one of the standout consumer markets of this century and it’s sucking in new entrants at breakneck speed.
The question is, who will end up dominating this market – if anyone – and where will spa stand in the pecking order?
At the crux of this is the consumers’-eye perspective, because people who care about their health know it’s a round-the-clock commitment, not just something you opt in and out of as you fancy.
People leading a well life care about the entire Circle of Wellbeing – the whole-life picture. They care about their sleep, lifelong learning, the air they breathe, the food they eat, how they work and exercise and relax, how they socialise and spend their free time, how they spend and invest their money, how they live, how they die. All of it.
For them, it’s a total lifestyle choice and the power of this 24/7 dimension, when coupled with the spending habits of this fast-growing global tribe, have begun to catch the eye of an increasing number of major players.
Corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Intel, Apple and Amazon are racing to figure out how they can jump in: the prospect of this deep level of constant contact is alluring to those looking to own the consumer.
They also know this tribe is generally more affluent, educated and aspiring – whatever their background – making the prospect even more compelling.
The arrival of top level businesses like these poses interesting challenges, as well as raising the prospect of opportunity for partnerships and collaborations. Yet if big business wants in, then things will get bloody over the next decade as they battle for position and seek to create global consumer brands around personal wellbeing.
The challenge for the spa industry is that we are – on the whole – only geared up to sell time and experiences and not to engage round-the-clock with consumers.
You could argue other sectors within wellbeing are doing a better job of bonding with the consumer and providing 24/7 support – the health and fitness industry and the healthcare sectors are both making fast progress with the engaging tech they need to be able to do this.
And they’re working with big business to do it, so wearbles are integrating with fitness apps and health and fitness businesses to create joined-up experiences.
It’s time for spa businesses to become global consumer brands and to figure out how to fit in to this bigger picture. Time to move beyond selling time to a point where we can build round-the-clock relationships with customers and major players in the wider wellbeing industry.
This will take investment and ambition, but it’s entirely within our scope. And if we don’t, then there’s a very real danger we’ll see our market taken over by others.
Liz Terry, editorial director @elizterry
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
View contents of Spa Business 2016 issue 2
Editor’s letter: Who will own the well-life consumer?
It’s the wild west out there and there’s a land grab going on as interested parties make their play to own the well-life consumer. It’s not clear yet how this will pan out as the industry matures, or where spa stands in the pecking order, but the threats are clear
Spa people: Tyler Gage
Runa’s Tyler Gage working with Channing Tatum on an Amazon healing centre
Spa people: Todd Hewitt
For the first time in four years, Shangri-La appoints a global head of spas. Spa Business talks to Todd Hewitt, the man to fill the role
Spa people: James White
Thermal spa researcher and consultant to head up major overhaul of Maruia Hot Springs in New Zealand
Interview: Irene Forte
Daughter of hotelier Sir Rocco Forte and niece of designer Olga Polizzi tells Jane Kitchen why the Rocco Forte Hotel’s new spa concept is a family affair
Design: Natural wonderland
Neena Dhillon visits the striking new Keemala resort and spa in Phuket and finds out about its unique design
Science: Skin deep
Modern research is redefining the way we think about skin. Neuroscientist Dr Claudia Aguirre explains what the findings mean for spas
Promotional feature: Clarins
Clarins’ head of Spas, My Blend and Retail, Prisca Courtin-Clarins, talks about the strides the company is making in highly prescriptive skincare, and the development of hotel spa concepts with the My Blend brand
Promotional feature: Massage Heights
There’s a clear gap in the UK spa market for an affordable local offering that places an emphasis on top-quality treatments and services. Is Massage Heights, the successful US franchise chain, the solution?
Promotional feature: Neaumorinc
From a director of spa at Four Seasons to an entrepreneur who introduces exciting new beauty brands to five-star facilities, Shawna Morneau’s experience on both sides of the industry is enabling her consultancy to have an impact worldwide
Promotional feature: Dr Burgener Switzerland
Dr Burgener Switzerland to launch Haute Couture, a revolutionary skin treatment that personalises product and treatments to each person’s skin, using cutting-edge technology
Sensory zone: Set adrift
Niamh Madigan talks to researcher Justin Feinstein who thinks floatation could be a shortcut to meditation
Fitness: Defying gravity
The founder of AntiGravity® Aerial Yoga tells Niamh Madigan about the technique and a new suspension massage he’s developing for spas
Promotional feature: Gharieni
As Gharieni prepares to celebrate 25 years in the industry, founder and CEO Sammy Gharieni talks about the company’s culture of innovation, and how there will so many more exciting products to come
Le Atelier by C.O.D.E. doesn't offer a standard bespoke service, it provides a highly
customised approach to designing massage beds and loungers in high-end wellness
environments. [more...]
It’s the wild west out there and there’s a land grab going on as interested parties make their play to own the well-life consumer. It’s not clear yet how this will pan out as the industry matures, or where spa stands in the pecking order, but the threats are clear
By Liz Terry | Published in Spa Business 2016 issue 2
Personal health and wellbeing is emerging as one of the standout consumer markets of this century and it’s sucking in new entrants at breakneck speed.
The question is, who will end up dominating this market – if anyone – and where will spa stand in the pecking order?
At the crux of this is the consumers’-eye perspective, because people who care about their health know it’s a round-the-clock commitment, not just something you opt in and out of as you fancy.
People leading a well life care about the entire Circle of Wellbeing – the whole-life picture. They care about their sleep, lifelong learning, the air they breathe, the food they eat, how they work and exercise and relax, how they socialise and spend their free time, how they spend and invest their money, how they live, how they die. All of it.
For them, it’s a total lifestyle choice and the power of this 24/7 dimension, when coupled with the spending habits of this fast-growing global tribe, have begun to catch the eye of an increasing number of major players.
Corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Intel, Apple and Amazon are racing to figure out how they can jump in: the prospect of this deep level of constant contact is alluring to those looking to own the consumer.
They also know this tribe is generally more affluent, educated and aspiring – whatever their background – making the prospect even more compelling.
The arrival of top level businesses like these poses interesting challenges, as well as raising the prospect of opportunity for partnerships and collaborations. Yet if big business wants in, then things will get bloody over the next decade as they battle for position and seek to create global consumer brands around personal wellbeing.
The challenge for the spa industry is that we are – on the whole – only geared up to sell time and experiences and not to engage round-the-clock with consumers.
You could argue other sectors within wellbeing are doing a better job of bonding with the consumer and providing 24/7 support – the health and fitness industry and the healthcare sectors are both making fast progress with the engaging tech they need to be able to do this.
And they’re working with big business to do it, so wearbles are integrating with fitness apps and health and fitness businesses to create joined-up experiences.
It’s time for spa businesses to become global consumer brands and to figure out how to fit in to this bigger picture. Time to move beyond selling time to a point where we can build round-the-clock relationships with customers and major players in the wider wellbeing industry.
This will take investment and ambition, but it’s entirely within our scope. And if we don’t, then there’s a very real danger we’ll see our market taken over by others.
Liz Terry, editorial director @elizterry
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
View contents of Spa Business 2016 issue 2
Editor’s letter: Who will own the well-life consumer?
It’s the wild west out there and there’s a land grab going on as interested parties make their play to own the well-life consumer. It’s not clear yet how this will pan out as the industry matures, or where spa stands in the pecking order, but the threats are clear
Spa people: Tyler Gage
Runa’s Tyler Gage working with Channing Tatum on an Amazon healing centre
Spa people: Todd Hewitt
For the first time in four years, Shangri-La appoints a global head of spas. Spa Business talks to Todd Hewitt, the man to fill the role
Spa people: James White
Thermal spa researcher and consultant to head up major overhaul of Maruia Hot Springs in New Zealand
Interview: Irene Forte
Daughter of hotelier Sir Rocco Forte and niece of designer Olga Polizzi tells Jane Kitchen why the Rocco Forte Hotel’s new spa concept is a family affair
Design: Natural wonderland
Neena Dhillon visits the striking new Keemala resort and spa in Phuket and finds out about its unique design
Science: Skin deep
Modern research is redefining the way we think about skin. Neuroscientist Dr Claudia Aguirre explains what the findings mean for spas
Promotional feature: Clarins
Clarins’ head of Spas, My Blend and Retail, Prisca Courtin-Clarins, talks about the strides the company is making in highly prescriptive skincare, and the development of hotel spa concepts with the My Blend brand
Promotional feature: Massage Heights
There’s a clear gap in the UK spa market for an affordable local offering that places an emphasis on top-quality treatments and services. Is Massage Heights, the successful US franchise chain, the solution?
Promotional feature: Neaumorinc
From a director of spa at Four Seasons to an entrepreneur who introduces exciting new beauty brands to five-star facilities, Shawna Morneau’s experience on both sides of the industry is enabling her consultancy to have an impact worldwide
Promotional feature: Dr Burgener Switzerland
Dr Burgener Switzerland to launch Haute Couture, a revolutionary skin treatment that personalises product and treatments to each person’s skin, using cutting-edge technology
Sensory zone: Set adrift
Niamh Madigan talks to researcher Justin Feinstein who thinks floatation could be a shortcut to meditation
Fitness: Defying gravity
The founder of AntiGravity® Aerial Yoga tells Niamh Madigan about the technique and a new suspension massage he’s developing for spas
Promotional feature: Gharieni
As Gharieni prepares to celebrate 25 years in the industry, founder and CEO Sammy Gharieni talks about the company’s culture of innovation, and how there will so many more exciting products to come
Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai in Hoi An, Vietnam, has put together a Global Wellness Day
(GWD) agenda with activations rooted in nature and shaped by four pillars of Joy – in
alignment with the day’s theme #JoyMagenta.
The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) will celebrate its 20th anniversary at the 2026 event in
Phuket, Thailand, later this year with the theme: The Science, Art and Soul of Wellness.
Auko, an all-inclusive development, is opening in Phong Nha in Vietnam in Q3 2026, with a
series of 30 tented eco-lodges and wellness hospitality operations by Lumina Wellbeing.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Naples Beach Club, a Four Seasons Resort, has opened a 2,800sq m spa called The Sanctuary,
with the design and concept inspired by the Native American people that populated Florida’s
Southwest coast – the Calusa.
Swire Hotels’ luxury hospitality brand Upper House has revealed it will roll out its two-day
House of Healing retreats at its three hotels in Hong Kong, Chengdu and Shanghai.
LVMH-owned beauty house Guerlain will launch up to five spas with partners a year as part of
its plan to expand globally, according to the brand’s international spa and wellness director,
Diane Davody.
A new global study by Kevin Kelly and Peter Yesawich, called WELLSurvey 2.0, has revealed
more than half of consumers in the UK, US and Germany would not choose numerous high-
profile wellness resort brands for a future trip.
Luxury hospitality and wellness pioneer Jeremy McCarthy has launched Leisure Alchemy, a
digital platform that will provide professionals with strategic guidance on how to build
transformational leisure experiences that drive profit.
Le Atelier by C.O.D.E. doesn't offer a standard bespoke service, it provides a highly
customised approach to designing massage beds and loungers in high-end wellness
environments. [more...]
