ISPA Members Make the Most of
Skin Cancer Awareness Month

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month, and for spas, it’s a time to remind clients about the benefits of protecting their skin from the damaging effects of the sun. As such, several of ISPA’s members are offering education, specials, and promotions that encourage safe sun practices and work to battle the effects of sun damage.

“Skin Cancer Awareness Month is a great opportunity for everyone to think about their skin and how to protect it,” says Brent Bauer, M.D., director of the Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program at the Mayo Clinic and ISPA’s Medical Advisor. “It’s especially important if you have increased risk factors for skin cancer such as fair skin, a history of sunburns or lots of moles.”

Want to make the most of this month? Take inspiration from some of the following spas:

• Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North (Scottsdale, AZ) offers a Cucumber Aloe Vera Wrap ($165, 50 minutes), which helps heal skin while clients feet are massaged and their scalps are soothed with a conditioning treatment.
• One Ocean Resort Hotel and Spa (Atlantic Beach, FL)’s Soothing Aloe Wrap ($155. 50 minutes) includes a cooling lavender mist and a healing aloe gel and rosehip lotion nourishes skin and restores moisture balance.
• The Spa at The Mirage (Las Vegas) features an Aloe Restoration Wrap ($155, 50 minutes), which replenishes the body’s moisture reserves and includes a revitalizing scalp and back massage.
• SpaTerre at Paradise Point Resort & Spa (San Diego) offers a Dilo Rescue Wrap ($75, 25 minutes), which is a calming sunburn treatment including a blend of cold pressed dilo and coconut oils, aloe vera, and passion fruit extract.
• Vdara Health & Beauty Spa (Las Vegas)’s Aloe & Chamomile Sun Repair Facial ($135, 60 minutes) reverses sun damage and aids in cellular regeneration. An environmental defense mask and botanical skin brightener lightens hyperpigmentation.

Click here for a full list of ISPA members’ suncare treatments and products. And stay tuned for American Spa’s June issue, which takes a look at ways to help protect your clients’ skin with state-of-the art spa suncare offerings.

ISPA Foundation Offers Two Research Opportunities

The International SPA Association (ISPA) Foundation has recently announced that for the third year, applications for both the Ruth Stricker Spa and Wellness Award and the Dr. Howard Murad Research Grant are available and will be accepted through June 1, 2010.

The Ruth Stricker Spa and Wellness Award offers aid for research in helping spas meet current health care needs, promote wellness, and enhance quality of life. The $2,500 award will support a project that demonstrates a unique or unrecognized benefit of spa in promoting wellness. Entrants with a particular focus in the areas of aging, technological stress, chronic illness, and loneliness will be given extra consideration.

The Dr. Howard Murad Research Grant offers assistance to researchers studying the effects of cultural stress and ways to manage it. The $1,500 grant can be used to research technology overload, overworking and lack of purposeful work, inadequate nutrition, and those suffering from isolation from friends.
To find out more or to fill out an application, click here.

ISPA, Spa Week Join Forces

Two of the biggest names in our business, ISPA and Spa Week, have teamed up. To kick off the New Year and the 12th installation of the spring and fall Spa Week Events, Spa Week Media Group will recognize ISPA as the exclusive spa association sponsor of the 2010 Events which take place in Arizona, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Florida, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Nashville, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto (Canada), Virginia Beach, and Washington D.C.

“The spa lifestyle is accessible to everyone,” says ISPA president Lynne McNees. “Through our partnership with Spa Week Media Group, we’ll be able to reach many potential spa-goers and inform them that the spa is the place to go to educate yourself on how to lead a more healthful and balanced life.”

“The joining together of Spa Week Media Group and ISPA brings together for the first time the two most significant players in the spa industry,” says Spa Week Media Group CEO and president Cheryl Reid. “This historic alliance between our companies will further our mutual goal to spread the wellness lifestyle to the masses.”

Through this partnership, Spa Week and ISPA promise to provide further marketing, networking, and educational opportunities to the spas they serve while promoting the value of the spa experience to consumers nationwide. I look forward to seeing the results!

ISPA, STR Partner for Spa Benchmarking

The International Spa Association (ISPA) has teamed with Smith Travel Research (STR) to expand an online benchmarking tool for spas. The Spa STAR report first launched in 2007 as a benchmarking tool for hotel and resort spas. Now, the program is growing through partial funding from ISPA to include the rest of the spa industry. The online Spa STAR report will allow spas to enter monthly information on various metrics, such as treatment revenue, number of treatments, treatment room hours available, treatment room hours utilized, spa revenue, and more. Using this information, spas can pull Spa STAR reports showing monthly and historical performances, which enables them to benchmark themselves against other spas.

Members of ISPA will receive an exclusive one-year STR discount through this partnership beginning in January 2010. “The key is to get spas to participate in the monthly reports, so that this can be a valuable resource and a true benchmarking tool,” says Lynne McNees, ISPA president. “The hotel industry has relied on STAR reports for years to provide timely information used in their operations, and we are proud to provide all spas the same benefits.”

“In these times of unprecedented economic upheaval spa operators are looking for more sophisticated tools and for actionable information,” adds STR Vice President Jan D. Freitag. “The Spa STAR report will equip owners, operators and investors with strategic planning tools for the future”

Visit www.experienceispa.com for details.

ISPA Reveals Steady Increase in Spa Industry

The International SPA Association (ISPA) 2009 U.S. Spa Industry Update reveals a steady increase in overall spa locations, revenues, and visits. While positive, the findings are from the calendar year of 2008, which doesn’t reflect the impact the economy has had on the spa industry. “We are pleased to report that 2008 was another year of growth for the spa industry, but we know that we have a tough road ahead of us as our industry is not immune to the current economy,” says Lynne McNees, president of ISPA. “Even though the number of spa locations are up, at a per spa level revenues and visits are slightly down and showing the early effects of the economic downfall.”

Key findings of the 2009 Spa Industry Update include:

• Overall industry revenues continued to grow at an annual rate of 17.8 percent, while at a per spa level revenue experienced a slight decline.

• Day spas continue to dominate the industry at 79 percent of total spas.

• When looking at spas by type, the number of medical spas continues to grow at the fastest rate. Since July 2007, the number of medical spas has grown by 85 percent.

For more information on ISPA and the 2009 Spa Industry Update, visit www.experienceispa.com.