Spirituality and the Spa Industry Hitting the social radar

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Spirituality and the Spa IndustryHitting the
social radar

• Peter Anderson
• Anderson Associates
• 645 Raymond Ave Suite One
• Santa Monica, CA 90405
• peter_at_anderspa.com

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This Afternoons Journey

• I Spirituality as a business proposition
• II Whats happening in the Market Place
• III Boomers demographics - defining a need
• IV Case Study Glen Ivy Spas
• V Conclusions and Recommendations

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I. Spirituality as a Business
Cultural Creatives are embracing more of the
intangible aspects of life and are finding them
less threatening.
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Why are we in Business?

• If The sexy part of business is finding a need
  and marrying it with a product.
• Then Spirituality in spas is potentially a
  very sexy product.
• Is spirituality as a product
• a living contradiction?

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Absolutely Not!

• Evaluating spas from a needs prospective (what
  does the market want?) the products will
  naturally follow.
• Evaluating spas from a product perspective alone
  (what can I sell?) and there is great propensity
  for disingenuous goods and services.

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Trends

• Spas are expanding in ways to address issues
  beyond beauty.
• Health care is becoming more broadly defined.
  The old model is a not a health care system, but
  rather a sick care system.
• Body/Mind connection is becoming more understood
  or at least a greater point of empirical
  investigation.

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The Perfect Storm
Belief Systems
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Why is Spirituality Scary?

• RELIGION vs. SPIRITUALITY
• Providing an environment to have a guest
  self-select modalities and treatments that speak
  to their spiritual needs is not the same as ..
• Promoting Religious Doctrine

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Religion vs. Spirituality

• From this perspective, it is reasonable to posit
• that Spirituality could
• be seen as the
• opposite of Religion.

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Trends in Spirituality

• Pick-your-own religions will become the new
  status quo. For example, people may combine
  Jewish ritual with Catholic sacraments and Zen
  principles."
• 1999 Faith Popcorn

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Madonna and Child Iconography
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Belief systems and Personal care

• Yoga........ Pre dates Indian,
• Hindu and Buddhist
• Christian Science 1866
• Christian Yoga. 2006
• Meditation vs. Prayer
• Prayer and Healing - double blind studies
• Seniors with pets and spouses heal faster after
  operations

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What is old is new.

• As Spa professionals, we are
• responding to market demands.
• Spirituality is a way to provide additional tools
  for self care. The link becomes more obvious as
  we incorporate more and more of these components
  into our daily lives

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Major Opportunity to create an inclusive range of
services.

• Spirituality is coming out of the closet and
  providing revenue opportunities for the right spa
  in the right market with the right clientele.

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But Theres More.

• Intent
• Focus
• Integrated best practices
• Clients, Customers, Colleagues, Employees,
  Vendors, and You.
• Authenticity from the inside out.

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II. Whats happening in the market?

• Big, Little and Independent Platforms

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Starwood Hotels .

• Link between the mind and body as opposed to
  religion  
• These offerings tends to be the larger spas with
  more comprehensive facilities and programming.  
• Seven Pillars of Well-Being the core
  philosophy.  One of the pillars is termed Life
  Balance which requires a minimum of (2)
  offerings which address spirituality such as
  Yoga, Tai-Chi, Meditation and even Reiki.

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Starwood. Revenue enhancement?

• There does appear to be a demand for group-based
  fitness that address both the mind/body.  Private
  consultations are also requested from
  time-to-time, and other one-on-one activities
  such as Tarot card readings, astrology and even
  some aspects of Ayurveda, all touch upon the
  areas of spirituality.

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Other major hotel and resort chains

• Our spas are not corporately positioned in this
  manner.  We have a broad based audience and must
  be conscious of not alienating anyone.
• Why would we do that?
• THE BIGGER THE PLATFORM THE MORE
• RESISTANT TO EMBRACING THE UNCHARTED MARKETING
  WATERS.

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Red Mountain Spa, Utah

• spirit hikes (which are silent)
• meditation focused hikes. 
• Native American Spiritual Journey class (educates
  guests on local Native American spiritual
  traditions). 
• Inner awareness/spiritual based fitness classes
  such as yoga, breath, meditation, etc.
• Native American Medicine Card readings
• Native American sweat lodge experience into the
  spa
• Evening programs such as an Inca Fire Ceremony,
  Drumming/Prayer Circles, Sacred Spiral Circle
  Walks, Introduction to Meditation, and Kundalini
  Yoga.

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Red Mountain Revenue Enhancement?

• Happier Guests
• who return....

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Canyon Ranch Tucson, AZ Lennox, MA

• Lifestyle packages
• Body, Mind, Spirit
• Resort Residential
• Accommodations
• Longevity and wellness
• Programs with Western
• and non western
• Modalities.

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Canyon RanchRevenue Enhancement?

• This (spirituality) is something we have always
  incorporated into our programming since we opened
  27 years ago and we will continue this with our
  residential living projects

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III. Boomers Demographics

• Shaping the way we
• look at the world

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The Sandwich Generation
Then and Now
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They Pushed BoundariesThrough their Music
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They Pushed BoundariesThrough their Politics
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They Pushed BoundariesThrough their Art
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They Pushed BoundariesThrough their Fashion
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They Pushed BoundariesThrough their Choices
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The 1980s Greed and Unisex Bad Hair
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Perspective ?
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Whats next for a generation _at_ 60?
Kids
Money
Parents
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TodaysIssues
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The Meaning of Life

• M Python 1983

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IV. Case Study Glen Ivy, Corona CA

• Spirituality and Branding
• Spa wants to develop their brand
• Is spirituality an appropriate component
• in the branding exercise and
• if so how far is too far?

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Survey Methodology

• 937 internet respondents general Southern
  California residents
• 391 person-on-the-street clipboard surveys
• 146 day spa goers/Glen Ivy
• 826 mineral springs spa goers/Glen Ivy
• 2,300 Total

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Glen Ivy Vision and Expansion
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 STRONGLY DISAGREE SOMEWHAT
AGREE STRONGLY AGREE

• Spas that include nontraditional / lifestyle
  (spiritual) treatments can be described as at the
  cutting edge of the spa industry.
• SEASONED SPA GOER 4.8
• PERSON ON THE STREET 4.5

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 STRONGLY DISAGREE SOMEWHAT
AGREE STRONGLY AGREE

• There is a link between
• spirituality and lifestyle.
• SEASONED SPA GOER 5.7
• PERSON ON THE STREET 5.7

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 STRONGLY DISAGREE SOMEWHAT
AGREE STRONGLY AGREE

• I consider myself a
• religious person.
• SEASONED SPA GOER 4.4
• PERSON ON THE STREET 4.4

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 STRONGLY DISAGREE SOMEWHAT
AGREE STRONGLY AGREE

• There is a distinction between
• religion and spirituality.
• SEASONED SPA GOER 5.5
• PERSON ON THE STREET 5.1

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 STRONGLY DISAGREE SOMEWHAT
AGREE STRONGLY AGREE

• I consider myself
• a spiritual person.
• SEASONED SPA GOER 5.7
• PERSON ON THE STREET 4.8

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 STRONGLY DISAGREE SOMEWHAT
AGREE STRONGLY AGREE

• Incorporating spiritual/lifestyle overtones into
  the spa menu is a way to enhance the spa
  treatments.
• SEASONED SPA GOER 4.7
• PERSON ON THE STREET 3.7

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 STRONGLY DISAGREE SOMEWHAT
AGREE STRONGLY AGREE

• Affiliating with a spiritual/lifestyle
• is a positive thing to
• build lifestyle menus
• SEASONED SPA GOER 3.8
• PERSON ON THE STREET 3.7

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Appropriateness vs. Likely to Purchase

• Appropriateness sure it is reasonable and
  probably market supportable that you should have
  that in your spa.
• Likely to Purchase (LTP) and if you put it in
  at some point I probably will want to use the
  facility/program, etc

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Facilities Modalities

• Attunement
• Aura Soma
• Ayruvedic Med
• Cranial Sacral
• Emotionally Safe Places
• Energy Work
• Fitness Nutrition
• Healing Hands

• Labyrinth Walking
• Retreats
• Lifestyle Enhancement
• Meditation Prayer
• Reflexology
• Reiki
• Qi Gong

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Scoring

• SCORE MEANING
• -1 not at all appropriate
• 0 neutral
• 1 somewhat appropriate
• 2 very appropriate

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Spa Treatments (Scoring -1 to 2)
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Spa Treatments (Scoring-1to 2) (cont.)
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Spa Activities (Scoring -1 to 2)
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Informational Classes (Scoring -1 to 2)
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Sureness and Focus

• Sureness delta evaluated the numeric gap between
  the appropriateness rating and the Likely to
  Purchase (LTP) rating
• Focus factor correlates the sureness delta with
  the LTP factor
• Tiny Sureness Delta/Large LTP Rating Small
  Focus Factor

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Sureness and Focus

• Sureness delta evaluated the numeric gap between
  the appropriateness rating and the Likely to
  Purchase (LTP) rating
• Focus factor correlates the sureness delta with
  the LTP factor
• Tiny Sureness Delta/Large LTP Rating Small
  Focus Factor

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Spa Treatments Sureness Focus(Scoring -1 to
2)
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Spa Treatments Sureness Focus(Scoring (-1 to
2)
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Activities Sureness and Focus
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Informational Classes Sureness and Focus
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Treatment Focus Hierarchy
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Treatment Focus Hierarchy
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V. What Does it all Mean?

• The take home messages.

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Observations Recommendations

• 1. A recurring theme is that the spa is the new
  town hall, community centre or local secular
  church.
• 2. The most intangible, but growing trend is the
  role of spirituality, energy and wellness in the
  mainstream spa environment. The most apparent
  approach to this area is the boom of yoga,
  pilates, tai chi and other movement-based
  practices.

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Observations Recommendations

• 3. The market already acknowledges a clear
  distinction between religion and spirituality.
  This awareness is expected to continue.
• 4. If you want to market and sell the spa as
  having a spiritual component, this needs to be
  developed and maintained through the service
  culture of a spa.

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Observations Recommendations

• 5. Independent Resort Spas and well- established
  Destination Spas are currently the principal spa
  products that are pursuing spirituality as a
  viable component.
• 6. Some well-established chains fear loosing
  market share with non-traditional treatments.

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Observations Recommendations

• 7. With respect to spa treatments, most
  spirit-based offerings include some form of
  energy work. (reiki and craniosacral therapies
  have gained much ground in the mainstream spa)
• 8. Acceptance is assisted by credibility of a
  culture (non-western) as long-standing healing
  modalities. .Native American, Eastern, and
  Indian (Ayurvedic) have received traction with
  the spa going public.

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Observations Recommendations

• 9. Mind-based spirituality is increasing, but
  spa operators are approaching this area slowly,
  and gently with their customer base. The timid
  are behind the power curve.
• 10. As long as the customer can receive almost
  immediate benefits, the treatment or session has
  (commercial) validity

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Thank You

• Questions?
• peter_at_anderspa.com