Spa Business issue 2 2012 - Leisure Opportunities

Ellis (front) was a fi tness instructor at Golden
Door in the 70s and feels her long career in
spas greatly helps with predicting trends
in the business – especially in the annual
trends report. “We do three studies a year at
SpaFinder, one with consumers, one with the
industry and one with travel agents, which
gives us a lot of information,” she says. “We
can also see from our website what’s trending.
Finally, we have a team who travel to
spas all over the world, and I count on their
input. Personally, I always keep a notebook
on me to jot down trends to track.”
What sets SpaFinder’s report apart from
others is the focus on emerging trends –
such as wellness gaming on the 2011 list
(see p80) – rather than established ones. “To
make those sorts of predictions, you have to
do a fair amount of research,” she says “and
that means reading a wide variety of newspapers
and publications, going to [non-spa]
conferences like TED and TEDMED, and
talking to many people around the world
about what’s going on.”
As a result of such intense interest, the
list is no longer only identifying emerging
trends – it’s also driving them. Ellis says: “I
noticed maybe four or fi ve years ago that
shining a light on an emerging trend would
Like SpaFinder,
California’s Golden
Door has faced
plagiarism – an
industry-wide issue
that needs addressing
“I noticed that shining a light on an emerging trend
would accelerate it... so now if I think a trend will
have a negative industry impact I won’t include it”
oft entimes accelerate that trend. So now one
of the things I consider is what’s good for the
industry… and if I think a trend will have a
negative impact, I won’t include it.”
Another reason a trend might not make
the cut is that it’s too early in its evolution.
“One that didn’t make it this year is the
trend for spas to make their facilities and
programmes available to the disabled,” she
says. “It’s a small niche, but it’s increasing
and it really dovetails into one of our trends
from last year, which was pain relief for the
ageing, so we’re watching that.”
A third consideration, says Ellis, is making
sure they’re consumer-friendly. “Th at happened
this year with employee wellness [the
trend for corporate wellness programmes],”
she says. “Th at’s a very interesting opportunity
for the industry, but we didn’t feel consumers
could relate to it yet; it’s too soon. So we put
it in at number 11 as a bonus trend.”
An ethical challenge
Th e popular success of the SpaFinder Spa
Trend Report has inevitably led to it being
widely quoted in both the consumer and
industry press, as well as referenced by other
experts. Yet while this kind of publicity is
good for both SpaFinder and the industry,
there is also a downside to the report’s ubiquity.
“A few years ago, we started seeing other
people in the industry putting together their
own trends lists,” says Ellis. “And we noticed
that many of these lists were basically our
list. It would maybe have a slightly diff erent
name or a slightly diff erent order, a little bit
of cosmetic work to make it look new. But
it really wasn’t new.
“Th ere’s a lot of work involved in compiling
our trends report, so a couple of years
ago we decided we had to step up and start
protecting our copyright. Since then, our
lawyers have sent out a fair number of letters
to people [trying to pass off the trends
we identifi ed as their own].”
Plagiarism is not a problem unique to
SpaFinder, however. According to Ellis, it
is an industry-wide issue, with numerous
spa operators, consultants and suppliers
apparently believing that the creative work
of others is theirs for the taking. As an example,
she cites the case of the Golden Door
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