"For years, Lynne Walker McNees has entertained inquiries from business acquaintances presuming Lexington, Kentucky, to be a secret Mecca in the world of health spas.
While the city itself has had few spa services available over the past decade, McNees and her organization, the International Spa Association (ISPA), have given the Bluegrass a voice to be heard throughout the flourishing international spa industry.
In 1998, ISPA came to Lexington from Alexandria, Va., as the result of Host Communications' acquisition of the group's parent firm, Wayne Smith Company. Host had already gained association management experience with clients such as the National Tour Association. The company assigned McNees, formerly vice president of sales at Host, as the sole full-time staff member for ISPA, a group initially formed in 1991 by a small band of spa owners and operators to promote their fledgling industry. Under McNees' direction, ISPA's roster has grown to include 17 full-time employees as well as additional shared support staff serving 2,700 members in 78 countries. At the same time, the industry itself generated revenues of $9.7 billion in the United States alone in 2005, with average annual growth of 18 percent since 2003, according to ISPA's 2006 industry update.
"Particularly in the last couple of years, we have seen tremendous growth in the spa industry and in the number of spas that are coming up," said McNees, ISPA president.
Spa services are no longer the unconventional vacation alternative that they were in the early '90s, McNees said. Health and wellness treatments have become mainstream, popping up not only as resorts and vacation spots, but also at more commonplace venues ranging from hair salons to dentist offices.
"To be competitive in the hotel industry today, you have to have a spa component," McNees said. "It's no longer acceptable to have a massage therapist on call. You've got to have that spa experience within your property."
Driving that rapid growth, McNees said, is an avid consumer market that now considers spa visits more as health-sustaining maintenance than a pampering indulgence.
McNees sees it is a natural result of today's typically hectic and high-stress lifestyle.
"We've got to take that time out for ourselves and slow down and find some balance," McNees said. "The spas have become that real nurturing, safe haven that the consumer is looking for."
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, McNees and ISPA's membership braced for the economic slowdown that many expected from a nation in shock and mourning, she said. However, in the spa industry, it never materialized. Despite, or perhaps in light of, the tragedies, many consumers decided it was time for a break.
"We saw just this huge influx of first-time spa goers," McNees said. "They were seen as healing, nurturing environments, and it (spa attendance) has continued to climb since then."
As the industry has matured, ISPA has worked to help its membership of spa owners, operators and suppliers to navigate the increasingly competitive and always changing landscape of the spa industry by offering both business tools and extensive research on current trends. One of the latest trends that the industry has adapted to, for example, is the advent of medical spas. Many doctors, McNees said, are now looking at spa services as an additional revenue builder for their practices.
"With health care challenges, we're seeing more and more doctors shift to offering different services for their customers," McNees said.
Like most trade associations, ISPA also invests heavily in educational and networking opportunities for its members. The 16th annual ISPA Conference and Expo drew 3,300 industry professionals to Las Vegas last year, and this year's event, to be held in Kissimmee, Fla., in November, is expected to be just as large.
Developing the knowledge and talent to operate a successful spa business has become an important issue across the industry, according to McNees.
"The big challenge that we're seeing now as we're moving forward is, because there are so many beautiful spas out there, we're having a hard time finding the managers and operators to run them professionally," McNees said. "Not so much the massage therapists and aestheticians, but more the business side of it."
In addition to encouraging the development of educational curricula related to the industry, ISPA offers a certification program for spa supervisors and a retail management course, and currently they are developing a risk management course as well.
At the same time, the association has become an authority for the industry in both regional and national media. As the spa business has expanded in recent decades, the public's appetite for information on the latest services and techniques has also increased, McNees said. ISPA's ability to poll its extensive membership quickly and efficiently has helped it to gain valuable visibility for both its members and the industry as a whole.
"We're instantly a source of up-to-the-minute trends and stats," McNees said. "I think the true mainstay that puts us on the map in the industry is that we do research on an annual basis, globally and nationally. There's really no one else out there benchmarking the industry."
ISPA has been keeping tabs on the industry's growth since 2000, but the association tracks more than the basic statistics. ISPA also conducts research to determine the number of employees, revenue generated, most popular treatments and demographic profiles of current spa-goers. This year, the group will be taking a detailed look at the spa industry in 10 countries. Members find the information useful in helping them develop and fine-tune their businesses and when they are looking to justify new investments with lenders, McNees said.
And as for the prospects for Lexington, while the spa trend has been slow to take off locally, ISPA now does have six Lexington members, including the Griffin Gate Marriott Resort, which has targeted the opening of its new Spa at Griffin Gate for this spring.
But, McNees noted with a tone of encouragement, in an industry as hot as this one, there's still room for plenty more.
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