First Annual West Coast ISPA Media Event: Congrats!

The legendary Beverly Wilshire was a perfect location for ISPA’s first inaugural West Coast media event.  In the heart of Beverly Hills, this is a hotspot to see and be seen, it’s a place where power meetings are commonplace and “lights, camera, action” is all in a day’s work.  

The “Hello World. Meet ISPA” media program read, “Welcome to the first annual West Coast ISPA Media Event. We’ve been holding media events in New York for 20 years and knew it was time to make it over to you.” Love it!  There were some California spa-goer fast facts – such as “42% of California residents indicated they had visited a spa in the last 12 months compared to the 36% of the total sample.”

The number one reason worldwide why men and women visit a spa is to manage their stress,” said ISPA President Lynne McNees. “When it comes to stress relief, spa-goers are looking for treatments that help them achieve their desired results.”  Are Californians are more stressed then the rest of the population I pondered?

Upon entering the multi-tiered ballroom, the space was transformed into an elegant and welcoming spa sanctuary, with low lighting to set a relaxed mood and a large, impressive array of healthy cuisine, stunning floral designs and plenty of opportunity to partake in mini spa services, learn about spa trends and socialize.

There were over 100 attendees including well-established, top-tier journalists representing the Health Magazine, InStyle, Conde Nast and Shape to name a few.  A successful event, word has it there is already a waiting list for sponsors for next year’s West Coast Media Event.

This year there were a total of 15 sponsors, 12 booth sponsors (listed below) in addition to ResortSuite, which provided the booking service for appointments SpaWeek, which sponsored an awesome swag bag.

Booth Sponsor (in order of appearance on the floor plan):

• Oaks at Ojai
  
• Travassa
  
• Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
  
• Kohler Water Spa
  
• Glen Ivy Hot Springs
  
• Bellus Academy
  
• Matrix Fitness Systems
  
• Awaken Whole Life Center
  
• Rancho La Puerta
  
• Aspira Spa
  
• Massage Envy 
  
• Miraval Resort & Spa
  

There were a couple mini treatments I scheduled and first up was the “Food for Thought” experience at the Oaks at Ojai. Fun and interactive, Cathy Cluff, President and CEO walked me through concocting my own bottle of Italian seasoning. It didn’t take much encouragement from her to try to the chocolate mousse (main ingredient – tofu!), which was so darn good, I made the recipe less than 24 hours later and will be posting it to the Wellness Travel Journal. The Oaks is an all-inclusive wellness/weight loss property that has been a leader in healthy vacations way before the term wellness tourism started being used.

My second stop was Mandarin Oriental’s signature treatment “Calm Mind.” This fits right into WTW’s wellness travel trend, “Mind Matters.” Who doesn’t want peace and calm for goodness sake!  I liked having to sit and think about how I was feeling at the time of completing the lifestyle and personality profile. Therapists use the assessment to recommend which Mandarin signature essential oil blend was best and a 10-minute chair massage followed. It was a lot of fun talking to the team of Spa Directors about travel, healthy hotels, favorite destinations and trends.

At the end of event, attendees were presented with a swag bag full of nifty spa and wellness products. My favorites - the bag itself and my new favorite travel tote in a gorgeous turquoise made by Haiku, the “Hecho in Mexico” hand-painted salsa bowl with accompanying salsa book from Rancho La Puerta

Sponsors demonstrated their unique brand and specialty services. This was a very fun and positive experience for this first-time of the ISPA media event. Many thanks ISPA and sponsors! Hats off to your success. 

Looking for to next year!