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wellness


destinations


HEALTH CLUB SPA


vital vitality


Kate Cracknell pays a visit to the International Wellness Centre in Latvia, where the approach is all about holistic wellness


T 68


he structure of the International Wellness Centre business might seem a little confusing to


those who haven’t experienced it for themselves: a collection of apparently disjointed brands. Alongside the Amber Spa Boutique Hotel sits the Balans Club, which comprises a wellness spa and beauty salon, a Russian ‘banya’ (baths), a swimming pool and a fitness facility. In addition, you have the in- house MyLife restaurant and the Klubs One bowling alley and sport bar. Once you’re there, however, it


becomes clear how the various parts of the offering dovetail together under the over-arching ‘Balans International Wellness Centre’ brand – with the obvious exception of the bowling alley. Alla Sokolova, general manager


across the whole business, laughs: “The bowling alley was already here when we bought the business. It isn’t a natural fi t with what we’re doing, but this is a quiet town with few activities for the local children. The bowling alley was really popular, so we decided to keep it.”


creating unity Located in the beachside town of Jurmala, a short drive from the Latvian capital city of Riga, the family-owned operation has been fully open for business for just over a year following the launch of the hotel on 2 June 2009. Rewinding a few years, in 1998 Alla’s


father Vadim Sokolov acquired an existing property which encompassed a gym and café, a public bathhouse dating back to the 1960s and, of course, the bowling alley.


Read Health Club Management online at healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital


Clockwise from top left: The Amber Spa hotel entrance, the spa, a hydrotherapy treatment, and general manager Alla Sokolova


The fi rst phase of the redevelopment


was a revamp of the bathhouse. Carried out in 2001, and with training provided by the famous Sanduvskije Banya in Moscow, the result was a Russian-style banya – a tradition deeply established as a weekly ritual in the Russian psyche, with single-sex areas offering a hot room and plunge pool supervised by a specialist ‘steam maker’, treatments such as body wraps and detox massages, and relaxation areas where food and drink can be ordered. Then, in 2005, Sokolov acquired


the gym/café and bowling alley businesses – which until then still operated independently – and Alla joined the company to help establish the Balans International Wellness Centre concept and brand, which would later also include a hotel, spa


august 2010 © cybertrek 2010


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