FIRST PERSON SUSIE ELLIS » PRESIDENT » SPAFINDER INC.
The camp has been created for women to take time for, and better care of, themselves
Every morning between 8-9am, Lunden (far right) leads a walk or running session
The medical clinic is turned into a spa offering Murad facials
CABIN FEVER
Susie Ellis bunks down at Camp Reveille, a women’s only spa camp ran by TV personality Joan Lunden, and shares her experience of cabins, treatments, creativity and bonding
A
s those in the spa industry will know, two powerful trends have been on the upswing over these last cou- ple of years: hybrid spas, ie
spas that strongly incorporate another ele- ment such as medicine or wellness; and social spa-ing. In SpaFinder’s 2010 trends report, we noted that spa has increasingly become a hyphenated aff air – think spa-yoga, spa-fi tness, etc – and that the industry is getting pretty creative at inventing new you-name-it hybrid models. And in our 2010 State of Spa Travel report, travel agents worldwide ranked social spa-ing as the number one trend gaining ground, reporting they see signifi cantly more friends, groups and families hit- ting spas to connect or ‘play’. So, it’s not surprising to see ‘spa-camp’,
a concept that so neatly straddles both trends, hit the landscape. I always try to sam- ple as many emerging spa trends as I can, but recently I was fully immersed in a spa camp, spending four days at Joan Lunden’s Camp Reveille in Maine in the US. I’m recounting my personal experience there to off er a little fi rst-hand insight into the special qualities and appeal of this concept.
RESOLVING THE PARADOX
Joan Lunden, a well-known TV personality in the US (see p46), approached SpaFinder two years ago to help her market her Camp Reveille, a four-day summer camp for women that she created out of her passion for helping women take time for, and bet- ter care of, themselves. T is summer she invited my colleague Sallie Fraenkel (COO of SpaFinder) and me to join her and 140
“Will spa camps become a full- blown trend? The jury is out. Will more models – from luxury or family-focused ones to boot camps – appear? Without a doubt.”
other women at Camp Reveille, explain- ing that the experience would feel like an adult version of a kids camp, but one that included massages, facials, and a heavy ros- ter of fi tness, sports, activities and social experiences. So, I decided to sew my name into my gym clothes, pack my duff el bag and give it a whirl! I was exceedingly curious to
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see how this nascent trend, this interweav- ing of ‘camp’ and ‘spa,’ would play out. On the drive up to Maine, I thought
about what seemed like some obvious par- adoxes. I hadn’t been to camp since I was a young teenager, and remembered loving the swimming, canoeing and eating s’mores [marshmallows and crackers] around the campfi re, but not relishing the hard bunks, the bugs, the poison ivy and sharing showers. Spa, of course, connotes pleasure and the luxury, pampering touches. When we arrived at Camp Reveille, I saw that some of these paradoxes were resolved. It’s held at a posh boys’ camp owned by Joan’s husband, Jeff. When regu- lar camp season is over she adds extra touches like foam padding and comfy bedding for the bunks – and latte machines, lamps, and surprise giſt s in each cabin. T e medical clinic area is
transformed into a spa where women can receive massages and facials. It became immediately apparent that the
staff at Camp Reveille were top notch: the therapists, aestheticians and fi tness instruc- tors are all personally selected by Joan – and many are ‘her people’, ie her celebrity hair stylist and makeup artist. It’s probably the
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