CITY FOCUS
ingredients and formulae that can be tailored to an individual’s needs on a any given day (see p88). “When we presented them with My Blend, they fell in love,” says Waeyaert, who adds that it took another year to develop the eight My Blend facial treatments. Costing €295 (us$425, £261), the 95-minute
facials consist of a 15 to 20-minute lifestyle analysis and testing of the skin for hydration, sebum, elasticity, pigmentation and wrin- kles using the Callegari Soſt Plus machine. A beauty coach then custom-blends the products and personalises the facials which culminate with a Clarins makeover. Clarins facials and body treatments, starting at €140 (us$202, £123) for 60 minutes, are also available.
A royal partnership
“Although we had two day spas in Paris, we’d been looking for a fl agship for a long time,” says Waeyaert. “We refused many projects because they weren’t impressive enough, but when we heard about this I knew it was for us: Le Royal Monceau had an excellent rep- utation, Raffl es is a top luxury operator and Philippe Starck was doing the design – what more could we ask for? Working with Philippe was exciting and challenging. He has a strong character and knows what he wants. His design team were fl exible, but had to strike a balance because if you compromise too much on the décor and focus only the operations it no longer looks like a Starck spa.” As part of the agreement, the hotel put
up the investment for the spa while Clarins oversees management and pay roll.
The intent is to rollout Spa My Blend in other luxury hotels in major cities such as New York (left); it’s the company’s fi rst full-service spa with thermal areas, a pool and fi tness facilities (right)
“Will people pay higher prices [for My Blend] or still go for Clarins
treatments? The hotel is
targeting a lot of wealthy people, so we don’t think it will be an issue”
Waeyaert describes Spa My Blend as a
“more serious skincare spa”. While relaxing and pampering therapies are on off er, the focus is very much on technical, results-ori- entated services. A request from Raffl es was to also “make the spa work fi nancially” which, says Waeyaert, is where Clarins comes in. “Consumer awareness of Clarins is strong
and this drives business to spas, plus, our dedicated spa marketing division create year-long promotional plans. Some of our operators are doing 30 to 40 per cent retail, so having a high-street presence doesn’t stop clients buying products in spas.”
66 Read Spa Business online
spabusiness.com / digital
T e local market will be just as important
as hotel guests at Spa My Blend where the idea is to “create an experience that people will come back to rather than a one-off treat”. As such, an extensive fi tness off ering and 15 ‘on call’ personal trainers have been added to the mix and so have annual memberships starting at €4,500 (us$6,500, £3,950). T e memberships will be capped at 150 for 2011 and already 125 have been sold. “T is is the fi rst time Clarins has managed a
spa like this as we usually only focus on treat- ments – but it’s what the hotel wanted,” says Waeyaert. “We surrounded ourselves with professional people including a well-known Parisian fi tness coach and Camille Lacourt the European gold-medal swimmer [who Clarins sponsors] helped to create our exer- cise programmes and aqua gym classes.”
Spa My Blend rollout? In terms of future Spa My Blends, there are no mandatory design requirements but operators will be obliged to take on both the My Blend and full Clarins range and no other lines. “I’m not planning on opening lots of spas because the concept is exclusive,” says Waeyaert. “We’re looking for modern, luxury hotel chains and ideally I’d like loca- tions in London, New York and Singapore. “At the moment, we just want to see how
popular My Blend is. Will people pay the higher price point or will they still go for Clarins treatments? T e hotel is certainly targeting a lot of wealthy people, so we don’t think it will be an issue.”
SPA BUSINESS 3 2011 ©Cybertrek 2011
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