PROFILE
in California (established in 1958), which was involved in a long legal battle with Aus- tralian spa operator Golden Door Health Retreats (established in 1993) over the unau- thorised use of its name. Ellis admits it’s a complex issue. Copyright
law is generally territorial, and although there are a number of international treaties requiring member countries to acknowledge the rights of each other’s nationals, these are oſt en diffi cult to enforce – especially in the internet age, where there are no clear borders and everyone is a writer. Interna- tional patent or trademark infringements are no less of a legal minefi eld. However, Ellis believes it as much an ethical challenge as a legal one, and one that could be damaging to the industry if not addressed. T e good news is that, based on SpaFind-
er’s experience, Ellis believes the problem has more to do with ignorance than wilful wrongdoing. “I would say that in almost every case, when we’ve sent out a let- ter [about copyright infringement of our trends], we’ve had an apology from who- ever made the mistake, and it has not been repeated,” she says.
Innovation through imagination
Although at the time of writing, the fi nal agenda for this year’s GSWS (taking place this June in Aspen, Colorado) is still under discussion, Ellis is hopeful that the issue of plagiarism might get some air time – if not directly, then under the
Last year’s summit (below) saw the launch of spaevidence. com (right) – a website to help consumers and professionals fi nd medical evidence for specifi c spa therapies
The GSWS was launched by a group of top spa fi gures – including Pete and Susie Ellis – to create greater unity in the global industry
“In more mature [spa] markets... a lack of innovation could become a problem because if we’re not growing in terms of development and revenue, we’re vulnerable”
banner of the summit’s overarching theme of Innovation through Imagination. The theme of innovation in general is
a topic close to Ellis’ heart, and one she believes will be central to the growth of the industry as it matures. “Because our indus- try is young, we haven’t really needed to talk about innovation before,” she says. “T at’s still the case in parts of the world where there aren’t yet a lot of spas, such as China, India and South America. But in more mature markets such as the US and Europe… a lack of innovation could become a prob- lem, because if we’re not growing in terms of development and revenue, we’re vulnerable.” To achieve continued growth,
Ellis believes the industry needs to look to beyond itself for inspi- ration. With this in mind, many of the speakers at this year’s GSWS
are drawn from outside the industry, from John Kao, author of Innovation Nation, to Peter Rummell, chair of Disney Imagineer- ing. “We’re also going to have one whole day where we’re not going to talk about the spa industry at all,” says Ellis. “Instead we’ll be looking at other industries and how their innovations have moved them along and changed the world.” Something else Ellis believes is crucial to
the future of the industry, and also on the agenda at this year’s summit, is ‘spa evidence’
– the growing body of scientifi c research that gives credence to the health and wellness benefi ts of spa treatments. Last year’s sum- mit saw the launch of
spaevidence.com, a website designed to help both consumers and professionals fi nd medical evidence for specifi c therapies. However, Ellis admits to being surprised that more spas haven’t been quick to get on board. “Feedback from people who have gone to the site has been terrifi c, but we haven’t had as many compa- nies linking to it as we’d hoped,” she says. “We’ve discussed tying it in a bit more with
social media and trying some other things… but fundamentally we have to do a better job encouraging the industry to engage with it, so we have more people linking to it and sharing the information with their clients.” But whatever the future holds, this much
is certain: for Ellis, the success of the global spa and wellness industry remains a very personal goal. “What I enjoy most about what I do is seeing the growth of the indus- try and perhaps having some infl uence on that, in a positive way, for both the industry and the consumer,” she says. “T at is really very satisfying.” ●
54 Read Spa Business online
spabusiness.com / digital SPA BUSINESS 2 2012 ©Cybertrek 2012
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100