Raoul Andrews Sudre / Senior Advisor / Aspen Spa Management

A lifelong dream came true in upstate New York. Al Kryger, the President and part owner of the Greek Peak Mountain Ski Resort, built this ski destination over the last fifty years. He always dreamed of making this central New York ski resort into a year-round “Imperial Resort”. He worked hard to make this dream come true, fighting the odds of convincing investors and banks to share his dream of creating a true all-around family resort for this part of the country. Many chalets and condos were built on the property, but to really put the resort on the map, it needed some spectacular draws: a high class full-service hotel, a water park, and of course, a state-of-the-art international Spa. Well, after a lot of hard work and many frustrations, it finally happened. The Hope Lake Lodge and Indoor Waterpark, including a 40,000 sq. ft. waterpark and a 5,500 sq. ft. Spa, was officially opened on December 10, 2009. Its 18-hole golf course will be next.

The design and management of the Spa was entrusted to Aspen Spa Management LLC of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The executive team of the resort, Al, his son Sam, his grandson Jeff and his wife Gayle believed that in order to make this venture a success, the Spa at the Hope Lake Lodge would have to be spectacular. It would have to be not just any other hotel Spa, but one that would command national attention. To do so, they turned to Aspen Spa Management, whose international reputation for “excellence and uniqueness” was what they were aspiring to have for their project.

Al and I go all the way back to the early years of the resort, when, as a student at the Cornell Hotel School, I was also doing part-time ski instructing at Greek Peak mountain. We stayed in contact all those years and Al even visited me in Europe when I had an office in Geneva and was living in the French alpine ski resort of Meribel 20 years ago. Already, Al was working on his dream project. I introduced him to Swiss investment bankers, all who thought the project was wonderful, but had reservations regarding its location. Subsequently, all the attempts to create an interest fell through; but when finally Al was able to secure the financial help he needed to bring his project to fruition, he called me and asked if I might be interested in working on the project. How could I not?! So, three years ago, we started to work on making this happen and created a top-of-the-line Spa for the resort.

A couple of years back I sold the company to my then Vice President Leslie Glover and stayed on as a senior consultant, thus continuing to be involved in this extraordinary project. Unlike many other projects that our company has done all over the world, we received a “carte blanche” mandate on this one. The objective: to create a unique, hybrid Spa that would serve both local and out-of-town clients at a level never achieve before in this part of the country. Of course, we had to work within a budget, so we did not go crazy on the FF&E, but chose what was most appropriate for the ambiance: an Adirondack mountain style. We designed the Spa based on the new worldwide trends found in high-end Spas:

• • 1. We eliminated locker rooms and increased the size of the treatment rooms to include showers and changing facilities.
    2. We included Spa suites, complete with hydrotherapy and infra-red saunas.
    3. We separated fitness from the Spa treatment area.
    4. We created a menu which reflected the East-meets-West trend, offering treatments inspired by Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine.
    5. We chose a product line that encompasses the philosophy of the Spa (strongly influenced by Chinese medicine) and that also is not readily available through normal consumer-oriented venues, such as department stores or online shopping sites.
    6. Personalization of treatments: Every treatment room in the Spa can change color through a LED colored light system, enabling the creation for each client of an ambiance compatible with their perception of comfort. Each treatment room can be adjusted accordingly, based on each client’s preference in music or sound. All treatments can be received according to the client’s comfort level as it pertains to modesty draping.

By far, the most difficult task at hand was to find, hire and train the staff. The problem is not particular to this part of the country, as this is a worldwide concern. All the vocational schools specializing in massage therapy, aesthetics and cosmetology do not prepare their students to work in an environment specific to the hospitality industry, but rather prepare them to work as independent contractors, which absolutely does not work within a hotel setting! A three week intensive program was planned and implemented in order to bring the staff to a minimum level of expertise in their respective fields. A continuous education program has been put in place to continue to upgrade the delivery of services and a Technical Director has been assigned to the Spa in order to continue training on a regular basis.

The Spa services have been designed to serve a local clientele as a “Day Spa”, but also take into consideration the various activities found in the resort, so therefore it will operate as a Resort Spa and to some extent as a Destination Spa at different times of the year. During winter, the Waterfalls Spa will offer an “Après Ski Massage”, and an “element” specific climate facial to address the issue of skin damage caused while skiing or playing outside in the snow. In spring and summer, the Spa will offer “Après Golf” massages and exotic as well as detox treatments much like those found in “Destination Spas” in Europe. The massages on the menu are both dry and wet massages, both physiological and energy-based and all of which had to be taught to the staff since their respective schools rarely if ever went beyond the very basic deep tissue massage! The hydrotherapy treatments are delivered on the very sophisticated Vichytherm shower, which not only permits the addition of active ingredients to the water and can be used for affusion, but also utilizes only 50L of water instead of the 1,200L usually used by other similar equipment. Furthermore, this Vichytherm shower will also allows the delivery of a number of “under cascade” massages, all of which had to be taught to the staff by the team of international trainers provided by ASM. Also offered are balneotherapy treatments in Cristal tubs from Germany, which combine chromatherapy with vibrational stimulations originating from a musical source. The overall objective of the Spa is to offer an experience to be remembered, one that will be the proverbial cherry on top of the cake.

Customer service was one of the topics covered on a daily basis with the staff. After all, a top level Spa is supposed to be designed and operated to satisfy the six, yes SIX, senses; the sixth being probably the most important: SERVICE. Ever since its opening, the Waterfalls Spa, a very appropriate name in a region where waterfalls abound, has received an incredible response of satisfaction from its first clients. It will only continue to be better as its goal is to be the best.