I’ve just returned from this years SPATEC conference in Split Croatia. To be honest I generally try to avoid too many conferences and exhibitions as they tend to eat up valuable worktime but SPATEC is only three days and provides the opportunity to experience a European Spa first hand whilst meeting a number of other leading operators. Aside from the odd presentation the main purpose of the event is to create a series of meetings between suppliers and operators – it almost like professional speed dating!

Every year I go I’m always sceptical of whether there is any suppliers that we are not already aware of and doubt whether there will be anything new that will be of value to Imagine Spa Management. But every year I always come away with a great new idea or product and this year was no different.

So this year I think we’ve found a great supplier of a high quality wax for our South Kensington Imagine Spa. The Thalgo Group have always impressed me as a product house that supply a number of different product ranges. We’ve had their Thalgo range in one of our spas and it proved to be hugely popular and they supported us well so we are looking forward to the prospect of working with Marian and her team with their Perron Rigot waxing brand.

We’ve worked really hard at our online marketing too and I had a great meeting with Wahanda which is one of the biggest online wellness sites and we are definitely going to work with them on our spa promotions and marketing. We will be launching three spas over the next month so I’ve already pencilled in a meeting with Lopo, one of the Wahanda founders, when I return. I know our Digital Media team will love meeting with him.

Finally I had a great meeting with Amanda Barlow who has created her own range of organic spa products called Spiezia. Now her products are so organic and so natural she actually can eat them – whihc did in front of me in our meeting. Now that’s different. I think we could be working with Amanda when we develop our organic day spa retreat in North Norfolk.

Of course it’s good to also catch up with our core suppliers, Babor, Jessica, Comfort Zone and St Tropez. It’s amazing how much easier it is to sort out a number of plans and issues when you are out of the work environment and away from distractions!

So I’m back from another worthwhile SPATEC and ready to get cracking on opening our 3 new spas in May – check out the news section of the website for more detail.