Polish certified Spa pros

On Tuesday 23 June the first Polish spa professionals were awarded with the Certificate of Spa Supervision, awarded by the International Spa Association (USA). This certificate confirms the knowledge in Spa Supervision and at the same time opens the doors to a new career path.

There was a lot a lot of interest in ISPA courses in Poland, but there were also fears about language abilities and culture differences between USA and the Polish spa market, but according to the suggestion of the graduates, it was not so hard, and general rules about spa business are very similar to those followed in Poland.

“I am very proud to be among seven spa professionals who received the ISPA CSS Certificate in our Country,” says Jolanta Lukasik from Thalgo Poland, continuing “It is a great honour for us, but also gives very good experience in our career, and I think I will come back to the books very often.”

“With this certificate my chances on the labour market should grow very fast,” says Beata Kepinska hopefully. Up until now she’s had no experience in the spa industry, but, she adds, “During my last interviews I mentioned my positive results with ISPA, and it seems this information could be the key.”

The spa business is one of very few to develop rapidly, in spite of the financial slow-down. New spas are emerging very fast, but the personnel training still needs improvement, which is why Concept Media, the Polish International Spa Association partner, decided to introduce ISPA courses in Poland. In addition to Certified Spa Supervisor, Polish professionals can also improve their know-how in Spa sales & marketing. Concept Media also promotes ISPA membership for Polish hotels and spa venues, as a great information source and first quality educational opportunity.

The first Polish ISPA course was supported by Thalgo Poland, as this market leader was also the first to acknowledge the importance of high-class education in the spa business.

The second round of ISPA exams is scheduled for December 2009.

Based on a press release from Concept Media.

Top photo: Polish ISPA graduates, summer 2009.

Welcome to our new website

For some time we have had a separate website for the European division of HSMAI in the pipeline, in addition to the national chapters – plans that finally materialise with our launch of hsmai.eu, albeit hosted on hsmai-europe.com.

We’ve decided to take things step by step, by first launching a public version of hsmai.eu, to be followed by national chapters, of which HSMAI Chapter Norway is first, upon which protected sections for members, sporting Special Interest Groups (SIG’s), fora, live chat and a host of member-exclusive features will be implemented, as well as chapter and division president blogs, to mention but a few.

As already touched on in other news, we are very eager to explore the infinite possibilities offered through social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Flickr, as we’re confident that our presence in the arenas frequented by our members, partners, the industry itself and prospective members, will improve our over-all ability to communicate – as well as to provide a long overdue on-line dialogue.

We also acknowledge that such presence is compulsory for any kind of business or organisation in this day and age, which is why we’ve decided to be at the forefront of the so-called Web 2.0 development. As a matter of fact, our new site is based on a well-known open source blog software, so advanced it even serves as a full-blown CMS (Content Management System), tweaked and customised by our very own Internet and media specialist, in order for the site to adapt the many interactive features of the surrounding social media.

It is our sincerest hope that you find the website – and our yet very recent social media presence – useful. We also hope you take the opportunity to interact with us, which is the general idea with social media.

At this point we hope you share your views on our approach, by voicing your opinion in the comment field below.

Welcome to hsmai.eu – and welcome as our member!

We also hope you’ll join us over at:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Flickr
• YouTube

Prize for Obama campaign

LONDON, UK — In a Cannes first, the Obama for America presidential campaign, created by the Obama for America team, scooped the Grand Prix in both the Integrated and Titanium categories.

The Titanium category, which seeks to celebrate ideas that create a movement, also saw Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Bartle Bogle Hegarty New York and Droga5 scoop Titanium Lions for their Burger King, Oasis “dig out your soul” and “great schlep” campaigns respectively.

Read more at Brandrepublic.com

‘Brutally frank’ Saatchi book

LONDON, UK — The adland legend Charles Saatchi is to produce a new book answering 200 questions put to him by journalists, critics and members of the public.

According to the publisher Phaidon, the notoriously reclusive Saatchi will answer the questions “with brutal frankness”.

Read more at Campaignlive.co.uk

Succesful meeting on social media

OSLO, Norway — HSMAI Chapter Norway’s breakfast meeting on social media last Tuesday was a success, spurring members and other attendants, as well as the Norwegian chapter itself, to explore the Web 2.0 possibilities.

The 45 attendants were met with fresh coffee and croissant outside the auditorium of VG (Norway’s largest daily newspaper) at eight o’clock, before the immensely inspiring lecture given by Sermo Consulting’s Ingeborg Volan, who, for more than an hour gave numerous concrete examples of successful corporate use of the social media, after an in-depth introduction.

“You simply can’t help feeling happy and inspired by someone able to instigate enthusiasm in the audience, as Ingeborg did during our breakfast meeting,” HSMAI Chapter Norway president Ingunn Hofseth says.

And you have to agree. Only hours following the breakfast meeting, new twitterers from the meeting popped up on our screen, full of praise.

If you don’t have a Twitter profile yourself; hesitate no more. Register here.

The success has led HSMAI Chapter Norway to set up a series of courses on the Internet and social media during the upcoming autumn – with just Ms. Ingeborg Volan.

Here’s a YouTube clip from the event (we’re sorry for the distorted wide-screen format):

Top photo: Some 45 members and non-members attended HSMAI Chapter Norway’s breakfast meeting on social media on Tuesday. Photographer: Jarle Petterson

Polish growth is slowing down

… But still above zero.

According to the data from the Main Statistical Office, Polish economy is still growing and is one of very few green spots on the map of Europe (hence the above colourisation), the economic situation considered.

This trend is also confirmed by the hoteliers, who even report growth year-over-year.

We asked several owners and operators what could possibly be the cause of this “strange” situation, compared to the rest of the market.

In most cases the answers were rather complex, but there were several factors repeated by most of our respondents, among which were:

• The Polish economy was not severely affected by financial crisis
• The Polish currency exchange rate dropped, rendering our country more attractive to foreign travellers
• A relatively strong domestic travel market
• Availability of EU funds for training, usually organized in hotels

Looking at the hospitality investment market, we notice a remarkable slow-down, mainly related to limitations in financing, as loan action in still “on-hold” in most financing institutions. In spite of that, however, we observe new hotels opening their doors for guests.

Last week two four-star hotels opened: one in Lodz (Central Poland) and one in Gdansk (Northern Poland).  Both of chain hotels, but you can also see activity from independent investors trying to explore new opportunities in the condo hotel market.

There are also several big projects on way, such as the Hilton Garden Inn and the Sheraton Lake Resort.

There is one very meaningful factor, which can push investors to be more active on the Polish hospitality market. At the moment Poland has average an average of five hotel rooms per 1000 inhabitants, while European the average is above 20 rooms per 1000.

To summarise there is still a lot to do, and the best time to start is now, for those interested in preparing for the summer of 2012, when Poland, together with Ukraine,  is to host the European Football Championship.

Be more effective in sales – and get ready for tough times

The first reaction to a difficult market situation is cost-reduction, and the first area, where management usually wants to cut is the training and development budget.

Looking back at Q3 last year I remember a lot of discussion on which way the business was headed and whether the rule of savings on education would be confirmed once more.

What actually happened? Hoteliers want to learn, especially how to sell more, how to be more profitable and optimize costs, which I find very encouraging.

There is still a lot to do in the area of sales and marketing techniques, analysing effects and forecasting. The Polish hospitality market is not matured yet, and there is still a huge potential in better usage of on-line marketing tools and revenue management strategies.

Of course, if there is a demand, businesses will be established in response, but the question is if the available educational opportunities are reasonable and give hoteliers the expected volume of know-how.

Different instructors, different subjects, different levels of quality and hoteliers can take their decision based on their feelings and experience. Therefore, establishing a structure which could offer high-quality education programmes, standardised and based on international independent organisations are really necessary, which is where I see a part to play for associations such as HSMAI.

The question is what the members can get for their membership fee, and how the association’s programme fit local conditions. Surely there is a gap on the market, the very potential market, and the first organisation deciding to invest here will be successful and can treat Poland as its footprint in CEE region.

Taking the current situation on the market into consideration, as well as the positive climate for personnel development, the time is now, as Polish hoteliers need the know-how and a way to survive in more challenging times.

Social media = free ads?

TRAVELERS at the Liverpool Street Station in London were surprised one morning last January when several hundred commuters, rather than scurrying onto their trains, started dancing.

A day and a half later, the routine, captured by hidden cameras, showed up during a break in the reality television show “Celebrity Big Brother.” The seemingly spontaneous performance turned out to have been an advertising stunt for T-Mobile, a wireless telephone network that used it for a campaign built around the slogan “Life’s for Sharing.”

Read more at the NYT

Perfumers Breathe in Sales Data

Long after most other consumer goods companies were getting detailed reports on how their products were selling, giant perfume makers like Estée Lauder, l’Oréal and Coty operated mostly by intuition.

While they might know that orders from a retailer were down, they could not track what was selling and what was not. They did not know who was buying what perfume.

Read more at the NYT

Sales Effort On Steroids

Selling isn’t the province of one department. Here’s how to get the entire company stumping for the cause.

Gifted salespeople — those silver-tongued closers who can peddle saltwater to castaways — are the lifeblood of many a small company, though finding and keeping them can be a real challenge. Here’s a thought: What if, with a little training and persistence, all staffers — regardless of task or tenure — could contribute to the sales effort?

Read more at Forbes.com

Will Your Product Sell?

In Context Solutions wants to revolutionize how packaged goods companies test their marketing strategies.

Consumer packaged goods companies like ConAgra and SuperValu spend several hundred million dollars each year on “virtual” market research. Rather than pay, say, 500 people to go to a mall in order to track their shopping habits, virtual market research allows companies to test how their products perform in a virtual store in cyberspace. Chicago-based In Context Solutions, founded by Bob Gillespie in December 2008, writes the software that creates the store and crunches the data on shoppers’ behavior.

Read more at Forbes.com

Next Page »