What Is Insider's Guide to Spas?

Welcome. Insider’s Guide to Spas came about from my desire to help consumers sort through the wonderful but often confusing world of spa. As a spa critic and the former editor in chief and co-founder of American Spa magazine, I’ve reported on and watched the spa industry take off from a very interesting vantage point. I wrote my first spa story back in the late 1980s and launched American Spa in 1997. At that time, spas were just beginning to blossom, and the spa industry in this country was virtually unheard of. Since then, spas have grown more quickly than anyone could have imagined. (According to a study conducted by the International Spa Association, spa revenues in the U.S. surpass those of other leisure activities, such as motion picture box office receipts. Imagine that.)

Open any magazine or newspaper today, and you’re bound to read one glowing review or another of a pricey new spa destination or indigenous spa treatment or super-duper beauty product you just can’t live without. Spas are influencing everything from home design to restaurant décor. Spa, and all that those three little letters conjure up, is being used to sell products from cars to nail care. There are plenty of spa reviews out there, but very few writers who understand the spa experience or who have even visited the spas they are writing about.

That’s where Insider’s Guide to Spas steps in. Consider the Guide your personal spa adviser. Someone with close to twenty years of experience who knows the ins and outs and the ups and downs of the spa world—and who doesn’t hesitate to tell it like it is.

What does Insider’s Guide to Spas hope to achieve? To help you sort through all of the hype. To educate you about the spa experience. To help you find the right spa for you. To help you discover the true meaning of spa.