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Volante POS Systems “Checks In” at the Southampton Inn & Spa
 
Toronto based hospitality software company Volante POS Systems was contracted to consolidate all guest services at this Inn & Spa, allowing for a stress free, seamless guest experience.
Volante POS Systems has announced their first installation in the Inn & Spa industry.

A new trend in lodging, the Country Inn and Spa is quickly replacing the basic Bed & Breakfasts of yester year. More and more, people are finding it difficult to separate from the office to take that much needed annual vacation. It should therefore come as no surprise that this type of accommodation has emerged onto the weekend getaway scene. A whole new type of lodging experience, guests can now enjoy an elegant, “country” experience while indulging in some on-site Spa pampering too.

Ever aspiring to offer the latest in modern amenities to their guests, and to retain a growing business clientele, The Southampton Inn in Southampton, Ontario, introduced complimentary high speed internet to all guest rooms in 2004. Then, in 2007, Susan and business partner Tony Robins added a full service Spa and Makeup Studio. The in-house Spa is a modern facility, and offers many Spa packages and services, from relaxation and hot stone massage to both day spa and overnight packages, and a full range of esthetic services. Guests can arrange a pamper day and enjoy lunch from a tantalizing Spa menu.

As the operation grew, it became apparent that a point of sale system and reporting back office was required that would help with day-to-day operations. Toronto based hospitality software company Volante POS Systems was contracted to consolidate all the services offered at the Southampton Inn and Spa, allowing for a stress free, seamless guest experience. The installation marks Volante’s entrance into the Inn & Spa market.

It’s a testament to modern technology that a sophisticated, scalable hospitality software system can be used with ease in a smaller establishment such as The Southampton Inn & Spa. Volante is 100% written in Java, and offers full enterprise capability and stand-alone terminals with peer-to-peer design. Volante is compatible on Windows, Linux, or Unix operating systems, and is an industry leader in Linux POS solutions.

“I’m definitely not a computer savvy person,” says Closs. “But I found Volante easy to use and not at all intimidating. Besides, I’m too busy running an Inn to take a computer course. Volante’s logical layout, dynamic features and on-line assistance were very much appreciated.”

Closs also mentions that Volante’s flexibility in configuring the feature set gave her peace of mind knowing she was able to track and report on all her spa services and spa inventory, while setting the security features and managing her food, beverage and labor costs at the same time. Future plans for the system is the implementation of the Volante Gift Card Module.

“I am confident that the gift card module will increase sales for Susan along with building community awareness” Says Annette Ennamorato, VP of Operations for Volante POS Systems. “These cards are so convenient for guest payment and they are great gifts too.”

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New Marinello Spa Academy Location Opens in Los Angeles

Marinello Schools of Beauty is pleased to announce the opening of the new Spa Academy on North Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. The Academy is an extended campus of Marinello’s campus location on Wilshire Boulevard. Join us at our grand opening ribbon cutting on Wednesday, June 25th at 10 a.m. Refreshments will be provided. Our grand opening special entails 30 minute mini facials for only $8.00 (June 25th – 27th from 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. and June 28th from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.). Services performed by supervised Marinello students only.

The first of its kind, the Spa Academy offers unique programs including Advanced Face and Body Treatments and Master Spa Therapist. Each program is designed to provide in-depth training for a career in the luxurious spa industry, including opportunities to work in day spas, club spas, mineral spas, destination spas, on cruise ships and more!

For over a century, Marinello has been educating students to enter into professional careers in the beauty industry. Marinello campuses are strategically located to provide future graduates with access to a highly concentrated job market. As a leader in cutting-edge styles, fashions and therapeutic beauty treatments, Southern California has a continuing demand for trained professionals to work in spas, exclusive resorts  spas as well as in the entertainment sector.

Marinello Schools have open enrollment and programs are offered on a continual basis. In addition to specialized programs at the Spa Academy, Marinello’s West Wilshire location provides training in Cosmetology, Esthetics (Skin Care), and Manicuring. Some programs can be completed in less than a year! Marinello is accredited by the National Accrediting Commission of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences (NACCAS).

Financial Aid is available to those who qualify and career placement assistance is available for graduates. The Spa Academy is located at 567 North Fairfax, Los Angeles, CA 90036.

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According to the International Medical Spa Association there are over 1,000 open medical spas in the U.S. Jeff Russell, CEO of MedSpa Financing says, “Competition is definitely setting in, and it’s not only direct competition from other medical spas, but indirect competition from businesses that offer the same services. You have salons that offer hair removal, day spas that offer dermal filler injections, and mall outlets that offer microdermabrasion.

If you are going to not only succeed, but thrive in this new environment, you are going to have to be better than your competition. Following these 5 tips will help you get that extra edge you’ll need to stay ahead of the pack.

1: Are you marketing to the right customer?
First and foremost, you need to look at your current customers and ensure your medspa is operating at capacity.

2: Get to know your neighbors
Do you know all the businesses surrounding yours? You may need to take another walk around the neighborhood, and see what new business building opportunities are available. As you are walking around, ask yourself these questions: Do they compliment my services? Can we help each other increase business by referring customers between us?

3: Network within your community
Many people associate networking with schmoozing. As a MedSpa owner, you need to always be networking. Where to network? There are many places from the local chamber of commerce, community groups, industry associations, or you can join a board or peer group.

4: Develop your communication skills
As a MedSpa owner, you interact with people everyday: staff, clients, suppliers, and the media. If there is one thing you need to master, it’s your communication skills. You need to be able to clearly articulate your key message consistently.

5: Recharge regularly
Quite often you are so focused on your customers, you forget about yourself. As a Medical Spa owner, you are going to find yourself absolutely drained. How are you going to grow the business? Should I advertise with this magazine? I just don’t have enough time. You need to achieve a balance between the MedSpa and your personal life.

“As you develop and grow your Medical Spa you are going to experience the same growing pains common to any new business, the key is identifying them and responding to them” says Russell. By following these 5 tips, you will see your revenues increase.

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The Inn at Essex plans to build a spa

The Inn at Essex has a culinary institute, a fly-fishing pond and a hot-air balloon. Now it’s getting a spa.

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“It’s the transformation from a country hotel to a full-service resort,” said Jim Glanville, general manager of The Inn at Essex.

On Friday, Glanville, Gov. Jim Douglas and a crowd of nearly 100 people — mostly staff at the Inn — gathered for an unveiling of a drawing of what the $6 million, 22,000-square-foot spa should look like. Behind the drawing lay a field of puddles surrounded by piles of mud — the future site of the spa.

Construction workers hit ledge, which will delay the project about three weeks, said developer Peter Edelmann, president of EuroWest Inns Inc. in Essex. The spa is scheduled to be completed in May, Edelmann said.

Wiemann Lamphere Architects of Colchester designed the building, and Dousevicz Construction of South Burlington is the general contractor for the project.

The spa will house a 25-yard indoor pool, an outdoor hot tub, 11 treatment rooms, a fitness center and locker rooms, steam rooms, saunas, and relaxation areas, according to a statement from the Inn.

The Inn at Essex employs 150-200 people, Glanville said. The spa could create up to 30 spa jobs, including a spa director, therapists and maintenance staff, he said.

Glanville and Edelmann said the spa will add to the inn’s “health and wellness” theme, complementing the on-site New England Culinary Institute and cooking classes offered by the inn.

Douglas remarked the spa would attract tourists and improve the state’s economy.

“Tourism is such an important part of our economic base,” Douglas said.

The inn has 120 rooms and suites, and 9,000 square feet of meeting space. The property covers 18 acres.

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Grand Opening: Body Bar Spa in Silver Lake

We’re devoted fans of Silver Lake’s funky boutiques and tempting array of eateries, but we’ve never thought of the neighborhood as a spa destination. That’s about to change thanks to Body Bar. The chic new pampering outpost on Sunset Blvd. offers results-oriented facials, as well as massage, bath treatments and body scrubs. So go ahead and book a Pumpkin Enzyme Facial or Volcanic Soak Bath to come down from your next caffeine fix at the LA Mill Coffee Boutique.

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Like the Water, Grand Plans Buoy Spirits at a Vacation Spot From a Bygone Era

The Vanderbilts and the Macys were regulars. Oscar Wilde held readings of his latest works here. Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt came for brief respites.

For more than a century, vacationers from around the globe converged on this tiny village for its grand hotels and its unmatched view of the Mohawk Valley, as well as for its bubbling mineral springs. As crowds swelled from 600 people to 40,000 each summer, Sharon Springs became a backdrop to American history. But as interest in mineral baths faded, Sharon Springs – where large Victorian homes are tucked in the rolling countryside – threatened to become yet another forgotten upstate destination.

Today, however, a group of Korean businessmen say they are working on a $350 million plan to erect two 11-story hotels – including one with a helipad – a golf course, condominiums and a spa with a bathhouse and a day care center. If the plans come to fruition, Sharon Springs, which has a population of 548 and which only recently acquired cellphone service, would have to overhaul its tired infrastructure to keep pace with a modern, sprawling resort.

“Sharon Springs has to change,” said George Denning, the spokesman for the Korean investors. “Nothing has been happening in that town for years.”

But village officials have been working with the businessmen since 2006, listening to one majestic plan after another, and the officials appear to be caught among optimism, disbelief and some trepidation.

“We took it with a load of salt,” said Doug Plummer, co-owner of the American, a hotel built in 1847, who is a member of a village task force that for months held weekly meetings with the three businessmen. Although not one spade has been turned, Mr. Plummer said, “I’m very excited about the possibilities of this project. It’s positive for us and it’s positive for them.”

Sharon Springs, in Schoharie County about 20 miles northeast of Cooperstown, has long been known for its magnesium water, iron-rich water, sulfur water and “bluestone” water for healing the eyes. After a surge in interest in mineral baths in the early 1800s, the village bustled for more than a century. By the 1950s, the clientele was made up largely of middle-class Jewish families. Bingo games were called in English and Yiddish, and some hotels served kosher food.

David S. Wieder, 65, of Miami Beach, who was a boy when his father bought the Adler Hotel in 1951, remembered that Holocaust survivors would come for mineral bath treatments, sitting in tubs blackened by the sulfur water. “They said it helped,” he said, referring to the springs’ apparent medicinal qualities, which people sought for physical and spiritual healing.

But by 1971, the spa business had declined sharply, and Mr. Wieder said his father sold the Adler for $70,000 – less than a third of what it cost. Like many of the hotels here, it fell into disrepair, and by the 1990s the visitors who trickled in stayed primarily in small boardinghouses or were clustered on a few floors of the decaying properties.

Then in 2005, a local real estate agent sold three of the hotels, two bathhouses and the only village access to the mineral springs to an initial group of Korean investors for $750,000. The new owners, who were affiliated with Dongbu Travel and Tour, a company based in Flushing, Queens, which specializes in bringing Asian tourists to the United States, kept up the spa business for the 2005 season.

But Mr. Denning said that while they made some structural improvements, they ultimately decided that the buildings were beyond repair. When the hotels did not open in 2006, it was the first time since the early 1800s that the village did not have a mineral bath tourist trade.

But the owners promised to come back with a bigger plan.

Mayor Omer Cousineau said that over several months, the plans shown to officials changed from a $17 million historic renovation to a $34 million outline for new construction, and then to a $100 million resort.

“There were these big, grandiose buildings, and that changed the whole aspect of what we were seeing,” Mr. Cousineau said.

In the meantime, Dongbu brought in more investors, both Mr. Denning and village officials said, and more people wanted to weigh in on the future of Sharon Springs. After more than a year of weekly meetings with no clear blueprint, the village task force formed in response to these proposals disbanded last October. “I don’t think they knew what they wanted,” Mr. Cousineau said.

Since then, village officials have been awaiting word from the businessmen. “I’m still an optimist,” Mr. Cousineau said. “I think they’re going to do something.”

For his part, Mr. Denning said the group sees much potential in Sharon Springs, and hopes to complete construction in five to seven years.

“The Asian culture very much believes in spas,” Mr. Denning said, “and we’re trying to bring a whole new concept there.”

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Bella Vita is in Top 200 nationally for growth

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Bella Vita Salon and Day Spa, Osgood St., has been awarded as one of the “Top 200 Fastest Growing Salons in the USA.”

Chosen by Salon Today magazine, the Vogue Magazine of the beauty world, co-owners Cheryl and Giovanni Currao traveled to Chicago this spring to receive the trophy. Cheryl called the experience “humbling.”

Giovanni began what is now Bella Vita back in 1979. He came to America from Sicily at age 15, after having worked in barbershops in his native country from the time he was 9.

“We have grown quite a bit in the past few years,” Cheryl said. “The people we’ve hired and trained are superb, whether it’s in hair styling, waxing, facials, etc. We have a great group of employees that are loyal and hardworking.”

People who come to work for the couple also describe the place as very caring of its staff and customers.

“My husband and I are always at work — we’re family owned — and people that come to work for us always say there’s heart and soul to the place,” Cheryl said.

In fact, when the owners returned from Chicago with the trophy, which has a big star on it, they decided it wasn’t meant to sit on a shelf.

Cheryl instead presented it to an employee who had gone above and beyond her job at the salon. That person kept it a couple weeks at her workstation and then passed it onto a fellow worker they felt deserved it.

“They’re recognized by my husband and I, but to be recognized by a fellow peer also means a lot,” Cheryl said. “We put up a sign in the break room saying who got it and who gave it. The staff gets so excited.”

In other news…

Bella Vita has also begun a recycling program that will reward customers as well as help the environment.

Two assistants came up with the idea and have taken it upon themselves to bring recycling to the North Andover Department of Public Works, Cheryl said.

The salon is also encouraging clients to return product bottles when they’re empty for recycling at a drop-off bin in the lobby. The bottles earn customer credits that add up to dollar amounts off of products and services.

“We’re hoping to cut our waste that goes to the Dumpster by 80 percent,” Cheryl said.

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Dellaria Salons Celebrated 40 Years with Grand Opening of Chic Spa in the Burlington

Spa Introduces Weekly Martini Makeovers to Take Place Every Thursday

The Grand Opening of D’Spa by Dellaria, Dellaria Salons’ new, luxury salon and spa located in the Burlington Mall occurred in Early June. Guests were invited to:

Stop by to collect your complimentary goodie bag filled with samples of D’Spa by Dellaria products.

Experience D’Spa by Dellaria while giving back to the community. All proceeds from the opening weekend will go to I HATE CANCER.

Chat with the New England Patriot’s Cheerleaders to exchange beauty tips and tricks.

Book the date with the D’Spa by Dellaria creative team for a Thursday night Martini Makeover! Is there a better way to spend an evening with the girls?

“We’ve designed D’Spa by Dellaria to be the perfect oasis conveniently located in the Burlington Mall,” said Ellen Pestell, Director of Marketing, Dellaria Salons. “For forty years Dellaria has provided quality salon services to New England and demand for expanded spa services has been steady. We want to make life easier for our clients and do whatever we can to help them feel great. The location of and vibe at D’Spa by Dellaria will surely bring instant calm to our clients and we’re confident they’ll feel fabulous after a visit with us.”

D’Spa by Dellaria will offer salon products from Kerastase of Paris, Bumble and Bumble, G.M. Collin Skin Care, and Colorscience.

Martini Makeovers

The excitement continues after opening weekend with weekly Martini Makeovers. Beginning on Thursday, June 12 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m., D’Spa by Dellaria will host Thursday evening Martini Makeovers for men and women age 21 and over. Gather friends, share an after-work cocktail and freshen up for a night out on the town with a new look for summer!

D’Spa by Dellaria at the Burlington Mall

Located on the lower level adjacent to Nordstrom

Burlington, Mass.

781-272-3537

About Dellaria

Dellaria Salons has been home to the finest stylists in New England for more than 40 years. Its 45,000 clients make monthly visits to Dellaria’s 26 locations, including 5 day spas, for hair care, skin and nail treatments, massages and many other offerings. Its latest salon – D’Spa by Dellaria – will open in May 2008 in the Burlington Mall and offers exclusive product lines and a luxurious atmosphere.

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Gloria Estefan’s resort and spa to open with little fanfare

Singer-celebrity Gloria Estefan’s sleek Costa d-Este Beach Resort is to open to guests about June 16 – but without fanfare, hotel officials said.

In the next few days the county Building Department expects to clear the way for the opening by approving that the newly-constructed hotel is structurally ready for use, department Operations Coordinator Kery Jones said Wednesday.

“We look forward to its opening,” he said. “We need more hotels.” However, it could be late September or early October before there is an official grand opening of the $50 million, five-story beach-front facility.

Some people have already reserved rooms that have an introductory rate of $189. Rates will rise to $249 beginning Oct. 1 through Dec. 19. The resort has 90 guest rooms, four suites and a large spa.

Rooms feature marble floors, teak headboards and even iPod docking stations, along with wireless internet access.

Details are still being worked out for the opening of the resort’s 85-seat restaurant Oriente that will be under the management of Cuban-American chef David Rodriguez.

The Ocean Drive hotel is built around the core of a five-story hotel purchased for $12.5 million after it was heavily damaged by hurricanes in 2004. The overall architecture was changed, creating a modernist style unique to the hotel.

The showers are round and made of limestone. Large circular opening, of random sizes, punctuate the building’s stark exterior.

Estefan co-owns the 2.4-acre hotel with her husband, Emilio Estefan. They have a home in the Vero Beach area. Benchmark Hospitality International is managing the resort that will employ 70 people.

Costa d-Este Beach Resort will have “keen style and multi-cultural sophistication,” according to the resort’s publicist. Service will be “discreetly attentive.

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