Will Spas Measure Up and Make the Grade?
- SpaQuality LLC sets standards for the spa industry -

GREENNVILLE, Del. June 28, 2005 - There are many types of corporate and industry awards: The Good Housekeeping seal of approval, the award for Motor Trend Car of the Year, four-star restaurants, or a five-star hotel. Now a new organization is evaluating spas on how they manage their business and satisfy their customers and recognizing them for achieving and maintaining high quality standards.

SpaQuality LLC is an independent observer of the spa industry and offers certification upon reaching certain criteria in several categories.
SpaQuality LLC's mission is to promote the advancement of the spa industry by setting standards, educating professionals and the public, measuring the performance of services, and certifying those that meet the quality system requirements. In essence, they are giving the "white glove test" to the spa industry.

No spa will want to be singled out for not having this prestigious accreditation for fear of being thought of as inferior or possibly even harmful. Spas will soon discover they will have to step up their performance, if they hope to receive this coveted endorsement. The evaluation process is so rigorous, as of this date, no spa has met the requirements of The International Standards of SpaExcellenceSM. However, all spas that have been evaluated have received detailed feedback that they are using to improve their business, and understand what it takes to become certified.

SpaQuality Managing Director of Operations is Julie Register, owner of DiscoverSpas.com, formerly the spa guide for About.com and, for two decades, a leading expert in the spa industry. She has traveled around the world to experience the most luxurious spas, and has been a resource for some of the most prestigious national publications in the country, including The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Her partner is Linda Bankoski, Managing Director of Education and Assessment. She is an expert in the field of quality management and has many years of experience leading, coaching, consulting, and training. She has helped a wide variety of organizations succeed and thrive and add value for their customers and employees.

"We wanted to bring some kind of uniformity or code of conduct to an industry as diverse as the spa industry," said Ms. Register. "We feel that by giving an incentive to spas, and recognizing them for their achievements, it will ensure the quality of these businesses, and allow clients to feel they are receiving the best possible experience."

Evaluations are based on four different areas of spa operations: quality system processes, guest experience processes, operations support processes and quality system improvement processes. Managing these processes help spas know which parameters they must meet to satisfy their guests and to ensure continued excellence in the industry as a whole.

The advantages of being assessed are: written feedback for participating businesses, third party acknowledgement, increased marketability, and better brand recognition. Spas recognized with certification receive: a certificate, a crystal award and marketing kit.

Linda Bankoski said, "Our goal is to raise the overall standards for the spa industry, and let the public have an opportunity to make an informed choice when deciding on which spa to patronize."

Find more information at www.SpaQuality.com.