Hawaiian Spa Receives SpaExcellence^SM Certification
SpaQuality LLC awards The Spa at The Westin Maui

GREENVILLE, Del. - November 21, 2005 - The Spa at The Westin Maui, a resort spa in Lahaina on the island of Maui, Hawaii, is the second spa in the world to achieve certification in The International Standards of SpaExcellence^SM2005 from SpaQuality LLC.

Located on 12 oceanfront acres directly on Kaanapali Beach, The Westin Maui Resort & Spa is nestled between the shimmering Pacific Ocean and verdant West Maui Mountains. The Spa at The Westin Maui opened after a $5 million renovation in the summer of 2004. The 14,000 square foot spa features 16 treatment rooms; men and women's changing rooms with steam rooms; whirlpools and saunas; relaxing ocean view lounge; trademark "Westin Workout" facility with state-of-the-art equipment and tropical views of waterfalls, exotic wildlife and the ocean; open-air yoga and fitness studio; full service salon; and poolside massage cabanas overlooking the Pacific Ocean and neighboring islands.

"The Spa at The Westin Maui is excited to have gone through the SpaExcellenceSM Certification process which assisted us in meeting a high quality requirement for spa standards and customer service," said Bridget Phillips, Spa Director. "Our goal has always been to create a luxury spa that exceeds our guest's expectations, and this certification has helped us identify ways in which we can and have enhanced and enriched both our spa and our associates."

SpaQuality LLC, an independent observer of the spa, created and maintains The International Standards of SpaExcellenceSM, educates spas on these industry-specific quality management standards, assesses spas to the standards and certifies those that meet the standards’ requirements.

A SpaQuality Certified Assessor conducted the scheduled, “open-book” assessment of The Spa at The Westin Maui over two days. The spa was assessed in several categories - Spa Quality System Processes (Management), Spa Guest Experience Processes, Spa Operations Support Processes and Spa Quality System Improvement Processes. The spa received a detailed feedback report highlighting things the spa does well, opportunities for improvement and progressive ideas based on an analysis of the assessment. The Spa at The Westin Maui completed the areas of improvement in the report within the given time frame to be awarded certification. The spa can expect an unscheduled Anonymous Guest Assessment to evaluate the spa from a Guest’s perspective before the next annual assessment.

“We congratulate The Spa at The Westin Maui for taking a leadership role in the spa industry by demonstrating its value for quality,” said Julie Register, Managing Director of SpaQuality LLC. “This exemplary spa demonstrated an ongoing effort to guarantee an experience at their spa would be uplifting for guests as well as staff.”

About SpaQuality LLC

SpaQuality’s mission is to promote the advancement of the spa industry by setting standards, educating spa professionals and the public, measuring the level of quality excellence, and certifying those that meet the requirements of The International Standards of SpaExcellence^SM.

Julie Register and Linda Bankoski created SpaQuality LLC in 2003. They wanted to bring the benefits of their experience in quality management in other industries to the spa industry. Julie Register has visited and written about spas for over a decade and currently owns DiscoverSpas.com. Before that, she had been a quality management consultant and assessor (ISO 9000, Good Manufacturing Practices - FDA regulations, CE Mark) and has experience in service development and engineering, supplier chain management, and manufacturing engineering. Linda Bankoski is a quality expert with over 30 years of experience leading, coaching, consulting, and training. She has helped a wide variety of organizations in North America, Asia, South America and Europe succeed and thrive. Linda has served on the Board of Examiners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, has been active in the American Society for Quality (ASQ), has been a Good Manufacturing Practices Auditor and has been an ASQ Certified Quality Auditor, RAB Certified Quality Systems Lead Auditor and a Certified Lead Assessor (ISO 9001). Linda is past president of the Board of Directors for the Delaware Quality Consortium, Inc. (Delaware Quality Award) and is currently the lead professor in the Quality Management Certificate in the Continuing and Professional Studies at the University of Delaware teaching courses in Quality management and organizational improvement. In association with the Delaware Manufacturing Extension Partnership, she has developed and taught courses on the ISO 9000 standard, Quality system auditing and problem solving.

Julie Register and Linda Bankoski spent the better part of 2004 researching and writing quality management standards specifically for the spa industry and started assessing spas to The Standards at the end of 2004. The Standards go through an annual update to keep current with the spa industry. The International Standards of SpaExcellence^SM2006 were released in November 2005.

Please contact SpaQuality LLC for more information.
www.SpaQuality.com
Phone: 302-426-0274
Fax: 302-368-8169
Email: info@spaquality.com

For more information about The Spa at the Westin Maui, please visit www.westinmaui.com

SpaQuality LLC
Advancing the Spa Industry Through Quality Management Standards,
Education, Assessment and Certification.