Asia has it’s own Oscar version of the best spa destinations in Asia. Once a year, the spa and wellness industry get together to celebrate the finest amongst themselves.

Have you been to any of these award winning spas? If you have, why not tell us more about these spas and let us all share why these spas are so deserving of their awards!

Dated: 13 November 2009

Last night the winners of the fifth AsiaSpa Awards, presented by AsiaSpa magazine, the region’s most recognised spa and wellness publication, were announced and honoured at a glittering evening in Hong Kong. Celebrating the best in innovation and quality in spas around the region, the 27 categories voted on by 28 independent judges were won by spas, spa personalities, associations and resorts that have set the benchmarks for quality and service in the region.

It was a night of glitz and glamour as Asia’s spa community came together to celebrate its finest. Themed “La BelleÉpoque”, the event saw guests dressed to the nines in their most elegant 1920s fashion. Women dressed in their finest feathers, jewels and silky dresses, while the men came in fedoras, vests and suits.

The big winners of the night included Thailand which won for “Destination Spa of the Year” for Six Senses Destination Spa Phuket as well as “Asian Spa Capital of the Year”. Green T. House in Beijing also won for “Day Spa of the Year” as well as “Spa Design of the Year”. “Spa Event of the Year” went to the Global Spa Summit held at Interlaken, Switzerland. In the first year for the category “Best Children’s Spa Menu of the Year”, the Ice Cream Spa at Conrad Maldives Rangali Island emerged as the category’s debut winner.

“The year has been a particularly tough one for the spa and wellness industry, yet some spas, brands and resorts have come out even stronger than before. The highly respected ASA are there to recognise the very best of the best and push forward the whole industry to higher standards.” said Olivier Burlot, Managing Director of Blu Inc Media.

“Asia currently has the largest number of spas under development of any region in the world, a fact that is reflectedin the magazine’s pages,” said AsiaSpa’s Editor-in-Chief, Rebecca Walker. “We are looking forward to an exciting 2010.”

Hosted at Hong Kong’s classy Armani Bar, guests enjoyed buffet treats and musical beats supplied by the bar. Bombay Sapphire cocktails flowed freely and Baccarat’s stunning glass jewellery was showcased by the presenters. Guests walked away with special gifts from Aromatherapy Associates, spa vouchers from City of Dreams in Macau, Fiji Water, LCN products and Baan body products.

The winners of the AsiaSpa Awards 2009 are:

Destination Spa of the Year: Six Senses Destination Spa, Phuket, Thailand

Urban Spa of the Year: Bliss Spa, W Hotel, Hong Kong

Day Spa of the Year: Green T. House, Beijing

New Spa of the Year: The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Sanya

Spa for Men of the Year: Chuan Spa at Langham Place Mongkok, Hong Kong

Spa Retreat of the Year: COMO Shambhala Retreat, Uma Ubud, Bali

Eco-Spas of the Year: Spa by Mandara, Alila Villas Hadahaa, Maldives

Socially Responsible Spa of the Year: The Shinta Mani Spa, Cambodia

Medi-Spa of the Year: S Medical Spa, Bangkok

Asian Spa Capital of the Year: Thailand

Spa Association of the Year: APSWC – Asia-Pacific Spa & Wellness Coalition

Spa Event of the Year: Global Spa Summit

Spa Personality of the Year: Karina Stewart, Co-founder, Brand & Concept Director, Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary

In-Spa Training of the Year: CHI, The Spa at Shangri-La

Spa Academy of the Year: Banyan Tree Spa Academy

Spa Design of the Year: Green T. House, Beijing

Best Children’s Spa Menu of the Year: Ice Cream Spa, Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Spa Treatment of the Year: “Hilot Trilogy”, Mandala Spa & Villas, Boracay

Holistic Treatment of the Year: “Sound and Stone”, Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat, Australia

Men’s Spa Treatment of the Year: “Man Space Healing Balance Massage”, i.sawan Residential Spa & Club, Grand Hyatt, Erawan Bangkok

Spa’s Therapist Team of the Year: Mandarin Oriental

Spa Product of the Year: Algotherm

Anti-Ageing Product of the Year: Aromatherapy Associates, ’Fine Line Face Oil’

Natural Product of the Year: ilã, ’ilã Face Oil for Glowing Radiance’

Men’s Product of the Year: Pevonia, ’Easy-Glide Shaving Emulsion’

Spa Cuisine of the Year: The Farm, Philippines

Spa Marketing of the Year: CHI, The Spa at Shangri-La

Source of article: http://www.asiaspa.com

Er… is the spa industry really going downhill or has the Singapore press started a bad press campaign against the spa industry? This must be the 3rd newspaper article in less than a week about bad spa experiences in Singapore.

Do you have similar horror stories about spa experiences in other countries? Please share with us if you have come across spa bad experience, cheating cases or bad service in spas in Singapore and other countries as well.

In the meantime, here’s the ‘horror’ story from a spa-goer in Singapore…

Burnt by slimming treatment

By Amanda Yong YOU often hear of slimming treatments claiming to “burn stubborn fat” off your tummy. One housewife tried doing just that in an unusual beauty treatment – and got burnt. Madam Li Mei Gui, 35, is now left with horrific scars on her back, one as big as a two-dollar note. The Singapore permanent resident from Malaysia was enticed by a local spa’s promise of a “fat-burning treatment” that claimed to reduce the fat on her belly. She visited the spa in Ang Mo Kio and tried out the procedure on 28 Oct. We are not naming the spa for legal reasons. Her son, 9, and daughter, 7, were at school. Her husband was at work and didn’t know she would be going for the treatment. “I didn’t tell him because I thought it was just a small matter,” she said in Mandarin. But it was no small matter. During the procedure, Madam Li lay on her front in one of the spa’s treatment rooms. Her lower back and waist were left exposed for the treatment. The therapist placed a towel on her waist and poured an alcoholic fluid on the towel. The procedure was to have been carried out on her back and her front, but it could not be ascertained which treatment came first. All Madam Li could remember was turning back and seeing the therapist light up the towel, which started to burn. “I was so scared when I saw the fire (on the towel). I wanted to ask her what she was doing, but it was too late,” she said. Within a few seconds, the fire on the towel had spread to her bare skin. She felt a sharp burning sensation on her back and screamed in pain. Realising that Madam Li was on fire, the therapist immediately threw a wet towel onto her back, dousing the flames. She also put ice cubes on the burnt area to soothe the pain. Madam Li was so traumatised and in such pain that she left the spa without raising a fuss. “I was in so much pain that I just couldn’t say a word. That half an hour (of treatment) was so painful that I just wanted to get out (of the spa) as soon as possible,” she said. Huge burn marks When she arrived home, she showed her husband her injuries. Her husband, a 40-year-old pastry chef, who wished to be known only as Mr Chen, told Shin Min Daily News that he saw angry blisters, “some long and some round” on his wife’s back. There were also huge burn marks, one as long as 20cm. Read the rest of the article here: http://www.asiaone.com/Health/Women%2527s%2BMatters/Story/A1Story20091118-180699.html Story credit: www.asiaone.com

Busy urban people all over the world practise Yoga today. Many people see it as a therapeutic exercise that strengthen the body and relaxes the mind.  Much research and articles has been written about how Yoga brings about wonderful benefits to busy people and Yoga classes are the top exercise routine in many fitness studios.

I practise Hartha Yoga regularly too. I know there are various forms of Yoga but Hartha Yoga suits me fine and I’ve been too busy to explore other forms of Yoga. Imagine my surprise when I read about Facial Yoga. This certainly sound interesting…

A wrinkled face is not a good look but as the years catch up with you, short of going under the knife there’s no way to avoid it.

Or at least there wasn’t, until a new set of facial exercises called face yoga promised to turn back the clock, returning your face to its smooth, youthful prime, without a scalpel in sight.

Face yoga has already won devotees among the forever-young-looking celebrity crowd, with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston said to be big fans. It’s the brainchild of New York yoga teacher Annelise Hagen, who teaches it at the swanky New York Health & Racquet Club.

You can read an article and see pictures about Facial Yoga at this website

Facial Yoga is also known as Happy Face Yoga because many of the facial postures in Facial Yoga revolve around different kind of smiles. I guess smiling always make one looks younger and fresher and perhaps that’s why Facial Yoga exercises tends to smile a lot.

You can check out some of Facial Yoga videos below. If you practise Yoga in a studio, you may want to ask your Yoga instructor the next time you see him or her about Facial Yoga!

Source of quotation: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

May I wish all readers a good, safe and smooth Year 2009 ahead!

It has been a traumatic 2008 for everyone especially towards the last part of the year.

We had the Sichuan earthquake, Burma cyclone, the melamine poisoning in China, ferry disaster in Philippines; not the mention the economic tsunami that is going round the world right now.

If you still have a roof over your head, an intact job, loved ones at home, then it’s time to count your blessing and think of all the people who have lost lives, money or their loved ones.

Keep your chin up despite the economic gloom; money is not everything. Join in the festive cheers, chip in your bit in donating to the poor and homeless and do spread good spirit all round.

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

There is nothing but waves and waves of economic bad news worldwide nowadays. Open the newspapers and you read nothing except well-established companies collapsing, mortgage sub-primes, government bail-outs, onset of recession, credit crunches, job retrenchments,etc

I’m sure you see it around you in daily life too. Friends and relatives worried about jobs, bonus or increment cut-backs in your company, companies closing down, government officials talking about economic crises all the time.

Will the spa and wellness industry be affected by the bad economy as well? Should we cut back on our personal spending on massage, spas, manicure and other treatments?

Well, in the last 10 years, we’ve seen the spa, wellness and alternative health industry move from strength to strength, not only in Asia but around the world. What was previously often seen as an old aunt’s trade, a side trade for beauty salons or some quark doctor treatment has not only become big business, but has become accepted into mainstream lifestyle and business as well.

The spa, wellness and alternative health industry(swah industry) has become big business indeed. Every other week, one hear of a new spanking new centre coming up in a new hotel, shopping mall or even hospital. Even when walking down the street, it is not unusual to find a new shop in your neighbourhood mall or town centre. This is especially true in Asia and a growing phenomenon in many parts of the world as well.

I think this industry is moving so fast is because people now accept it as a mainstream practice and no longer as an alternative practice. In today’s hectic world, people seems to want to return to nature all the more; hence the desire for natural and holistic treatment for illnesses and discomfort. Part of holistic treatment calls for massage and spa treatment and more so because more and more people suffer from mental and physical stress in today’s busy world.

It will be a difficult tug of war. Sure, spa and massage treatments are comfort treatments and will surely be the first to be sacrificed for in times of economic crises. However, many city people have come to see it as essential for today’s modern harsh living and while some may give it up, more will continue to see it as a need in daily modern life.

I believe in this current economic climate, there’ll be some immediate effect and some cash-strapped establishments may have to close. From here, I’ll sure there will be much re-consolidation and alignment of the alternative health and wellness industry, of which I believe it’ll re-emerge as better organised and aligned to serve it’s customers better.

As for myself, there’s no way I can give up on foot refloxology. It has become part of my life. I will continue to visit TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) for certain illnesses and will continue to seek TCM treatments including accupuncture, gua-sha or ba-guan.

As for pedicure or manicure, I’ll continue to seek for better bargains and cut down the number of sessions. The biggest cut-back will definitely come from scrubs and spa treatments which is always the biggest dollar-eater and I’ll continue to seek out credit-card promotions and definitely reduce the numbers of visits.

I may want to reduce drastically and cut off scrubs and spa sessions eventually – that is, if I can survive the old turkey treatment

Tell me, how will you cope?

First we had the Mad Cow Disease. Then we had Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Now, we even have toxic Melamine in our milk. Wave after wave of food and health scare! When will it be safe to trust our food, water and air ever again?

Even without these major health scare, we still have to struggle with daily health and food inadequacies – there are pesticide in our vegetable, micro-organism in our water, altered DNA in our poultry and polluted environment of our fishes – as farmers and businesses seek to maximise their profit dollars from our daily food supply!

That’s why modern scientific health experts chant the same mantra:

1. Eat lightly, eat widely
2. Exercise regularly
3. Get plenty of fresh air

In addition to scientific health experts, those of us who believes in alternative health will want to add:

1. Detoxify regularly
2. Meditate
3. Avoid or eat less meat

I personally believe in detoxification and practise it as much as I can. If you too believe in detoxification but do not know where to begin, whom to trust or how to go about, let me recommend this excellent body detox website by Dr Janet Starr Hull.

Dr Hull website is full of articles and research materials on scientific detoxification. Just reading from her website will put you in a good stead on how and why you should go about detoxing your body. Her website is chockablock of diet guides, detox books, vitamin and supplement information.

You can even order a personal hair analysis toxin test and a personal detoxification kit via her website. This is what she says of the detoxification kit:

The Detox Kit teaches you how to remove toxins using your body’s water, urine, fecal waste, skin and blood. The Detox Program is natural, and can be used for your lifetime as a “maintenance program” or if future health concerns develop. The Detoxification Program is safe for all ages and health conditions because it is a natural process using the simple nutrition techniques and information in Dr. Hull’s 10-Step Detoxification Program.

Dr. Hull is not just a nutritionist. She’s also a geologist and international geographer, a licensed Environmental Hazardous Waste Specialist and Toxicologist, a former fire fighter and college professor. She had a change in career after she “cured” herself from an “incurable” thyroid disease, Grave’s Disease in 1991. She was told she would die if she didn’t agree to drastic and expensive medical procedures; yet, her doctors didn’t know what caused her “fatal” thyroid disorder, or why she was suddenly deathly ill, or how to cure her disease. They only knew how to suppress her symptoms – destroy her thyroid with radiation – and keep her alive using medications for the rest of her lifetime.

She applied her environmental skills to help find the “cause” of her disease instead of having her thyroid destroyed. She discovered the cause of her illness – aspartame. She removed aspartame from her life and was healed within thirty days. She has been perfectly healthy ever since. No surgery, no medications, and NO aspartame!

The personal detoxification kit includes a DVD, a audio CD, a guidebook, pH test strips, diet and eating charts, suggested detox schedules and even a toxin guide. If you are serious about personal detoxification for better health, you should seriously consider this kit.

You can check out the detoxification kit at Dr Janet Starr Hull website.

Even if you have not reach a serious consideration about personal detox, you should still visit her website for generic health and toxin information. With today’s food and health crises coming one after another, you never know when you need a handy detox and diet guide in quick time!

Fri, Oct 10, 2008
The Straits Times

THE Spa Association Singapore has said that banning fish-spa treatments is the way to go.

Responding to a query from The Straits Times on such a ban in Texas and Washington state, the association said it did not encourage its members here to provide the service for safety and hygiene reasons.

The association, an umbrella body representing 75 spa or related business outlets, said that as far as it knew, none of its members offered fish-spa services.

An industry insider reckons that at least 20 shops here do so, the more well-known names being Kenko Reflexology & Fish Spa and Qian Hu Fish Farm.

Business operators said they were unaware of licensing requirements binding the business of using fish to nibble away dead skin.

They said, however, that they use filtration systems and ultraviolet light to kill bacteria in the water; they also said they check that their customers are clear of wounds.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore confirmed that it did not have regulations on fish being used this way, and that its priority was to ensure that they were unharmed.

At least two complaints have emerged this year against fish spas – the Consumers Association of Singapore received one, and The New Paper ran a report on two sisters who caught fungal infections from a fish spa.

Some operators said they believed the complaints came about because of black sheep in the industry who are in the business due to low entry requirements.

(I had earlier commented that Fish spas, which is increasing in popularity, may not be as healthy as it seems. To read more about fish spas and my observations, please click fish spa article here. )

Fri, Oct 10, 2008
The Straits Times

DALLAS: Letting live fish give people pedicures could transmit infections, say the authorities in Washington and Texas, and the spa treatment is now banned in the two American states.

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation announced on Wednesday that fish pedicures – in which customers pay to have tiny fish nibble dead skin off their feet – are no longer permitted in the state, the Dallas Morning News reported.

The regulatory authorities in Washington state imposed a similar ban last week, said Seattle Times.

Ms Christine Anthony, spokesman for the Washington Department of Licensing, said it was impossible to sanitise live fish.

‘You can clean the tank, you can clean the water, but there’s no guarantee that the fish aren’t carrying something from the previous customer,’ she was quoted as saying by Seattle Times.

Officials also said the foot baths and holding tanks, because they are home to live fish, cannot always be properly cleaned and disinfected.

However, they said there had been no cases of anyone falling sick from a fish pedicure.

‘We are erring on the side of safety,’ said Ms Susan Stanford of the Texas licensing department.

This particular pedicure is a new entrant in American spas. It first gained attention after a Virginia-based spa told the media this summer about the benefits of using the fish instead of razors to slough away scales and calluses, the news reports said. Heavy media coverage followed.

The owner of Peridot Nail Salon, the only salon in Washington known to be offering the treatment, told Seattle Times she was ’shocked and surprised and disappointed’ by the ban.

Ms Tweety Bui said the salon started offering the pedicures only last month, charging US$30 (S$44) for 15 minutes. The phone had been ‘ringing off the hook’ with calls for appointments, she said, with about 20 sessions booked for last weekend alone.

‘I’m booked two months out,’ Ms Bui told Seattle Times. Her staff have been calling clients to cancel the appointments. ‘I am so overwhelmed with all this that it’s not even funny.’

At the Zen Luxury Nail & Beauty Bar in North Texas, co-owner Kate Caldwell told Dallas Morning News she shut down her fish tanks after being informed of the ban by the state authorities. The shop had bought 500 guppy-like fish for US$2,500.

‘I am pretty disappointed,’ Ms Caldwell said.

She claimed that her salon had a rigorous safety protocol to avoid putting customers at risk. After each pedicure, she said, the foot basins are emptied and cleaned with a disinfectant. During that cleaning, she said, the fish are transferred to a ‘hospital tank’, where they are treated with an anti-microbial agent and isolated for at least a day.

Both spa owners said they would probably keep the fish as pets for now.

‘We have fish food,’ said Ms Bui.

Fri, Oct 10, 2008
The New Paper
Singapore

WHAT was supposed to be an hour of relaxation ended in tears, a bitter dispute and a police report.

Nora, 31, claimed that a masseur molested her during an hour-long afternoon full-body massage on 9 Sep 08. The housewife and mother of two young children asked that her real name not be used to avoid any stigma.

But the manager of the Chinatown massage place, Madam Jean Chia, 42, denied any wrongdoing on the masseur’s part.

She said she called the police after Nora asked for $2,000 as compensation. A police spokesman confirmed that Madam Chia called the police and investigations are ongoing. The masseur was not arrested and is assisting with investigations.

Read the full newspaper article here.