Successful Meetings - February 2008 - (Page 66)

Incentive Travel with a Sense of Place Spas Give your trip some local flair with spas that incorporate native culture and indigenous products and traditions in the treatments By Maryann Hammers Norma McGrody, owner of Meeting Management Associates, based in New York City, knows that her client groups are seasoned travelers who’ve been there, done that. So she makes sure that the trips she puts together offer something they can’t get elsewhere. “I expect top-of-the-line food, activities, and golf at a highend hotel or resort,” she says. “So I look for things my attendees could never do at home, whether it’s special tours, activities, or spa treatments. And I want the whole package to tie together with the [local] environment.” With such requests in mind, many spas are incorporating local customs and lore into their treatments. For example, the new spa at Desert Springs, a JW Marriott Resort in Palm Desert, CA, offers a Date Scrub, since the surrounding Coachella Valley is one of the world’s top dateproducing areas. El Spa at Iberostar Playa Paraiso along the Riviera Maya envelops guests with aromatic Mexican spices and indigenous music in traditional Temezcal (“sweat lodge”) ceremonies, complete with shaman. And can anyone resist the “Wine and Roses” treatment at Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa in California wine country, which starts with a soak in a tub full of rose petals, followed by a massage with fragrant grape seed oil and a FEBRUARY 2008 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS PHOTO: COURTESY LAS VENTANAS AL PARAISO; OPPOSITE PAGE,: FOUR SEASONS COSTA RICA 66 mimegasite.com http://mimegasite.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - February 2008

Successful Meetings - February 2008
Contents
Editor's Note
Trade Shows
Events
Research
On the Record
Suppliers
Associations
Planner's Spotlight
Websites of the Month
Technology Talk
Personal Success
Food & Beverage
Pre-Event
On Site
Tools of the Trade
Pre-Event
The Rainbow Connection
The CVB in Your Backyard
Welcome to the Webolution
The Rail Deal
Spas with a Sense of Place
Places & Spaces
Mystic, CT.
Barcelona
Hong Kong
Florida’s East Coast
Atlantic City
Maui, Kauai, & Lanai
Aruba
Houston
Gurus

Successful Meetings - February 2008