Establishing a code of ethics, standards, and practices and accreditation for the spa and wellness industry within a specific country, region, or association is an important, valuable idea. It is what consumers want and what lifts our industry to a more professional level. Above all, uniform standards assure safety.
But the idea of universal standard and practices or accreditation just doesn’t seem feasible—or even desirable. Cultural and regional customs vary widely around the world, and what may be an agreed-upon practice in China may be unacceptable to people living in the UK. Ask yourself: Is there any other industry that has achieved 100-percent agreement across all countries? Alas, not even the UN has been able to accomplish that.
However, establishing standards and practices continues to be a key issue for the spa and wellness industry, according to annual surveys of delegates that attend the Global Spa & Wellness Summit (GSWS). While it is not within the GSWS mission to be actively involved in creating standards and practices, or monitoring them, we believe that being a hub for standards developed by various entities can be extremely useful. And by sharing the various standards that have been established around the world, it is likely that we will all help emerging sectors achieve more professional practices faster.
With this in mind, the GSWS has set up a new hub. Please check out the sections below, and send us any links that you feel are missing from this starter list. We want to aggregate information from a variety of sources and points of view and welcome your suggestions!
GSWS Standards & Practices Hub
- Various country, association and accreditation entities that promote industry standards/practices/codes
- Companies that monitor practices and/or do mystery shopping
- Award programs that require specific criteria for evaluation
While we realize not all of this information is currently available online, nor is everyone willing to share their lists, it is our hope that in the spirit of the GSWS tagline-“Joining Together. Shaping the Future.”-we will begin to see more transparency, as we all recognize that quality spa and wellness experiences are in everyone’s best interests.
Share your thoughts or send us a link for the new hub by leaving a comment.
Happy weekend,
The GSWS Team
Additional Content:
We’d like to extend a special thank you to Lucie Brosseau, president and CEO of Alliance Spa Relais Sante, Canada, and a regular Summit attendee. Lucie first suggested that the GSWS help spread the message and provided the impetus to launch the hub. She has worked tirelessly in Canada to promote standards and practices.
The Oberoi, Gurgaon will host the 2013 Global Spa & Wellness Summit, which will be held in New Delhi, India, October 5-7. In case, you missed the story read more.
The National Coalition of Estheticians, Manufacturers/Dsitributors & Associations (NCEA) was formed in June of 2000. In the last 12 1/2 years, NCEA has launched the first and only United States national credential for estheticians – NCEA Certified. The formation of the first and only national accreditor for skin care continuing education – NCEA Commission on Accreditation (COA).
The mission of the NCEA is to define standards of practice through certification and continuing education accreditation in order to represent and advocate for the esthetic profession.
NCEA is protecting your right to practice by…
Providing professional excellence through the NCEA Certified credential
Approving continuing education through the Commission on Accreditation
Advocating to strengthen your voice and position with state regulatory boards
let there be standards and practises country wise. most of the norms worldwide will be the same. few which can be country specific, implement country wise. as i see it in asia, the spa industry very soon will become a sleaze industry. anyone is operating under the word SPA. the SPA has become a fantastic cover for prostitution. do we really want that? gsws has to with every government make stadards which r mandatory. else be prepared to let sleaze be a part of this industry. its a fact which most of us have ignored for a long time. n i feel the genuine spa owners r facing the brunt. atleast in asia. and i do have valuable solutions which one can discuss one on one in the summit. but lets address it.
Coming from South-Africa, I know diversity in cultures and believes might hinder or even make standardized practises impossible or difficult to achieve. I do however believe that basic education should and should be standardized. For example, if you want to provide a certain treatment every therapist that is involved in that treatment should have the minimum required training and education for that treatment. If this could get implemented you will know that even if the treatment differs from business to business or country form country, the basic principles and techniques for that specific treatment would be the same. We work in a diverse industry, and having various tertiary education providers all believing their own course is best (some of them have lecturers not qualified in the treatment they teach), is seen to be problematic in industry and great graduates are leaving the industry because they are not given recognition.
Dear Susanne,
Thank you so much for your comment. We have added both the NCEA Standards & Regulatory Positions and NCEA Code of Ethics on our Standards & Practices page of our website.
Here’s the link: http://www.globalspaandwellnesssummit.org/index.php/spa-industry-resource/standards-and-practices
All my best,
Alexandra