SPA - Case Study
SPA - Case Study
SPA - Case Study
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By Cathy Christensen
Posted: April 21, 2008, from the October 2007 issue of Skin Inc.
Magazine.
Within the quiet, green fertile valleys of Wisconsin lies a quaint, nostalgic
village that time seems to have ignored. Instead of the trappings of an
organized olden days festival, however, Kohler, Wisconsin, very much
embraces current technology while maintaining the personality of a simpler,
friendlier time.
The town itself grew from the immigrants who worked at the Kohler
Company factory, which was opened in 1873, in the midst of an economic
depression, by founder John Michael Kohler, an Austrian immigrant. After
applying a baked enamel coating to a horse trough/hog scalder created by
the company, Kohler realized that he had developed the company’s first
bathtub. Hence, the Kohler legacy began.
More than 100 years later, the company began offering hospitality
ventures as ancillary products. Starting with resorts, such as The American
Club and The Carriage House in Kohler itself, it soon expanded to include
The Old Course Hotel in St. Andrews, Scotland. Looking to develop its
reach even more, the Kohler Company followed the connection between its
emphasis on water, graciousness, hospitality and the spa lifestyle, and on
December 18, 2000, Kohler Waters Spa was opened, embodying all of the
qualities subscribed to by the rest of the company in a spa environment.
Since 2003, Kohler Waters Spa has been recognized by the travel
industry leaders, such as Condé Nast Traveller, Travel + Leisure and Mobil
Travel Guide, as a top destination spa nestled snugly among the bevy of
spas located in glamorous and coastal regions.
Location
In an industry that relies heavily on the benefits of location, Kohler
Waters Spa has overcome the challenges offered by its remote Midwestern
setting. According to Jean Kolb, spa director, the Wisconsin location does
present a problem, but it is one the company continuously works to tackle.
“The large majority of our market is from Chicago, so we let guests know
they don’t have to get on a plane to get here. Even the drive here is
relaxing,” she says.
The spa markets its Americana location as a small, friendly village that
offers top-quality furnishings and treatments. “You have to work with your
department of tourism to make sure that dollars are being spent to bring
awareness to the types of resorts, facilities and hospitality we have here in
the Midwest,” says Kolb.
Kohler Waters Spa also has benefited from the advantages provided
by having a world-class resort and golf course on the property. Two highly
regarded 36-hole golf courses—Blackwolf Run and Whistling Straits—bring
much attention to the middle of Wisconsin. In 2004, the flagship Straits
Course at Whistling Straits hosted the 86th PGA Championship, and a U.S.
Senior Open Championship was held at the course during the
Independence Day weekend this year. “They may come for the golf and
stay for the spa. The individual sectors of the business support each other
and one positively affects the other,” explains Kolb.
Although Kohler doesn’t have mountains or oceanfront beaches, Kolb
paints an irresistible picture of the village during the year’s colder months.
“In the middle of winter we have a million white twinkling lights on all the
trees, and horse-drawn carriages travel through the village so you hear
clip-clopping going on until 10 PM each evening. And the very best place to
be when it is snowing those big fluffy white flakes is in this wonderful,
warm, yellow spa; it’s fabulous. We have a lot to offer,” she says.