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We don’t motivate. We measure.
A world-class spa isn't designed room by room. It's orchestrated like a destination.
In luxury hospitality, a spa can become one of a property's strongest assets: a reason to travel, a lever against seasonality, a business unit with its own financial logic. Or it can remain an expensive amenity. The difference is decided in the months when the project can still be changed at no cost.
We design the spa. And we grow the people who will run it.
Usually the concept is drawn up by the people who will not have to run it afterwards. I have done both, in that order: seventeen years running luxury spas and resorts, and then ICF certification as a professional coach.
It means the concept we design takes account of the people who will have to make it work — and that, if those people need training, we are the ones who train them.
Where we create value
A founder-led consulting model: I remain the project's strategic reference and bring in specialist partners when they are needed — from technical training to SOPs, from operating manuals to signature menus and launch.
01 · Concept & positioning
Defining the philosophy, the guest promise, the pillars and the differentiating narrative that make a spa more than an amenity.
02 · Layout & guest journey
Translating concept into zoning, treatment room mix, flows, water and heat experiences, back-of-house logic and service rhythm.
03 · Business model
Building revenue, productivity, cost and staffing assumptions tied to layout and investment decisions. This is where you find out whether the project stands up.
04 · Experience architecture and operation tools
Shaping rituals, treatment programming, signature menus, service standards, SOPs, operating manuals and training paths that make the concept genuinely applicable.
How we work
A process built to deliver clarity and decision-ready recommendations, with specialist support where execution requires vertical expertise.
01 Decode — ownership ambition, hotel positioning, brand expectations, site constraints, investment priorities.
02 Define — wellbeing philosophy, target guest, pillars, experiential territories, point of difference.
03 Translate — space program, layout logic, operational flows, technical priorities, service implications.
04 Validate — financial assumptions, productivity scenarios, staffing logic, commercial implications.
05 Align — concise recommendations that bring ownership, design, technical partners and operations onto the same page.
You can start small
A compact strategic phase, designed to unlock the key decisions quickly and reduce downstream project risk.
Project discovery and brief review
Wellness concept direction
Layout and space program review
Financial projection framework
Decision workshop with recommendations
Deliverables: a strategic concept note, layout observations, recommendations on space and programming, financial assumptions, and a shared roadmap for the next steps.
for spa leaders
And for the people who run it
You're a spa manager, wellbeing manager or hotel director, and your role has grown faster than the support you receive. Nobody explained how to read a P&L, how to hold a team of twenty-five together through high season, how to enter an international award, or how to move from strong operator to recognised figure in the industry.
I have been there. Today I do it with coaching and mentoring together:
Growth and positioning — where you are in the market and where you could be
CV and applications — how a spa profile is presented in international luxury
Awards and recognition — how a winning submission is built
On-the-job support — the difficult decisions, while you are making them
Formats and fees are the same as the individual programmes. See the Coaching page →
portfolio
Projects
Consulting
Cloud 7 Lifestyle Hotel — Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. Concept direction for BANA Spa: wellness philosophy, guest journey, treatment programming and operating framework within an upscale lifestyle hospitality context.
Le Graal Luxury Management — Italy. Reference spa consultant for a new luxury management platform, supporting wellness strategy and the openings of Cortina, Villa La Tassinara and Palazzo Medici in Rome.
Naturalis Spa & Resort — Martano, Italy. Strategic repositioning of the spa & wellness offer: concept, services and operating model.
Egnazia Ospitalità Italiana — support for the spa openings of Hotel De Len in Cortina and Santavenere in Maratea: concept refinement, operational setup, standards definition.
Leadership
Borgo Egnazia — VAIR Spa · Director of Wellbeing, 2019–2023. Full P&L responsibility, a team of more than fifty, development of the global "Happiness Like Nowhere Else" concept, expansion of the VAIR brand to two additional spas, and a 1,000 sqm extension delivered with Raison d'Être. The first property in the world certified by the Blue Zones Organisation to host Blue Zones Retreats.
GOCO Spa al JW Marriott Venice · Spa Director, 2018. Operations, financial performance and brand standards in an international luxury hotel. Black Diamond Award, Forum HOTel&Spa, Paris.
1711 Ti Sana Detox Retreat & Spa · Wellness Director, 2008–2017. One of Europe's first modern medical spas, and the birthplace of the Healtheatarian protocol, later published in my book and carried into every project since.
These projects have been covered by Vogue, Condé Nast Traveller, Forbes and The Telegraph.
what they say
«As a spa designer, it is essential for me to work with professionals like Erica, in order to create facilities that are not only beautiful but also functional and profitable. What struck me is her overall preparation: managerial, economic and financial competence alongside deep knowledge of products, treatments and everything that revolves around the world of wellbeing»
Alberto Apostoli — Architect & Wellness Creator · translated from Italian
«Erica grasped the essence of Bakel from our very first meeting, translating the brand's values into a genuinely unique treatment experience. A precise and highly professional person.»
Raffaella Gregoris — Founder, Bakel s.r.l. · translated from Italian
«An extraordinary professional with a very current vision of growing a business while always putting people's wellbeing first. A great ability to mediate and to find sustainable solutions, without ever losing sight of the objective.»
Domenico Scordari — CEO & President, N&B s.r.l. · translated from Italian
Let’s talk about the project
A scoping call is there to understand where you are, what has already been decided, and where an outside perspective can still change the outcome. No commitment.