Dan Šercar, SPA & Wellness designer, advisor and manager
Five Stars Croatia Issue 2 — April 01, 2007.

The SPA & Wellness boom has pounded into Croatia as well. It arrived here a little later than it did throughout the rest of the world for reasons that are clear to us all. This "wave" first hit the coast, starting at the north-east side of Istra, then over to Opatija... the region of Dubrovnik and then finally throughout Dalmatia.

What occurred on the coast initiated the building of SPA & Wellness hotels and centers throughout continental Croatia as well. After all, it is only natural that thermal springs have SPA & Wellness centers too. Soon everyone facility around wanted to be a SPA & Wellness facility.

A year or two after hotels adapted to provide wellness treatments, the first urban wellness facilities appeared. The SPA & Wellness trend followed the growth style of the "beauty industry" and soon every cosmetic salon "grew" into a beauty center, which quickly in turn aspired to become a SPA & Wellness center. Fitness centers made additions or reconstructed their facilities to create massage areas, saunas and whirlpools, thus becoming SPA & Wellness centers too. City hotels that have pools now consider themselves SPA & Wellness centers even though the programs that they are currently offering their guests have not changed much. Regardless of how they came to be, SPA & Wellness centers have one distinctive feature in common with large shopping centers; the desire to satisfy the needs of their visitors by enabling them to find "everything they need in one place".

You have surely noticed by now that the words SPA & Wellness are continually being mentioned together. These two terms have intertwined so closely that only a true expert can see the thin line that still divides them apart. It is not unusual however, for a center dominating in wellness elements to be called a SPA or vice versa. Also worth mentioning is that the term "SPA" has generally been adopted throughout the world, while the term "wellness" reigns in Croatia. This may cause some confusion. In general however, calling a SPA a wellness center is a very small mistake since you will very rarely find an exclusive SPA or an exclusive Wellness center in existence today.

S.P.A. is the abbreviation for the Latin term "salus per aquam" and it means "health through water", while the term wellness denotes a state of well-being. A SPA concretely includes a pool, water treatments, the use of products based on thermal, mineral waters, saunas, steam treatments, various baths (depending on what is being added to the water)... Croatia is a country rich in quality water. There are numerous thermal springs in continental regions, distinguishable by their exceptional qualities. Croatia's clear, high quality seawater has great SPA potential that is yet to be researched and utilized.

Wellness is considered to be "drier" than Spas. It encompasses various types of massages (usually originating from the furthest corners of the world), anti-stress programs, anti-cellulite programs and beauty programs, including makeup application, pedicures, nail art, hair styling... Aside from this, there is an entire world of fitness programs, incorporating sports into wellness, for the attainment of health and beauty. SPA & Wellness are like ying and yang, together they create an inseparable whole.

The people of today live in the fast lane and are constantly burdened by stress. They expect however, to live quality lives. SPA & Wellness centers enable this to happen. For illustrations purposes, let me compare SPA & Wellness to the pit during a Formula One race. The car and its driver hurry along the racetrack and when necessary, drive into the pit. Around the car and driver "flock" a bunch of experts, each one prepared to serve a specific purpose. In the shortest amount of time, each expert performs his/her job... and then the driver and Formula One car set out for the racetrack once again in a speeding rush.

An urban SPA & Wellness "retreat" from a daily routine lasts for a short period of time, usually anywhere from half an hour to several hours. A rural "retreat" may last half a day, a day, or a full weekend. But if one were to use vacation time to attend a SPA & Wellness program, it may last several days. Its all a matter of how much free time you have to spend on yourself!

"Keeping in step with the rest of the world" makes Croatia's SPA & Wellness scene very dynamic. Every year, more and more centers are being opened, while those already in operation are improving the quality of their services. And yet others seem to be "tripping" over trying to catch up with the trend. A SPA & Wellness center, with its facilities, ideas, and philosophies tries to, as I like to put it, "promise you quality". And SPA & Wellness clients are, as dubbed by the trade, "knowledgeable clients". These clients know what they should be getting for their money... and they expect even more... something new, something special, something worthwhile...  some type of journey for the time and money they devote to themselves or to someone they love. The "battle" for clients is the momentum driving SPA & Wellness centers to improve the quality of their services. Or in other words, has them coming up with an answer to the question, "Why should I visit your center instead of some other center?"

To answer the first part of this question, all good SPA & Wellness centers have a "standard offer" in which a client should be able to find everything he or she may need, without needing to go anywhere else. The best centers however, along with this standard offer, will offer you something that you will only be able to find in their center and no where else!!!

Croatia's SPA & Wellness scene has a great potential that has hardly been utilized! It appears that "domestic" clients believe that everything located outside of their borders is better! It appears however, that "foreigners" see things differently. They would like to discover why "domestic" centers claim to be worth their while! Designing original and native offers for SPA & Wellness centers is the base of my professional career. The concept of each and every SPA & Wellness center must include a "standard offer" as well as that something that will make each center particularly special.

If someone were to ask me which SPA & Wellness center I would recommend to them, of the sixty that are around today, they would definitely be putting me on the spot! There are about ten that I could immediately recommend. Whereas for most of the others, I would be able to point out some good things about them and could comment on what elements do not fulfill SPA & Wellness criteria. For those newly opened centers, all I can say is that I have not yet informed. The SPA & Wellness boom has been present in Croatia for only about ten years now and for that reason it is not unusual that is suffering from a few "childhood diseases". A giant step forward would be made with the creation of a conceivable categorization and by strengthening the characteristics of each offer, making them distinct.