Hey everyone, we thought that we would treat you to an extra blog post this week. The post is by our guest blogger Hannah Briggs who is also studying the International Spa Management degree and she is currently in her second year. She has written this lovely post for you all about her year's recent UK trip to London.
Each year the University puts on a national trip for each year group. In first year, we visited the beautiful spa town Bath, this year (second year) we had the privilege of spending a few days in the capital city, visiting 5 star spas, meeting their employees and gaining some valuable insights into the kind of places we could one day manage.
On our first full day in London, we attended a training session with Caudalie, the beautiful French product brand used in our Devonshire Spa. The session at the Intercontinental Hotel on Park Lane was held with spa managers from the London Home Counties. As well as getting a look into their Premier Cru range, we also left with an exclusive goody bag to test the products ourselves. After this, we travelled through the city to the Caudalie Day Spa Boutique in Covent Garden where we had a talk from one of the employees to explain to us what they do there and how the boutique works.
Our second day in London was, without a doubt, five stars. We started off with a trip to The Dorchester Hotel; a stunning, quaint, proudly British hotel. We had the pleasure of a spa tour conducted by the spa manager, Sally Pedder. We began our tour in the ‘spatisserie’ - their area for guests to enjoy food/refreshments - which had an immediate feeling of elegance and luxury. As we sat in their French style armchairs, with chandeliers made up of hundreds of thousands of diamonds hanging above us, the feeling of not fitting in was quickly overcome by the warm welcome of Sally and her employees. We continued our tour around the beautiful spa, able to ask questions, and gain as much information and knowledge from Sally as possible. After the tour, we were once again presented with goody bags, this time containing a nail varnish and an exclusive Dorchester nail file.
The afternoon of our second day was spent in the exceptional Four Seasons Hotel on Park Lane. For me, this was definitely the most anticipated experience of the entire trip. Having heard of the infamous Four Seasons well before I started studying spa, I knew that this was an extremely exciting opportunity considering they are a global 5* hotel chain with some of the most luxurious resorts in the world.
This time, we entered through the staff entrance (that’s how posh it was, we weren’t allowed in the guest entrance because we evidently are not Beyoncé) which was slightly different but gave a good insight as to how it would feel to work there. We began with a talk from the HR team who straight away made us all feel completely at ease considering we were in such a distinguished place. We then moved on to the spa team to discuss the spa more in depth and learn about their career journeys into the industry and their current positions. This gave us the timely reminder that every spa manager has a different path into the industry and the key is to work hard and enjoy what you are passionate about.
After endless questions from all of us to the spa team, the exciting moment came to be escorted up to the 10th floor – The Spa. Even just being in the lift I started to get a glimpse of what life would be like as a Kardashian! The doors opened to the 10th floor and we were all falling over one another in excitement to see the facilities. We went into the TEN dining room, which boasts spectacular skyline views of London, to rest our bags before being taken through to the state-of-the-art gym to first have a tour around these facilities. Afterwards, we followed the spa manager through to the ladies changing rooms and then onto the wet area. We stopped in here for a few minutes whilst she took us through their daily procedures and gave us more time to ask questions.
Following this section of the guest journey is the warm, oriental feeling relaxation area with screens to pull across for privacy for personal or religious reasons - something I had never seen in other spas. We were then shown a treatment in one of the treatment rooms, which offer a serene detachment from the busy streets of London visible below. After our tour of the spa was complete, the wide range of products they have on sale for guests was explained thoroughly to us. We had a brief moment to enjoy a refreshing drink and take in the beautiful views, before being escorted out through the guest entrance – the ultimate treat, but I also understand why they didn’t let us through there both times…let’s just say a gaggle of excitable spa management students is not the usual clientele you expect to this in this fantastic establishment.
Following our trip, the University hosted its annual Industry Networking Day, where each student gets the chance to talk to businesses they are interested in working for and learn how to approach that. The London trip set us up perfectly for this as we had already met some of the people in attendance and therefore we could start building a relationship and network further.
Both of these opportunities offered by the Spa Management Course also demonstrate the importance of networking and making connections. Although I was daunted by this before, having the opportunity to visit five star establishments and meet the friendly, helpful people who work there totally breaks down these worries. Thanks to the networking opportunities provided by the University, and the constant support from the best team of lecturers, all my anxieties soon became a distant memory. I feel more confident and prepared to pursue my own career in spa management and make those all-important connections.
All in all, I had an incredible time on my second-year trip to London. Despite visiting London countless times before, I had always rapidly dismissed the idea of living and working in London, especially in 5* businesses. Now, I, along with my other classmates, have been offered interviews and opportunities with the businesses we previously thought were unattainable and in fact have gained a new perspective of what living and working in a city could be like and how many doors it could open.
If you are passionate about spa but you don’t know where or how to pursue your passion - don’t worry, you’re not alone! The University of Derby Buxton Campus is like a community, particularly within the spa team and the opportunities, support and teaching you receive here are second to none.
Hannah Briggs,
Guest Blogger
*We would like to thank Hannah Briggs again for taking her time to share what a lovely experience she had visiting top spas in London, it was a lovely read. We hope you enjoy this post as much as we have. Thank you for sharing your experience and pictures with us.