Forest and garden trails, saunas, baths, meditation, workouts, conferences and workshops, beauty and body treatments, invigorating gourmet cuisine: Spa Eastman pampers its customers. A pioneer in Quebec, the institution has made global and preventive health its spearhead for 45 years. In December 2020, Public Health declared that therapeutic and personal care were essential services. However, most facilities, including thermotherapy, remained inaccessible. Here is how Spa Eastman was able to overcome constraints and how it continues to put the client's well-being at the heart of its concerns.

Transforming challenges into new services

“First, there was the mandatory closure of all spas, then a brief burst of happiness during the summer of 2020,” recalls Mr. Duquette. “There was an extraordinary surge from June to September, which was greatly diluted as soon as the Estrie region went back to red in November. It wasn’t easy. During the third wave, we made the decision to leave the spa open for treatments, accommodations and room service. Through all the upheavals of the pandemic, we still operated, adapting from one directive to another, mobilizing a team that had been left at home for almost three months, offering shared schedules and looking for possible solutions to offer to a reduced clientele.”

Spa Eastman did not hesitate to implement strict health procedures as soon as they were necessary. Also being a lodging center, “we implemented the strict measures that were required at the beginning, such as leaving our rooms fallow, which required additional equipment and employees,” he explains. “We also needed additional employees to control the common areas to enforce physical distancing and ensure all disinfection protocols.”

Many in the industry were not strong enough to open under these conditions. But, it must be said that Spa Eastman was able to compete in ingenuity. While the whirlpools were mandatorily closed, it relied on the benefits of its cold circuit, particularly in its communications. "It's easy to tell customers that we can't, that it's closed," laments Mr. Duquette. "But how can we optimize the experience? How can we really succeed in offering a stay that really does you good, in the context that is mandatory?"

For catering, the Spa was able to allow the tasting of platters in spaces other than the restaurant, which was closed. The sauna, prohibited due to the proximity of customers to each other, was offered differently, as a personalized treatment. For five months, the infrared installation was disinfected during the 30-minute private thermotherapy sessions. At nearly 50 degrees, no virus can resist it! "We always found solutions through the measures to be applied," says Mr. Duquette, concerned above all with the well-being of his customers. "We managed to seize the opportunities of certain gray areas to be able to accommodate our customers while remaining within the standards."

Prevention and education: bypassing the debate

At Spa Eastman, there is no question of taking part in the current debate. On the contrary, the table is set to serve relaxation and well-being above all. “We have a clientele that is generally easy to maneuver, we are a resource center,” explains Mr. Duquette. “Here, the place is for relaxation and not for opinions. The most difficult thing is to manage the perception of clients among themselves, the fears of each other. In order to avoid polarization, we deliberately do not emphasize the subject. The only checkpoint is at the reception. We do not want to be constantly asking the question, but we do want to be in compliance with the imposed measures. A bracelet distinguishes vaccine passport holders, which gives them the possibility of eating in the restaurant and attending retreats and conferences.”

These naturally go in the direction of prevention, of ways to equip people to ensure a high-performance immune system and truly global health. "Our retreats and conferences are educational," says Mr. Duquette. "We are therefore looking into reading the directive which specifies that anything that is training, that is to say a transmission of knowledge, does not require a passport."

The global approach to health, both physical and mental, preventive and holistic, is at the heart of Spa Eastman's mission. A mission of the utmost importance, which pushes it to find solutions no matter the height of the waves that shake the industry. An industry that does good, and which is needed more than ever.