Kevin Kelly was president and chief branding officer of US destination spa Canyon Ranch from 2001 to 2008. He also acquired and rebranded the storied Two Bunch Palms Spa Resort in California, transforming it into a carbon-neutral property prior to its sale in November 2015. He has received accolades from the US Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency for his work in sustainable development.

What made you start Civana ?
The connection between personal wellness and environmental health – what we term sustainable wellness – has been evolving since the publication of Rachel Carson’s landmark 1962 book, Silent Spring, and continued through everything from reports on the cancerous effect of trans-fats to the rise of diabetes. 

The established wellness resorts sought to create positive emotional experiences and programmes that encouraged people to adopt healthier practices. In many instances it worked. But the density of programmes and their associated costs eventually priced these vacations out of reach for 90 per cent of the marketplace. 

We see a business opportunity where we can also do some good by creating a lower price point, within a more stylised resort, and by offering our programmes from an à la carte menu.  That way, guests can modulate the degree of wellness programming they want or can afford while on vacation. 

How do you define ‘sustainable wellness’?
The core of our belief about wellbeing is that everything is interconnected: individual, community and the environment. Sustainable wellness seeks to make the connection between individual wellbeing and planetary health. By making that connection, we’re taking the wellness business to the next relevant level. As someone who’s built sustainable communities and managed wellness resorts, this was a natural progression for me.   

What do you want the guest experience at Civana to be?
Civana will be a place of discovery that promotes hope, joy and energy. We’ll create an uncluttered design that’s grounded in real materials like stone, wood, metal and glass, and programmes centred around healthier cuisine, movement, fitness and the healing arts. Civana will also offer choices, so guests can eat healthier meals with less protein, or indulge in a filet mignon and a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.  

How will you make wellness more attainable at Civana?
We understand how to bring enough “free” classes and programmes and deliver a healing spa experience without carrying a 45 to 50 per cent labour burden, which allows us to reduce the price. Our à la carte model attracts the wellness-conscious consumer who is not prepared to commit 100 per cent of their time to healthier pursuits while on vacation, but who can still benefit from spa therapies, healthy meals, a good workout, and exploring or expanding their healthier practices. If we provide these services in an emotionally safe and deliberate environment, people let their guard down and often go to a deeper place. That’s the intangible ingredient that the founders of our industry – Mel Zuckerman (of Canyon Ranch) and Deborah Szekely (of Rancho la Puerta) – understood, but which elude most firms investing in wellness today. Sometimes less is more.

A seasoned spa, wellness and brand executive, Rianna Riego assisted Kelly in the rebranding of Two Bunch Palms. She has also opened and successfully operated several spas for Marriott International and KSL Resorts.

How did your career in branding evolve?
My first job was in PR for the Hilton International in Manila. After a decade of opening spas, my consulting career gradually utilised both my marketing background and my spa operations experience. As a previous board member of the Green Spa Network, I was also passionate about sustainability. Rebranding Two Bunch Palms was my first role as the voice of the brand whose primary role was to ensure that the guest experience, operational systems and the messaging were consistent with the culture of the company.

What will the spa concept at Civana entail?
Much of the modern spa world has focused on style versus substance – particularly hotel companies. Maybe there is a steamroom or whirlpool in the wet rooms, but they’re not utilised enough to prepare the body for a treatment. The Civana spa will restore the origins of spa – health through water – with intentional design of water rituals integrated into pre- and post-treatment spaces. The emphasis will be on developing a spa culture where guests will understand and appreciate the true benefits of legitimate spa therapies. At Civana, we seek to reconnect the body and spirit with inspiring and therapeutically sound pre- and post-water treatments. A client should view their treatment as a two-hour experience, not a 50-minute backrub.

How do you see the Civana brand evolving?
Civana intends to create a space that is emotionally safe, sustainable and designed to help people feel better at every touch point of the guest experience. It’s an organic brand that will evolve into an emotional brand. As an organic-emotional brand, it carries certain attributes and values that connect its customers and their values at a deeper level. Emotional brands have to evolve organically, and will eventually mature beyond philosophy and theory.

How will Civana appeal to a younger demographic?
The younger generations – both millennials and Gen X – grew up with a more wellness-oriented lifestyle. Things like recycling, organic products, sustainable design, fitness and nutritional supplements have all been a part of their lives from a young age. They’ve been called the ‘aspirational class’ and have already set the bar for where they spend their money and which causes they support.

This generation demands transparency, which will serve Civana well. In order to remain an authentic brand, we research and back up our offerings with facts, so if we say something is healthy for you or creates a certain benefit, guests can be sure we will already have vetted that piece of information.

In addition, the younger demographic prefers wellness-minded spaces from the environments they choose to spend time in, and Civana will provide that space through sustainable design.

Larry Lamy is the former vice president of finance and development for destination wellness resorts Miraval and Canyon Ranch, and brings with him 30 years of financial, development and asset management experience.

What made you decide to join Civana?  
Wellness is an important segment of my personal life, and working for a mission-based company has always been important to me. When the opportunity came up to be part of this next-generation wellness company, I was all in.

What do you think will make Civana different?
Working for more than 30 years with two of the “founding” companies in the wellness industry has equipped me with many tools to understand the intricacies of running a successful and profitable wellness resort. Civana will expand on what has worked in the past, while avoiding areas that were less profitable.

As far as what sets Civana apart from other wellness resorts, there is one word: choice. Civana’s à la carte approach to wellness will provide our guests with the ability to choose the level of experience they want – they can explore wellness at as deep a level as they wish without feeling pressured to take every available class. Today’s consumer fully expects options and choices in their vacation travel, and Civana will be poised to fill all those different needs.    

How does making wellness more affordable make sense from a financial standpoint? 
Our research indicates that there is a large market segment – almost 19 million households in the US – that is looking for an opportunity to experience a wellness vacation, but aren’t willing to commit to the more expensive all-inclusive model – yet there is currently no one offering this type of experience. 

Civana has brought an experienced team together to introduce the first true à la carte wellness resort that will meet the desires of this particular market segment.

Peter Smith recently retired as chief operating officer at Canyon Ranch, and has also held several senior executive positions overseeing operations for Holland America and Windstar Cruise Lines, as well as Westin Hotels.

How did you move to the wellness industry from a conventional hospitality model?
I’ve been fortunate to have had three very enjoyable careers with leading brands in the hotel, cruise and wellness industries. Each were capital-, labour- and service-intensive entities with very high customer expectations requiring acute attention to customer needs.

The hotel and cruise business models are more transactional than the all-inclusive wellness experience, where our associates are “healers” who connect on a very personal basis with guests – and in many cases help them in improving their lives. While I enjoyed the hotel and cruise businesses, I’ve found the wellness industry the most personally rewarding, because of the unique engagement we have with our guests.

What made you want to get involved with Civana?
I found the Civana model of real interest because it broadens the reach of wellness to a much larger audience than the more traditional brands, thus allowing a younger audience to participate in healthy vacations.

The Civana brand will be a leader in the next generation of the wellness industry. Civana is led by some of the best minds in the industry who have the knowledge, experience, energy and enthusiasm to create new and exciting wellness experiences both for the brand, and for the wider industry as a whole.

Architect Ben Meyer and interior designer Anissa Mendil are the directors of 3rd Story’s commercial and hospitality division, and are charged with leading the transformation of Civana Carefree. The husband-and-wife team is based in Arizona, but brings European heritage – Meyer is English and Mendil is German – to the projects they work on.

What is your overall vision for Civana Carefree?
The intent is to strip back the conflicting architectural styles and simplify the building forms to respect the original mid-century design. The result will be cleaner lines with a more horizontal emphasis. By decluttering the design, guests will be free and open to receiving the full benefits of the Civana experience.

The Sonoran Desert is such an amazing environment – dominated by expansive views and incredible light, which has influenced both the spaces and material choices. Taking advantage of the views to the mountains has been an important goal from the start.

How will you incorporate sustainable features and wellness in your design?
The biggest sustainable piece of this project is the fact that we’re repurposing an existing building. Each building has great ‘bones’, which enables us to incorporate this new wellness concept in an established environment, giving a new lease of life to a landmark property.

Repurposed architecture connects to our history and future; the unique spaces and places that are created from repurposing often tell a story that can’t be replicated in new construction. Carefree will incorporate a combination of sustainable building materials and finishes, locally manufactured millwork and furniture, greywater recycling and heat recovery in the spa building, solar panels to supply power to the spa building, and locally supplied food.

In the guest rooms, we implemented a floating bed, where the massing of the bed is now in the middle of the room. This has removed the focus from the TV often found opposite the bed, but it also captures the incredible views of the Sonoran Desert and mountains, connecting guests back to nature while they’re in their room, and grounding and inspiring them.