“If someone comes every day of the week at
the same time, we want to break up their
schedule so that it’s not always the same thing.
It’s an organic schedule, and we offer new
things to keep it fresh.”
– KARRIE GRIFFITHS, Director of Spa, Fitness and Wellness • tHE SPA – Williams Island
Pulse spoke with two iSPa members, the meadowood
Spa and the SPa – Williams island, about their strong
emphases on nutrition and wellness, as well as how they
make it a part of the spa-going experience.
Fitness First
for the SPa – Williams island—situated in the heart of a
gated community in aventura, florida—fitness has
always been an integral part of the spa-going experience.
When it opened thirty years ago, its first spa director was
THE SPA - Williams Island, pictured here, views fitness as central to the
spa-going experience.
a fitness instructor, and she “really drove that dynamic
into the spa,” according to Director of Spa, fitness and
Wellness Karrie Griffiths. (Griffiths’ title further highlights
the importance of fitness in the spa experience at
Williams island.) fitness was the facility’s biggest draw at
the time, mainly due to a lack of gyms in the surrounding
area. now, with the rise of boutique fitness, William
island’s spa serves as the facility’s unique selling point.
“our business used to be more lopsided toward fitness,
but now it’s more balanced between fitness and the spa
side,” says Griffiths.
in that sense, Williams island is fitness facility that has
integrated spa into its programming, rather than a spa
that has integrated fitness. Spa guests—who must, with a
few exceptions, be part of the residential community—
are encouraged to design their own fitness programs with
the spa’s personal trainers. the trainers then create
tailored programs for each client, and there’s functionally
no type of training that cannot be done at Williams
island, Griffiths says: “Between all of us, the services
range from meditation and yoga to triathlon training,
marathon training, functional fitness, senior-focused,
Parkinson’s-specific, stretching, weight training, balance. i
can’t think of one thing that at least one of us doesn’t
offer.”
the wide-ranging expertise of Griffiths’ staff makes it
easy for the spa to incorporate fitness into its
programming, no matter how large or small of a
octobEr
■
PULSE 2019
25