Iseli believes Canyon Ranch does not have a direct competitor in the market, and adds that there is more to it than meets the eye.
He says: “You do not only come to Canyon Ranch for a weight-loss or detox programme. There are various other reasons why people come to stay at a Canyon Ranch property. Guests come in to build strength, to forget about a loss in their family, maybe to quit smoking or drinking, or at least to reduce it. Then, of course, to lose body weight or to convert body fat into muscles. That has been our recipe for 40 years, so we don’t really have a competitor. You have the Shaw Clinic but no one really has a concept like ours based on the five pillars.”
Speaking about the trend, Iseli feels the world is catching up to what Canyon Ranch has built its premise on. “The trend [of health and well-being] is adopting our culture and philosophy that we have been offering for all these decades. So, we are not reinventing the wheel but we are just bringing over our expertise from the United States to this part of the world. We have speakers, physiologists, nutritionists that have been working with the company for many years, and they will come in to give their expertise locally, and make sure we are up to speed.”
| Advertisement |
He adds: “If a guest comes to our property and says ‘give us a programme’, we cannot do that as our programme is based on what you want to take away. A couple’s expectations are different, and vary between spouses as well. Similarly the expectations of a group of people are different — someone wants to lose weight whereas someone else might desires to train for a triathlon.” Iseli says each individual meets a programme advisor and medical director to identify their requirements.
In terms of attracting guests, Iseli feels the Middle Eastern and GCC travellers are the target markets which would potentially adopt the brand readily. “Lots of Middle Eastern travellers are going to Germany or Czech Republic for those types of treatments, or even to Asia. So I ask them ‘why you are travelling so far? We are right around the corner’. You don’t have to fly to Germany or Asia, you have much shorter travel distances [coming to Turkey], without the time difference or jetlag.”
Iseli says people often pay a hefty premium for these treatments in Europe, and “the question is do you get what you want? Maybe half of the programmes they are offering are not something that you actually need”.
Iseli explains the manner in which a guest can avail of the brand’s services. “We offer a full-board package that includes the basic, with meals along with access to 40-60 programmes armed with a daily allowance which you can use in healing, or the nutritionist, or at the spa. Any additional consultancies need to be paid for separately. But, it’s all tailor-made with the basics taken care of [in a cover charge].
He add “Our feeder markets have been identified as CIS, GCC, German-speaking Europe, UK and the most important is Turkey itself, which we forecast will be a third of our guests.”
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
