Meet Rebecca Doran
, spa director at Pier House Resort (Key West, FL)
How many years have you been involved in the hospitality industry?
I have been involved in the hospitality industry for five years.
What was the path that led you into the spa industry?
I have always been well in tuned with the mind, body, and spirit. It is very important for our inner-being to experience moments of relaxation from time to time. I enjoy seeing spa guests experience the euphoric feeling of pure content and relaxation, so I decided to take the path that allows me to do so.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
I have had the wonderful opportunity to live and work in some of the finest cities, states, and countries around the world. Due to my travels and experiences, I have gained great amounts of cultural knowledge and influences.
Where do you think the industry is heading?
I think the spa industry is heading towards health and wellness. There is a huge market for health and wellness and an equal market for spa. However, combining the two will, and can, evolve into a billion-dollar industry. Essentially, the spa would sell cosmeceutical and nutricosmetics retail products that would complement and enhance the internal physical state of one’s body.
What is the strangest client request you’ve fielded?
I was asked to provide VIP status for a famous dog, which included the largest suite on property, fine dining doggie dinner, amenities, and security. Naturally, this was executed.
What is the most bizarre treatment you’ve experienced?
Two words: Turkish massage.
What’s your go-to spa treatment?
This is a hard question as I have so many. I would have to say vichy body treatments. I always feel like royalty when I am in the service.
What’s your favorite skincare ingredient?
Seaweed. The nutritional value from seaweed when applied topically or consumed reaps so many benefits.
Tell us two things about yourself we don’t know.
I have lived half of my life in Germany as an American citizen. For some reason, I am very lucky. Life always works out for me in a very positive way. Perhaps it’s the luck of the Irish.
What positions have you worked in that you feel have been most influential to your career?
While working in Germany, I worked for the military families as a fitness instructor, including yoga kids, jr. jazzercise, cheerleading coach, gymnastics, and dance, as well as teaching my own preschool class for the military children. I marketed and threw myself in every venue possible. I was so successful with army families, and I began to do the same in the German community. Due to my success, I was promoted and relocated to the DC area to build and become the director of the SKIESUnlimited program. I started from scratch but within two years, the SKIESUnlimited program was a well-oiled machine. These positions gave me the building blocks of entrepreneurism.
If you could work in any other profession in the world, what would it be?
I would love to be Jennifer Lopez.
How would you sum up your personal philosophy?
Things happen for a reason and it is crucial to embrace every opportunity that may come your way. Even if the opportunity was not to ones benefit, it then becomes a lesson learned and an experience that you will one day thank the aligned planets for. As author Thomas Merton says, “Every moment and every event in one’s man life on earth plants something in his soul.”—Compiled by Jessica Morrobel