Cornell University and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts are joining forces to create a spa management trainee program that will benefit the university's hotel school's top graduates while infusing Fairmont's Willow Stream-branded spas with new talent, ideas and leadership.

The 18-month program will be launched with the first Cornell recruit training at the Willow Stream Spa at The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess in Scottsdale, AZ this summer.

Anne McCall, general manager of Fairmont Spas Inc., initiated the formal training program after meeting associate professor Mary Tabacchi (who teaches Spa Hotel and Resort Development and Management at Cornell) and presenting to a group of her students.

“At Willow Stream, we realize to operate the world's best spas, we need the best spa talent,” says McCall. “I was very impressed with Cornell's spa curriculum and the students I met. Graduating students learn about spa operations, marketing research, the design of spa menus, mental and physical fitness programs, stress management, spa treatments and other spa programs. The new spa management training program turns this study into spa reality and provides Willow Stream with additional management talent as we continue to grow the brand.”

Spa management has typically been developed by offering positions to aestheticians and therapists who rise through the ranks or managers with no spa experience, says Tabacchi. “Cornell graduates bring a business mindset to the spa management position, holding the spa accountable for revenue and profitability, something hotel and resort organizations are very much interested in seeing.”

Willow Stream the Spas at Fairmont, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, currently has seven signature locations.