Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary & Holistic Spa on Koh Samui has been honoured as a multiple winner in the 2009 SpaFinder Readers’ Choice Award competition, including the coveted “Crystal” Award for spa-goers’ favorite spa in Asia. Based on over 360,000 votes – a record for the awards program – submitted by readers of SpaFinder publications (including Spafinder.com), the awards represent the most complete consumer assessment of the global spa market. Kamalaya also won the award for Favorite Spa in Thailand and was named as one of the top ten spas in the world in each of the Best for Mind-Body-Spirit, Best Medical Program, Best for Weight Loss and Best for Yoga categories.
The Crystal Award represents SpaFinder’s most prestigious Readers’ Choice distinction, as it’s exclusively reserved for only one, top vote-getting spa in each of the six habitable continents around the globe. This marks the seventh year that the Readers’ Choice Awards have been conducted.
“After seven years of enthusiastic consumer participation, our Readers’ Choice Awards have become firmly established as the industry’s premier awards program – the spa world’s answer to the Academy Awards,” said SpaFinder, Inc. President Susie Ellis. “And with roughly 15,000 hotel, resort and destination spas operating worldwide today, for Kamalaya to be singled out as the top spa in Asia, represents an extraordinary, historic achievement.”
“We are so grateful to our guests for their overwhelming support,” said Kamalaya co-founder John Stewart, “This is a wonderful affirmation that people around the world are increasingly viewing health and wellbeing from a holistic perspective – one which we at Kamalaya embrace wholeheartedly.”
“These awards are a fantastic example of what can happen when we follow our hearts in our work,” he continued. “As a team at Kamalaya we chose to implement innovations we felt could best help our guests to build their foundations for longer, healthier and more vital lives, and we’re delighted that this decision has now become its own reward.”
Kamalaya opened four years ago, and since then John and Karina Stewart have remained committed to the original vision of creating a place that benefits the employees as much as it does the guests.
Together with their business partners and team, the Stewarts dedicate themselves to educating people about the principles of living a holistic lifestyle.
“Thailand has already established a strong reputation as a health tourism destination, and Kamalaya is an innovative contributor to the holistic wellness segment,” says Executive Director and business partner Nash Purswani. “The fact that Kamalaya won these awards – and the Crystal Award in particular – supports the Thai Government’s vision for tourism in this country, further enhancing Thailand’s position as a premier destination for wellness travel.”
Today Kamalaya’s integral wellness approach draws upon a synergy of healing therapies from East and West. Set on a breathtakingly beautiful hillside descending to an azure lagoon, the resort is designed with a reverence for its landscape of ancient boulders, natural streams and a centuries-old monks’ cave.
