I've never been to Canyon Ranch out in the Berkshires, but I'm certainly - if vaguely - aware of it.
For starters, there's that peculiar name: Canyon Ranch. I guess it's a good enough brand, but I still have to wonder why they insist on calling it "ranch" when it's in Lenox, Massachusetts? Oh, well, there aren't really any canyons in Lenox, either.
I guess we're just supposed to accept the brand and not actually think about the fact that a name the works in Tucson may not travel so well.
For those unfamiliar with the brand or the concept, Canyon Ranch is a luxury health getaway: gourmet, nutrition-minded, portion-controlled, calorie-counted meals (with no cosmos before, wine during, or liqueur after - this is a no alcohol resort, unless you want to drive yourself silly in your room); fitness stuff; spa stuff. And, I'm sure, the requisite 10,000 thread sheets and organic toiletries. It runs about $1K a night per person, but that includes an allowance that will cover some of the spa treatments, etc.
I've been to some pretty nice hotels but, needless to say, I haven't been here. 
The focal point of the property is a 100+ year old mansion:
...a replica of Le Petit Trianon, Louis XV's Versailles chateau. Today it’s the architectural centerpiece of Canyon Ranch, a setting of casual elegance where you'll feel right at home. This is where you'll dine on award-winning cuisine, attend workshops and meet with an amazing variety of health experts all in one building.
Not exactly the Bonanza's Ponderosa, let alone the dirt-poor, unnamed ranch on The Rifleman.
But I digress.
Canyon Ranch is in the news this week because they've been found to have been a bit duplicitous with respect to their tipping policy, as I learned from an article in today's Globe.
Canyon Ranch, as their web site lets us know, "is a no-tipping resort."
Instead of allowing tips, they've incorporated an 18 percent service charge.
Problem was, the service charge didn't find its way into the employees' metaphorical pockets - those yoga instructors probably don't have any pockets.
And when they asked management about the fate of the money, the employees claimed in a lawsuit that they were "met with overt hostility" and told it was "none of their business."
Well, hell hath no fury like a yoga instructor, nutritionist, or waiter scorned, and a bunch of them went after Canyon Ranch under a Massachusetts law that prohibits bars, restaurants, and similar from cadging tips meant for "the help."
This week, they reached a settlement. 600 employees who worked as ranch hands from 2004-2007 will be divvying up $14.75M - or whatever that comes to when you tip the lawyers. In any case, it will turn out to be a nice bit of coin in the tip jar.
While Canyon settled, they haven't admitted that they did anything wrong. Head office - at the Ranch-ranch in Tucson - released a statement that said:
..."was never intended to be a significant part of the employees' compensation plan" and that "any confusion or misunderstanding created by its use of the term 'service charge' was unintentional."
This sounds a bit like depending on what the definition of is is, doesn't it?
I mean, when you've seen a service charge and a no tipping policy, haven't you assumed that the money some way, some how, went to those providing services that you would, under normal circumstances, tip for?
Workers alleged in the suit that they "feared that they would lose their jobs if they pursued their inquiries or pressed for payment of the tips."
At the same time, Canyon Ranch went out of its way to discourage guests from giving extra gratuities, enforcing its message that all tips are included in the 18 percent service charge, according to the suit. If guests insisted on tipping extra, employees could accept them only after first declining. Even then, the suit said, employees could not accept the money personally but had to direct guests to a designated area of the spa, where the guests had to complete a form or enclose cash in an envelope - something relatively few ended up doing.
Well, the 18 percent service charge is now gone. The Ranch has substituted something called a "resort amenities fee", without implying it has anything to do with tips, which they will continue to forbid, believing that a no tipping policy is "'consistent with the stress-free environment that Canyon Ranch guests have come to expect.'"
Well, stress-free for the guests, if not for the workers.
Some judge still has to okay the settlement, but it looks like the wranglers and cowpokes at Canyon Ranch are finally going to get to keep the change.
7 comments:
You ever here of you reap what you sow? Canyon Ranch is a prime example. I work at the ranch and I am grateful to have a job however I would not shed one tear for the owners is they go bankrupt. I believe that Mel and Enid Zuckerman had good intentions in the beggining but as the years went by money became the main focus and we all know you cannot put a price tag on health and spirituality. Canyon Ranch today has a Carnival atmosphere and if I were a Carni this is the place to set up shop-You have gaulible rich clients who can afford to throw away several hundred dollars on a tarot card reading, a meeting with a spiritual advisor. Everytime I leave the Ranch I feel dirty for participating in the Carni Scam. People come looking for answers and want to believe that Canyon Ranch has them, I say go read your Bible its free!!!
Is Canyon Ranch in Lenox closing? Heard they have made major cut backs in staffing and have taken away vacation time from employees. Most recently employees were ordered to give back a percentage of their paychecks. This news came via a letter to employees homes and no prior discussions with HR or their supervisors. I hear house counts are very very low and that it is only employees walking the halls. May be time to get some good rates at CR if someone can afford some R&R right now. Hope these folks can find jobs when and if Canyon Ranch closes.
Things are bad in Tucson too....lots of rounds of layoffs and employee benefits cut to nothing....low wages, depressed employees.....not a good environment....maybe the whole organization is going bankrupt......
Canyon Ranch Las Vegas has a massage therapist turnover ratio of over 100% in the last 5 years. Thats over 150 people leaving. A good place to work with good intentions? Let the numbers do the talking!
Just came across this site and have to say I couldn't agree more. Having visited CR in the past and then recently going back, I found the services to be simply fair. I found the staff to always be silent with no fun energy like there use to be. I was later told by the staff that they are now not allowed to talk to each other in the presence of guests. How sad. CR has lost the close family feel that we use to feel with the staff in the old days. Instead, many of the old services are no longer available. Why? Because CR layed off the people who performed such services. My husband was very disappointed and now will never return as he was unable to get any one of the services he requested as the pratcitioner was booked solid and no one else to do the work. Overall, I think CR may have been the hot spot destination for spas in the past, but not anymore. There are too many new destinations for a lot less money that offer similar services and closer to home. Good luck to the CR staff who remain. We will not be returning.
I work at Canyon Ranch and let me just tell you, that while what I make in the dining room is better than minimum wage, it is not enough to get by on, and certainly not enough to demand the level of professionalism and service that we are supposed to be providing. We are not trained properly in service standards, management is of a poor quality, rude and exploitative. For the paragon of hospitality that Canyon Ranch is supposed to be, it needs to treat it's employees a lot better.
Finally!!! My family spent 4 days here and we
Were TOTALLY underwhelmed!! I called to complain and they basically said "sorry you weren't impressed, everyone else is so it must be you!" We will not return. The spa downright stunk, and te service was subpar at best. I knew I was not alone.
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