A facial at Lake Austin Spa Resort in Austin, Texas

Lake Austin Spa Resort

It’s not an uncommon practice for spas to sell high-end skincare lines in their businesses—but The Wellhouse at Blackberry Farm takes it a step further.

On its menu is the Tammy Fender Signature Facial, named after the Florida-based facialist who has been in practice for over 25 years and who counts celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Julianne Moore as clients. Beyond just selling Fender’s products inside the walls of The Wellhouse, the relationship between the spa in Walland, Tennessee and Fender goes a bit deeper: a few times a year, Fender stops by The Wellhouse for about four days at a time for a mini-residency, taking appointments for two of those days for clients who are staying onsite at Blackberry Farm.

“She works with our team the rest of the time just to keep us making sure that we’re treating her treatments correctly,” Meghan Henley, assistant director of wellness at The Wellhouse, tells me via Zoom.

Guests can indulge in a Tammy Fender Signature Facial—performed sometimes by Fender herself but mostly by employees of The Wellhouse that she has trained—for 50-minute or 80-minute sessions. The facial, which is described in the spa menu as being “rooted in the ancient traditions of holistic care,” includes ultrasound waves, rhythmic massage techniques designed to enhance circulation, oxygen therapy and “custom blends of the purest botanical ingredients” that seem to align with Fender’s values of natural, plant-based luxury skincare and holistic living. Henley points out that the estheticians at The Wellhouse often use Fender’s Roman chamomile tonic, which she points out is “really great for redness and sun exposure.”

“I can’t say enough about Tammy,” Henley says. “She is an incredible human.”

Tammy Fender

Blackberry Farm

The feeling is mutual: “Have you ever encountered a match made in heaven?” Fender tells me. “It is truly a rarity to find an organization that embodies such unwavering commitment to holistic care while offering an extraordinary wellness experience. I am deeply grateful for our inspiring collaboration with Blackberry Farm.”

The partnership between The Wellhouse and Fender developed organically, Henley tells me.

“Our overall approaches to wellness are just so aligned,” she says, adding that developing partnerships like the ongoing one with Fender is “always very, very natural, just naturally evolves through our relationships, usually from word of mouth, honestly.”

When it came to establishing the relationship with Fender, Henley credits Charlotte Hardwick, “a longtime ‘friend of the Farm,’” Henley says, referring, of course, to Blackberry Farm, the celebrity-loved luxury resort bordering the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The resort has 62 rooms and its grounds cover 4,200 acres; The Wellhouse spa is but one part of the property’s amenities and, in addition to attracting boldfaced names for a stay on the property, Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Nettles of the country music group Sugarland, and Paulina Gretzky, daughter of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, have all been married there. (“We do have many, many high-profile guests who come to visit Blackberry,” Henley says, though she doesn’t name them. “And I think, honestly, one of the reasons they are drawn to us is, of course, our privacy policy. We take it extremely seriously.”)

Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee

Blackberry Farm

But back to Charlotte Hardwick: “She comes and does one to two wellness retreats per year with us,” Henley says. “And she mentioned to me several times, ‘Hey, have you heard of Tammy Fender? She’s not around here. You may not have heard of her, but I think her products would be incredible.’ It’s such a beautiful alignment. And so she mentioned it a time or two, and I said, ‘Hey, can you get me on the phone with her?’ And we trust these partnerships.”

Of “friends of the Farm” like Hardwick, “They want to see our success,” Henley says. “They know what our brand is. And so people just honestly pass it on. It’s pretty incredible.”

When it comes to the alignment between Fender and The Wellhouse, Henley points to immersive experiences at Blackberry Farm like forest bathing, which is “all about immersing yourself in nature and in the senses,” she says, adding of Fender that “everything she does is an immersive sensory experience. So it also all awakens the senses, her holistic approach—her overall approach addresses the skin with the active plant remedies. And that’s just so aligned with everything that we do on the Farm. It’s just that same deepening of body, mind, spirit.”

Partnerships—like the current one with Fender, which started in the beginning of 2024, and prior partnerships like with skincare founder Tata Harper, which ended at the end of 2023—have “always been very, very natural,” Henley says. “Like I said, very organic.”

Henley says The Wellhouse tends to partner with one skincare expert in this manner at a time, and that Fender comes to the spa multiple times a year, attends wellness retreats and interacts with spa goers.

Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee

Blackberry Farm

Fender’s expertise drives revenue for the spa, Henley says. “She is taking appointments as in a residency or for one of our events,” she adds. “She is onsite. She is there at her disposal. And honestly, I mean, of course that’s going to drive sales. She’s there to talk about the products, and the guests are—they’re just overwhelmed because she’s so incredibly authentic, and it will turn into sales for us. And then also for her.”

“And even when Tammy’s not here, they’re coming and doing these little solo retreats, because she mentioned that her products are here now,” Henley continues. “So it’s a win-win for everyone.”

For her part, Fender says, “My time spent in residency each season serves as a sanctuary for exploration and growth in my treatment practice. It is during these moments that I connect with individuals who share a genuine desire to delve into every facet of holistic care. Additionally, I have the privilege of rejuvenating my spirit in a breathtaking setting, savoring exquisite cuisine and cherishing every precious moment.”

Fender has done a seasonal wellness retreat for the past two years, “and the guests really enjoy being able to spend that quality time with her on those events, and then also when she’s here for residency—so that’s a separate thing,” Henley says. “She’s incredible.”

“She is such a gentle human,” Henley adds of Fender. “She is so authentic, and that is such a huge, huge important factor in anyone we partner with.”

From the business side, Henley says continuing partnerships like the one the spa has with Fender are a win: “They definitely generate sales in our spa, in our retail spaces,” she says.

Lake Austin Spa Resort in Austin, Texas

Lake Austin Spa Resort

“Partnerships with skincare brands are crucial for a spa”

Partnerships like these are growing in popularity in spas across the country. At the LakeHouse Spa at Lake Austin Spa Resort in Austin, Texas, clients can get a Collagen Boost facial by Dr. Dennis Gross, an 80-minute anti-aging treatment that reduces hyperpigmentation and deep-set lines while stimulating collagen production. The treatment includes a professional retinol peel, a cooling and warming mask and an LED treatment, according to the spa menu.

Dermatologist Dr. Gross—who is also the founder of an eponymous skincare line, perhaps most known for its peels—is one of the brands in partnership with the LakeHouse Spa, where his products are offered as well as skincare treatments.

“Partnerships with skincare brands are crucial for a spa because they enhance credibility, provide high-quality products and create additional revenue streams,” says spa director Shana Ominsky.

Ominsky points to access to high-quality products provided by the skincare brand, education and training for spa staff and brand credibility, which “elevates your spa’s reputation, making it more attractive to clients seeking premium treatments” as reasons behind partnerships like these.

Treatment at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee

Blackberry Farm

Calling Dr. Gross specifically “a nice fit for the spa because they offer cutting-edge, results-oriented services,” Ominsky calls partnerships with skincare brands “a large investment, and what is important is the amount of support you receive from the vendor.”

Support, Ominsky says, should include significant amplification with sales, marketing and continued training and selling strategies. “The collective effort is what’s most important to us,” she adds.

“It really is a two-way partnership”

Across Montage Hotels and Resorts’ properties is a Spa Montage at each location, which includes places like Bluffton, South Carolina (the company’s Palmetto Bluff property) and Laguna Beach, California. When it comes to skincare, each location has partnerships specific to what works best for their clientele—for example, Tata Harper is featured at Palmetto Bluff, and OSEA (which is headquartered in Malibu, California) is featured at the Laguna Beach property. As of earlier this year, Spa Montages across the country will now feature luxury skincare line Skin Design London and a robust partnership with its founder, celebrity esthetician Fatma Shaheen, who has already visited five of the seven U.S. Montage properties (with plans to visit the remaining two imminently). All properties will soon feature two exclusive facials to be released this year with protocols created by Shaheen herself.

“She’s personally training our estheticians on the modalities, and she is making sure that they are aligned and following the same protocol so that our guests are getting the same level of service as if Fatma was doing it herself,” Jennifer Holzworth, senior corporate director of spa operations for Montage International, tells me over Zoom, adding that while Shaheen is onsite at each of the properties, she’ll do different events ranging from lunch and learns to VIP treatments on specific media guests.

Lake Austin Spa Resort in Austin, Texas

Lake Austin Spa Resort

“It’s an evolving partnership, and she’ll continue to have pop up visits at all of the sites throughout the year when she’s in the U.S.,” Holzworth adds of Shaheen, who is based in London.

When it comes to choosing partners—be they property-specific like Tata Harper or OSEA or across all locations, like Skin Design London—the integrity of the product matters, Holzworth says, but also the relationship the brand is looking to have with Montage. They examine “the brand story” of the company, Holzworth says, “and how does it align?”

Montage is also looking for brands who will provide training and support, “not only from our team’s perspective and making sure that they’re trained properly [to give treatments], but also from a PR perspective and doing events and marketing,” she adds. “So it really is a two-way partnership, and we want to make sure that going into these partnerships that the other side is as flexible and as willing to make it successful, as we are.”

“I think it’s really important to have consistency with our partners and the elevated level of service that we can provide to our guests,” Holzworth says, adding that the partnership “certainly is beneficial on both sides.”

“We just look for partnerships whose standards align with ours”

The Wellhouse—which launched in 2014 and boasts just under 50 employees—also carries the German-based company MBR in addition to Fender’s line. Though the partnerships tend to err on the side of organic, when it comes to vetting potential partners, “Brand alignment is an obvious answer,” Henley says.

“Specifically, we often look towards holistic and organic brands and any that focus on sustainability,” Henley says, adding that when it comes to these important partnerships like the one The Wellhouse has with Fender, “Overall, we just look for partnerships whose standards align with ours.”