A New Hot Tub Manufacturer is Coming to America

At last year's International Pool | Spa | Patio Expo in Las Vegas, European hot tub manufacturer, Wellis Spas, one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of spas across a range of product lines, made its debut to the U.S. market.

With more than 80 spa manufacturers in the U.S., breaking into the North American market is no small challenge. This year, Wellis is making a return trip to the Expo in New Orleans, where it hopes to expand on the market momentum it’s developed over the past year.

While U.S. companies have made inroads crossing the water into Europe, the same is not true of companies coming the other way. Established in 2003 with two factories employing more than 500 workers, Wellis hopes to change that by way of promoting its products with a focus primarily on innovation and health.

Here, Wellis CEO Zsolt Czafik explains why he believes his company is poised for success in the highly competitive American hot water marketplace.

Why did you decide to enter the U.S. market?

We would like to deliver the renowned European wellness culture to the Americas. If we didn’t pay attention to this, and we didn’t seek the opportunity for improvement, we would never have reached the top of spa manufacturing in Europe.

What qualities will make you successful in the U.S.?

In the U.S., we have to find our place among many manufacturers and build a reputation as a European company with a very high-quality product.

At our company the youthful and family-like environment is key for us — we do our best to provide an employee-friendly workplace. As I take a walk through the production line, it’s good to see our employees are proud to work here as a team, and they can produce such luxury products. I often hear feedback from our customers and people visiting us that it’s such a pleasure — that it’s clear that our employees like to work together and look out for each other.

Why have you been so successful in Europe?

When I decided to start manufacturing luxury products, I already knew other companies in this business. But I never wanted to be like them or achieve the same things they achieved. My main motivations were always uniqueness, constant research and development. These are the principals I based Wellis upon.

Besides experience, professionalism and a commitment to continuous improvement have been most important. With my brother, Ákos, we have always understood the path we have to take to get the recognition of our customers, ever since the beginning, and it’s our customer’s growing trust in our products that has led to the sudden growth and expansion of the Wellis brand.

What makes your spas so attractive to consumers?

In the research and development of our spas, we put a big emphasis on pleasing all possible ergonomic needs. These innovations are imperative for us. That’s why we develop our products with our own design engineers.

Production takes place at a 16,000 square-meter [172,000 square-foot] production facility equipped with the most modern robotic technology. The product that is perfectly engineered on paper is produced and tested with no delay and shipped to our customers. Thanks to our own development and production, we have maximal product knowledge — which is necessary for precision manufacturing.

Our main concern in creating a Wellis product is to improve the wellness experience. Our spas provide excellent relaxation at the end of a tiring day. In this rushing world, it feels good for everyone to relax while taking a spa. (You’ve surely heard of the positive health benefits of wellness products — the warm water jet creates high intensity deep massage, which relaxes the muscles, decreases aches and pains. With everyday use we feel ourselves more fit, relaxed and stronger. Besides that, regular use has positive effects on cardiovascular and musculoskeletal diseases.) We recommend Wellis products to everyone who is looking to improve their health.

Have you brought innovations, new ideas, to the market?

Wellis spas are designed to provide worry-free luxury and relaxation. During production we use only the highest quality materials behind which stand years of experience. The product quality is as important to us as it is for our customers.

2019 is the year of development at Wellis. We would like to present our latest smart solutions, which will guarantee all Wellis spa owners up-to-date technology. Wellis’ team of development engineers is striving to enhance the uniqueness of our products with a number of innovations, which is a must for a successful brand in the European and world markets.

Which products are you bringing to America?

We have introduced the most popular models in the first round, but we want to introduce the full range of products in the long run.

Are you looking to establish distribution, and/or a dealer network? Will you establish manufacturing in the U.S.?

We are constantly looking for partners/dealer networks who would gladly sell the Wellis brand. We do not yet plan to build production in the U.S, but who knows what the future will bring.