Our story

Hospitality and sharing happiness are in our DNA.

Our genesis

For as far back as Stéphanie Émond, co-founder along with her father Daniel, can remember, The Émond family has integrated bath rituals in their daily lives.

At their summer cottage, They built a sauna on the dock piece by piece in the early 1980s. Its location on an Island in the Outaouais region made its construction difficult, yet this made it also very unique. In winter, the family would not let a weekend go by without ending each ski day in the sauna and a swim in the icy waters of the Rivière-à-Simon in the Laurentians.

From Barcelona to Quebec

Established in Barcelona since 1999, Stéphanie Émond started to explore the Catalan Coast early on in 2003, hoping to find the ideal setting for the spa project she had been nurturing since her adolescence.

Animated by a desire to combine her passion for hospitality, health and architecture, it was in 2004, during a winter trip back home to Quebec, that Stéphanie and her father discovered, while snowshoeing in the heart of the Eastern Townships, an exceptional domain in Bromont-sur-le-lac. They immediately fell in love with this breathtakingly beautiful natural landscape that went as far as the eye could see and saw the great potential the old abandoned buildings offered.

Stéphanie moved back home to dedicate herself to developing her project in partnership with her father. Recruiting her dear friend, Jean-Sébastien Bourdages, a young architect she had met in Barcelona, they drew up exploratory sketches, transforming them as their environment inspired them.

She then established her treatment and service plan, using the knowledge she had acquired during her travels throughout Scandinavia, Europe, Jordan and South-America. She also modeled her ideas using the rich historical heritage BALNEA presented as an ancient Amerindian ritual site.

Soon after they had started building, Stéphanie met Denis Laframboise, a young Montreal Entrepeneur with whom she shared a passion for entrepreneurship and design. A skillful and meticulous administrator, Denis soon joined the father-daughter partnership to finalize the construction of the project.

Two years later, Denis and Stéphanie became the sole shareholders of the enterprise.

THE OPENING OF BALNEA SPA + RÉSERVE THERMALE

In October 2005, after more than a year and a half and an investment of over 5 million dollars, BALNEA Spa and Thermal Reserve was officially inaugurated.

From the moment it opened its doors, BALNEA has become a reference for day spas in Quebec.

BALNEA redefines the art of relaxation and innovates through its contemporary design, with its client service planning as well as with its “all inclusive” experience within a lean and refined ambiance for all the senses to enjoy and offered with authenticity and gratitude.

“Ever since those first days, we have been pursuing our dream of offering our clients a timeless, voluptuous, gourmet health resort experience. For us, BALNEA is an ode to nature, an adventurous and captivating sanctuary, a ritual constantly reinventing itself, a well needed luxury, that must inspire, rejuvenate and awaken”.

A FUTURE ORIENTED VISION

In 2022, BALNEA announces the launch of a two-phase eco-friendly expansion project that will eventually total nearly $30 million in investment, from 2022 to 2027. The project will contribute to expand and improve the existing spa facilities and create new buildings, providing an innovative and complete tourism offer for guests eager for nature getaways and slow tourism.

Phase 1: With a $5 million funding from the “Programme d’aide à la relance de l’industrie touristique” (PARIT) of the ministère du Tourisme, the first phase of the project is launched. Scheduled from 2022 to 2024 and totaling an investment of $10M, the first phase of the project will focus on transforming the spa into a multi-purpose complex with accommodations including:

• The addition of a 70-foot-wide hot tub, an underground theme lounge, heated terrace, additional changing rooms, new wastewater treatment facilities and biomass heating;

• An upgrade to a 3-star rating or equivalent of the Beatnik Hotel;

• The start of a 4-season “intensive organic microfarm” and 1 winter greenhouse to provide the LUMAMI restaurant (as well as a second restaurant that will open on site) throughout the year. This micro-farm will be accessible to agritourists and will allow them to taste the fresh products prepared by our chefs and enjoy the peace of the place.

“It is an honor and a source of pride for BALNEA to receive this financial aid which will support our transformation project. This project is a commitment to return to the earth, an invitation to slow down, become aware, appreciate and consume in a healthy and responsible way. Guests will be able to benefit from direct contact with regenerative agriculture in addition to living a holistic experience of change of scenery and well-being, for their benefit and that of the producers of the Brome-Missisquoi region.”
– Denis Laframboise, President of BALNEA.

Phase 2: Coming soon. To stay informed, subscribe to our newsletter.