Newly renovated Cloister
at Sea Island (Ga.) Resort
Evidence of the escalating spa
craze in the United States lies not only in the number of
hotels and resorts constructing oases of wellness, but in the size
of the facilities as well.
Twenty-seven percent of existing
“luxury or upper-upscale hotels” in the United States now have
spas, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers and Smith Travel
Research, and four in 10 hotels being developed in this category
include plans for spas. But even more telling is the fact that a
hotel spa encompassing 25,000 square feet and/or offering at least
25 treatment rooms is no longer a rarity.
A rash of resorts that once contained
boutique spas with a handful of treatment rooms are supersizing
their facilities, while other hotel spas that were large to begin
with are finding that customer demand can support even more
expansive facilities.
This expansion trend reflects and
encourages a change in spa behavior, which is good news for groups
that embrace the spa lifestyle.
“I think spas are becoming a little
more social,” explains Jeremy McCarthy, director of spa operations
and development for White Plains, N.Y.-based Starwood Hotels &
Resorts Worldwide. “It’s not just a place for quiet time by
yourself.”
Both the International Spa Association
(ISPA), based in Lexington, Ky., and Spa Finder, a spa research,
marketing and publishing company based in New York City, note the
increasing social atmosphere at spas as a key trend for this
year.
As spas add more treatment rooms,
they’re also expanding lobbies and creating more relaxation rooms,
spaces where small groups -- birthday parties, bachelorette bashes,
friends on a weekend getaway or meeting attendees -- can enjoy a
shared experience.
Because lobbies and relaxation rooms
aren’t purpose-built to generate revenue, sales directors are
always looking for creative (and profitable) ways for the spaces to
be used. That’s where groups come in. The public spaces at large
spas are prime venues for after-hours receptions, ready-made with
alluring decor. For receptions, spas can whip up a menu of healthy
hors d’oeuvres and juices for guests, or set up spa stations for
quick sample treatments.
The most obvious advantage of
facilities with more treatment rooms is their ability to handle
more people in a shorter period of time. “Groups have a fixed
agenda or time schedule and want to put 100 or 200 people through
the spa, but they don’t want to start at six in the morning, and
they don’t want to go at nine at night because they have other
things to do,” says Jim Root, general manager of spa operations at
Sea Island (Ga.) Resort and ISPA chairman. Large facilities, while
not inherently better than smaller spas, accommodate larger groups
more easily, he adds.
Groups also embrace spas as venues for
team building, because the spa ambience encourages co-workers to
look beyond titles and business cards and relate to each other as
equals, not as bosses or subordinates. According to Andy Radovic,
vice president of sales and marketing for the Ponte Vedra Inn &
Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., dressing guests in robes and
having them interact in the spa environment is a recipe for “a
leveling kind of afternoon.”
Following are seven new -- and huge --
resort spas that are especially group-friendly.
Soothing site:
Allegria Spa at the
Park Hyatt Beaver Creek
Resort in Colorado
Allegria Spa at the Park Hyatt
Beaver Creek Resort
Beaver Creek, Colo.
(970) 949-1234; beavercreek.hyatt.com
The new Allegria Spa at the 190-room
Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort is nearly twice the size of the
resort’s former spa of the same name, at 30,000 square feet, but it
has just two additional treatment rooms, for a total of 23,
including four couples’ suites. In other words, much of the
expansion has been dedicated to new public spaces.
“The old spa was beautiful,” says spa
general manager Gaye Steinke. “We just felt we needed more
room.”
The grand-opening party for Allegria
this past January demonstrated what the expanded facility offers
groups. At the gala, 150 guests entered through the two-story
reception area, with its grand floating staircase, and sampled
smoothie cocktails, wine and champagne. After milling around the
first floor, guests moved upstairs to indulge (fully clothed) in
10-minute facials; foot, hand and neck massages; and other short
treatments.
Steinke says the atmosphere, which
could be re-created for groups after hours, was relaxed because
guests were not asked to do anything that made them
uncomfortable.
Groups staying at the resort, which has
17,000 square feet of meeting space, tend to use the spa for
individual treatments, but “suddenly we have much more space for
social group events that we just couldn’t do before,” Steinke
says.
A key feature of the new spa is 6,000
square feet of new pools, tubs and showers, which together
constitute the so-called Aqua Sanitas (“water health”), a ritual
guests are invited to undergo before treatments. The treatment
includes pools of different temperatures, containing special salts,
and also an other-worldly steam room with a ceiling that looks the
way the night sky does from atop Beaver Creek Mountain on a
cloudless night.
IN WRITING
Ritz-Carlton,
Reynolds PlantationFed up with the inefficiency of group spa bookings, John Kossenyans knew there had to be a better way. In 2002, as the spa group sales manager at the Ritz-Carlton, Naples, in Florida, he devised a standard operating procedure for group spa sales, which has since been implemented at all 23 domestic and Caribbean Ritz-Carlton resort spas.
The policy calls for planners to devise a spa program and sign a letter of agreement with a pre-block guarantee and attrition and cancellation clauses three to four months in advance.
While some planners might bristle at the thought of preparing a contract for spa treatments, Kossenyans, now the spa sales manager at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation, in Greensboro, Ga., says, “Ninety percent of planners love this,” adding that many are happy to leave the spa details to a sales manager -- and not to chance.
The spa sales manager will compile the names of guests and their requests for pre-approved treatments. The sales manager will then send e-mail confirmations with a letter emphasizing that the company will be charged for no-shows.
The sales manager remains in constant communication with the meeting planner and, usually five weeks out, reviews the block before the agreement is signed. “Planners truly appreciate that,” Kossenyans says. -- T.I.
Roman rubdowns:
The Qua Baths &
Spa at Caesars Palace
Qua Baths & Spa at Caesars Palace
Las Vegas
(866) 782-0655; www.harrahs.com/qua
Given the competitive and creative
hospitality environment in Las Vegas, it was only a matter of time
before the 3,348-room Caesars Palace offered its guests a Roman
bath experience.
The signature feature of the new
50,000-square-foot Qua Baths & Spa, which opened last November
with 51 treatment rooms, is the Roman baths area, which replicates
those traditional gathering places of ancient Rome, says spa
director Jennifer Lynn. There’s no “hush-hush” spa atmosphere here:
Each section of the baths, which consists of three mineral-enriched
pools of various temperatures, plus a Laconium room and a sauna
inspired by ancient Roman steam baths, is designed to be
experienced by groups of six to 10 people.
More than double the size of Caesars
Palace’s previous spa, which has closed, Qua Baths also is designed
to keep guests occupied for a while. There are several rooms in
which to pause before or after treatments -- rooms that can double
as small function areas or, simply, places where guests can share a
group experience prior to individual treatments. Aside from the
baths, there’s a new Tea Lounge, with cushioned seats and a
flat-screen TV, supervised by a “tea sommelier”; an Arctic Ice
Room, kept at 55 degrees, with heated floors and benches from which
to enjoy the small “snow” showers; and, of course, ample relaxation
lounges.
The labyrinth of the spa layout aids in
creating a world of seclusion: “You almost feel lost back here,”
Lynn says. “You’re really removed from the hectic, busy world and
the streets of Las Vegas.”
Lynn says she or her staff of group
services managers will try to accommodate any request a meeting
planner makes, whether it’s to save a block of treatment rooms,
open early or close late, or bring the spa -- in the form of chair
massages or other quick treatments -- to the meeting itself.
The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Amelia
Island
The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Amelia
Island
Amelia Island, Fla.
(904) 277-1100; www.ritzcarlton.com
The signature “Heaven in a Hammock”
treatment at the The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Amelia Island, harks back to
the “old, lazy summer days in the South where you were relaxing at
your grandparents’ house and time slowed down,” says spa director
Tina Crawford.
The difference is that this time, the
brief moment of bliss will be had in a hammock that hangs inside
one of the 26 treatment rooms in a $16 million, 27,500-square-foot
spa that opened last December. (The Ritz-Carlton has 444 guest
rooms and 32,000 square feet of meeting space.)
Crawford says the spa is friendly for
groups, both large (in March, the facility hosted an event for 200
people) and small (two clusters of eight treatment rooms, each with
its own relaxation area, are ideal for small, private gatherings
that don’t require the entire facility to close down). The spa
grounds include an additional 5,000-square-foot outdoor area, with
a deck and a pool that has calming music piped in underwater.
Seven relaxation lounges, along with
the adults-only cascade whirlpool area, are the primary spaces to
host group functions. In addition, “spa butlers” roam the facility,
distributing beverages and answering questions.
A team of dedicated spa sales managers
works closely with meeting planners to orchestrate an appropriate
experience. (See “In Writing,” above.)
Skana, The Spa at
Turning Stone Resort
Skana: The Spa at Turning Stone
Resort
Verona, N.Y.
(800) 771-7711; www.turningstone.com
Everything about Turning Stone Resort
& Casino is big, whether it’s the resort’s 713 rooms,
120,000-square-foot casino, 72 holes of golf, 20 restaurants,
5,000-seat event center, 100,000 square feet of meeting space or
the whopping 17,000 acres the resort sits on. In this context, the
original spa must not have been big enough for the Oneida Indian
owners, because last fall a second spa, Skana, opened, connected to
the deluxe 94-suite Lodge at Turning Stone.
At 33,000 square feet, Skana is vast
without ever feeling anything but intimate, yet it does continue
Turning Stone’s tradition of offering everything. Guests get access
to a fitness center with regular classes, plus a lap pool, steam
room, sauna, mineral pool and hot tub. A 3,500-square-foot VIP spa
suite offers two soaking tubs, private sauna and steam rooms, a
two-person shower, a private herb garden and a spacious relaxation
area with fluffy buffalo skins draped on the floor. Up to eight
guests can reserve the suite for private treatments and lunch. For
groups that want the facility to themselves, the entire spa can be
bought out for the day.
Outside, a new Native American sweat
lodge can host up to 16 attendees for a bonding experience. For
those who prefer to sweat at room temperature, fitness classes can
be customized to a group’s desires.
Coming soon: A spa with
48 treatment rooms at
the Desert Springs,
A JW Marriott Resort
The Spa at Desert Springs, A JW
Marriott Resort
Palm Desert, Calif.
(760) 341-2211; www.desertspringsresort.com
The spa amenity is so central to the
884-room Desert Springs, A JW Marriott Resort, that while its
permanent facility gets an $18 million upgrade and expansion, the
hotel has turned an entire wing (44 guest rooms) into a temporary
spa. Bruce Taylor, director of spa operations, says the old Desert
Springs spa was Marriott’s first when it was built in 1987, and he
hopes to be using the new facility by July 1.
The expanded spa will encompass 38,000
square feet and include 48 treatment rooms, capable of handling 450
appointments per day, Taylor says. Among the key new features is a
600-square-foot VIP suite, which can be booked for a half day or
full day, with a living room, fireplace, dual treatment tables, a
private shower and locker room, a private entrance and an enclosed
outdoor courtyard. The new facility also will have two
“spas-within-a-spa” or “spa pods,” Taylor says, which are
self-contained areas secluded from the normal traffic flow, with
treatment rooms branching off of a private relaxation area,
suitable for groups of 12. Taylor adds that food and beverage can
be served within these pods.
Groups staying at the property, which
has more than 80,000 square feet of meeting space, can participate
in a variety of classes organized by the spa or the fitness center,
which itself has 35,000 square feet of strength and cardio
equipment, or groups can design their own programs with the
resort’s trainers or nutritionist.
“When it comes to spa services, we can
work around their schedule,” Taylor says of groups. The spa can
open early or late, embroider attendees’ initials on robes, and
serve healthful food at the spa bistro or at any reception --
poolside, perhaps, or in the spa’s lobby -- including bento boxes
with steak, chicken, fish or sushi.
Expanded: The Spa
at the Ponte Vedra
Inn & Club has tripled
in size to 30,000 square feet.
The Spa at Ponte Vedra Inn
& Club
Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
(904) 273-7700; www.pvspa.com
In 1987, executives at the 250-room
Ponte Vedra Inn & Club were uncertain what the future would
hold for the resort spa business, so they installed a
4,000-square-foot spa in a small cottage on the property.
“In 1996, we expanded our spa to 10,000
square feet, thinking that would more than accommodate our needs
for the next 30 years,” says Andy Radovic, vice president of sales
and marketing.
Wrong. Eight years later, designers
were brought back to devise another expansion. This time the size
of the spa tripled to 30,000 square feet and 22 treatment rooms --
half overlooking the golf course, half the Atlantic Ocean. The new
spa opened last November.
Judging from the new design, hotel
executives seem to have placed more confidence in recent spa trends
this time around. First, appealing specifically to men, the spa has
a barbershop where men can get shaves and haircuts, as well as
facials, pedicures and manicures, while watching ESPN on a
flat-screen TV. “Just short of cigars, which we don’t have, it’s a
real men’s club,” Radovic says.
There’s also a 40-seat spa dining room,
which serves a low-fat, low-calorie menu -- but “high in flavor,”
Radovic insists -- of soups, salads and sandwiches. The dining room
has an open kitchen, rigged with closed-circuit cameras that feed
to a 60-inch plasma TV to provide optimal viewing of cooking
demonstrations conducted by the spa chef, another activity
perfectly suited to groups.
As for other group events at the
facility, Radovic freely admits that “we’re still new at this,
we’re still feeling our way.” But, he says, one convention group
already bought out the entire hotel and used the expanded spa
during its stay. Groups can arrange buyouts of the spa or reserve
blocks of treatment rooms, Radovic adds.
The Spa at Sea Island
Sea Island, Ga.
(888) 732-4752; www.seaisland.com
The original Spa at Sea Island had
eight treatment rooms. The new spa building, which opened last
November, comprises a total of 65,000 square feet, more than half
of which is dedicated to the spa, with 23 treatment rooms; the rest
is a brand new fitness center.
“It’s not 65,000 square feet that’s all
filled up,” notes spa GM Jim Root. “There’s more open, vaulted
space than purposeful treatment room space.”
That means there’s plenty of
opportunity for groups to hold events in the facility, which sits
adjacent to The Cloister, the resort’s main building for
accommodations, which reopened in April 2006 following a major
overhaul.
Groups are welcome to use the spa as a
place to relax, of course, or as an amenity more integrated into
the meeting. “I like to say there is a spa experience for
everybody,” Root says.
Each week, 100 complimentary classes
are offered in the spa and fitness building. Groups can participate
or design their own programs. A running coach will organize road
races or obstacle courses, for example. A “wellness chef” and
nutritionist will build menus for groups. Root says his staff is
focused on providing guests with both a positive experience and
knowledge they can use after they return home.
Sea Island has a dedicated spa sales
team of four, plus “spa service guides” who will consult with
meeting planners about how best to tailor the facility’s offerings
to a particular group. That attention is critical, notes Root.
“Anybody can build a palace; that’s not what this is about. Spa is
about high touch and low tech and people in service of other
people.”
A consultation
at the Hyatt Grand
Champions Resort
A New Wrinkle: The Medical
Spa
If you still think a spa is just a
place where you can get a deep-tissue massage or a facial, it’s
time to enter the 21st century. Consumers now are heading to spas
in record numbers to fill in wrinkles, fatten lips, zap body hair
and revamp their diets.
Sometimes referred to as “med spas” or
“medi-spas,” the facilities are supervised by a full-time licensed
physician or health-care professional and are the fastest-growing
segment of the spa industry, according to the Lexington, Ky.-based
International Spa Association and Spa Finder, in New York City.
ISPA estimates revenue from medical spas hit $470 million in 2006,
more than triple the revenue collected in 2004.
“If you look at the number of people
looking to alternative or complementary types of medicine, it’s
staggering,” says ISPA chairman Jim Root.
There are two basic kinds of medical
spas, each addressing different needs: those that focus on cosmetic
or aesthetic procedures (injections, chemical peels, laser hair
removal), and those dedicated to the science of well-being (with an
emphasis on nutrition, stress-reduction and fitness).
Be cautious
Some procedures or products available
at medical spas sound too good to be true: a topical cream that
will repair sun-damaged DNA, for example, or a special LED
(light-emitting diode) screen that will eliminate wrinkles after
less than a minute of exposure.
“Our industry tends to be overly
creative,” acknowledges Root, who says he, too, is skeptical of
some treatments. His advice to consumers is to research procedures
and pick “authentic, fun things that resonate with you.”
Dr. Richard Foxx, founder of the
Medical and Skin Spa at Agua Serena at the Hyatt Grand Champions
Resort in Indian Wells, Calif., has his own rule of thumb: Stay
away from procedures that haven’t won FDA approval or that “don’t
make sense to you.” Make sure treatments are conducted by licensed,
experienced doctors. “It behooves consumers to know who’s on the
other side of the needle,” he says.
For meetings?
Groups haven’t yet taken to medical
spas the way they have to traditional spa treatments, and many
hotel spas choose not to offer medical procedures. The cosmetic
treatments “are not something people enjoy doing,” says Jeremy
McCarthy, director of spa operations and development for Starwood
Hotels & Resorts in White Plains, N.Y. “For us, the focus is on
service that’s relaxing and relieves the stress of travel.”
But resorts that do offer a menu of
medical and cosmetic procedures say their guests appreciate the
convenience. Alexandra Robinson, spa director at Topnotch Resort
and Spa in Stowe, Vt., which employs a doctor to perform cosmetic
treatments on Saturdays, notes that “some only take 45 minutes. A
guest may take a lunch break, have an injection and be back for the
next meeting, even if they’re on a tight schedule.”
Mental health
Groups might be quicker to embrace the
concept of wellness spas, which focus on preventative medicine as
well as emotional and mental health.
The California WellBeing Institute,
which opened late last year alongside the new Four Seasons Hotel
Westlake Village, is a clinic where guests consult with various
experts who “inspire, educate and support you to make changes so
you enjoy a longer and more vibrant life,” according to David
Miller, CWI’s director of sales and marketing. Guests walk away
with customized programs they integrate into their daily routines.
(Note: The Four Seasons has its own 40,000-square-foot megaspa with
28 treatment rooms.)
Owned by billionaire David Murdock, who
took over the Dole Food Co. in 2003, CWI is in the process of
developing a “WellBeing for Business” program for meeting groups
staying at the Four Seasons, designed to promote healthy employees
as well as a healthy corporate culture. Already, CWI runs
workshops, lectures, luncheons or brief consultations for corporate
groups.
Miller says he envisions a day when
progressive companies looking to build and maintain employee
loyalty will come to the institute explicitly for a three- or
four-day well-being package, during which they also could hold
company meetings. Attendees could even erase a few wrinkles while
learning how to live optimally; CWI also offers cosmetic
treatments. -- T.I.