Urban Renewal

A plunge pool at The Spa
at Mandarin Oriental, New York

Spas in city hotels certainly have changed over the past two decades. “The old urban spa was a 10-by-14-foot room not much better than a closet, adjacent to the gym,” says Craig Reid, who serves as general manager of the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas and oversees the chain’s spas. “As you were getting your massage, you’d hear the guys on the treadmill.”
    Today, urban spas are more dignified affairs, and not just because they’re soundproof. The resort spa boom of recent years proved that a must-try facility could attract transient travel and meetings alike. As city life grows more hectic, downtown properties have begun to understand a sumptuous hotel spa can likewise be a draw.
    On the following pages, M&C reports on some market leaders and the impact they’ll have on the way business meetings are held.
    Four Seasons Toronto-based Four Seasons started focusing on building spas in all its resorts five years ago. More recently, however, the mission to pamper has broadened to the urban landscape. Craig Reid says vacation lengths are decreasing, leading travelers to favor cities over resorts and splurge on the spa.
    “We’re looking for quick recharge,” Reid notes. “People will pay a richer premium for a more luxurious and unique experience.”
    In terms of design, Four Seasons spas vary widely; however, the general trend veers away from the stately and toward the casual. For example, at the Four Seasons Dallas, a recent renovation changed the look of the spa from the marble-and-gold standard to a textured look, with pebbles and limestone. “It reflects the modern palate for luxury, which has become deformalized,” Reid explains. “The symbol of luxury of yesteryear was the Rolls-Royce; today it’s the Mercedes or Lexus elegant but understated. The same is true with hotels.”
    Four Seasons opened spas most recently in Miami and San Francisco. The Four Seasons Hotel Silicon Valley at East Palo Alto (Calif.) will have a spa when it opens in early 2006, and spas are in planning stages at the chain’s properties in Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Hyatt
Hyatt Hotels and Resorts has just seven urban spas in North America (and 15 internationally), but facilities are planned in 29 of 35 upcoming urban hotels, and existing hotels have begun to investigate the feasibility of adding spas. Locations with a strong local market have been getting the green light.
    Gordon Tareta, director of spa operations for the Chicago-based chain, says meeting planners favor city hotels with spas over those without, even though most meetings in urban settings do not include an afternoon at the spa.
    “If all the amenities are there to choose from, it’s certainly a decision-making factor when choosing the hotel,” says Tareta.
    The Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego has had a spa since it opened; however, in March 2004, a new, neoclassically decorated facility with eight treatment rooms, a second pool deck and a fitness center debuted at the property.
    “What we have to offer is comparable to a half-day excursion,” says Jennie Breister, spa director. “We consider ourselves an urban escape.”

InterContinental
Without much fanfare, Atlanta-based InterContinental Hotels and Resorts has been adding spas into its hotel properties. Last November, when the flagship InterContinental Buckhead Hotel opened in Atlanta, an on-site Jurlique spa made its debut. This summer, the Willard InterContinental in Washington, D.C., unveiled a 5,000-square-foot spa, and one is planned in the InterContinental Boston, to open in 2006. Nothing else is on the drawing board in terms of urban spas, but the door is open.
    Many resort spas offer a relaxation garden, but in a city setting, they must come up with creative ways around space limitations. InterContinental’s Buckhead and Washington, D.C., properties emulate a spa garden by creating an outdoor space in the hotel courtyard. The Buckhead hotel also has a pool with cabanas, much like a resort.
    Debbie Grant, director of sales and marketing for the Buckhead property, uses the spa to help sell the hotel to meeting planners. During site inspections, sales managers bring planners into the spa and explain how a pampering experience could invigorate meeting attendees. According to Grant, a trip to the spa, combined with an in-room prepared bath, has become one factor that helps clinch the deal. “It gives us a competitive advantage, because no one else in Buckhead has a spa in a hotel,” Grant attests. “You expect it in a resort, but not here.”

Mandarin Oriental
This chain hopes to operate spas in all its hotels in the near future; within 18 months, five existing hotels will be outfitted with facilities, and five hotels under development will open with spas. The list is composed mainly of properties abroad but also includes hotels in Boston and Chicago, to open in 2007 and 2008, respectively. A spa at The Mark, New York, is in the works as well.
    The move began with an understanding that “people are seeking rest and rejuvenation not only when on holiday, but also during business trips,” according to Ingo Schweder, group spa director at the Hong Kong-based Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. In addition, he says, “companies have gained increased interest in investing in their employees’ well-being, and as a result they are interested in spa experiences in downtown hotels.”
    The main difference between Mandarin Oriental’s spas in urban hotels vs. beach resorts is that resort spas have more treatment rooms and more extensive facilities, to account for the greater length of time vacationers spend in a spa than do business travelers.
    Though resort spas may be larger and usually incorporate outdoor space, city spas make up the difference by featuring more extensive hot and cold experiences, such as plunge pools and beautifully designed steam rooms and saunas.
    Meeting planners take advantage of Mandarin Oriental’s hotel spas in the way they might use a resort spa. At the chain’s properties in Chicago and Miami, spa directors arrange yoga and meditation classes for groups in the morning, treatments for attendees anytime, chair massage stations at breaks and healthful spa cuisine at meals.

Marriott
Currently, all of Marriott’s North American spas are housed in resorts. But because of the success of spas in the chain’s hotels in Seoul, Shanghai and London, that soon will change, says Anna Mancebo, vice president, spas and retail services, for Marriott International, based in Washington, D.C. Indeed, recently, several hotel owners in major cities in the United States have approached Marriott about the viability of operating spas, both in existing and future hotels.
    “The customers are really bringing this trend to the market,” says Mancebo. “The spa is proving more and more important to meeting planners.”
    Marriott’s hotel spas likely will differ from the chain’s resort spas in small ways. Because of space limitations, city facilities might not have cafés, enormous fitness centers and extensive retail. Also, the design will reflect a more cosmopolitan atmosphere. Essentially, though, the experience will be the same.
    “We’re still delivering that genuine care. It’s the same philosophy, translated into a city environment,” says Mancebo.

W Hotels
In January 2004, Starwood Hotels and Resorts bought Bliss, the collection of cheeky boutique spas in New York City and London, for use in its W Hotels brand. Bliss practically defines the urban spa: The spaces are bright and modern, and the equipment is high-tech, with digital lockers and conveyor belts for aesthetician’s tools in the salon.
    A year later, Bliss49 opened at the W New York, serving the first Triple Oxygen Treatments to W’s hip clientele. In the intervening months, W hotels in Chicago and San Francisco have taken on Blisses of their own, with their grass-tiled steam rooms and brownies in the relaxation areas. The expansion will continue in 2006 at the W Los AngelesWestwood and the W Dallas.