Relax at a Spa this year
SpaFinder, the global spa resource, announces “Top 10 Spa Trends To Watch In 2009,†the company’s sixth annual forecast of the emerging concepts that will shape the world of spa in 2009 and beyond.
The global spa industry’s extraordinary growth and resiliency has been fuelled by important new ideas in health, wellness, fitness, beauty, design, and cuisine. Despite a turbulent economy, SpaFinder President Susie Ellis believes 2009 will prove no exception, with the industry continuing to innovate, including developments such as the ‘in-transit’ spa experience, new offerings for the exploding Gen X and Y demographic, bolder eco-friendly initiatives, and the ramping up of global spa brands.
1. Energy Medicine
Everyone’s ‘talking about energy,’ and in 2009 the spa industry will follow suit, with high-voltage buzz around ‘energy medicine’ and therapies like Reiki, Qi Gong, chakra balancing, healing touch, and magnetic, light and sound therapy.
While there’s charged debate about how to define these practices, whether they’re actually ‘new,’ and whether there’s enough scientific evidence to warrant our attention, energy medicine is a hot topic in both the spa industry and, increasingly, the medical establishment. Discussion on the medical side (centring on electromagnetic forces, laser beams, etc.) diverges from concepts like ‘qi,’ ‘chi,’ ‘prana,’ ‘chakras, and ‘doshas’ used in the spa sector, where the emphasis is on clearing imbalances in a body’s energy field to promote healing.
Interesting examples are emerging: from bite-size doses of energy medicine alongside traditional massage at properties like Conrad Maldives Rangali Island—to the extensive use of visiting ‘practitioners’ at Thai Resorts like Trisara, Chiva-Dom and Six Senses—to Canyon Ranch’s elaborate ‘Healing Energy’ menu. The enlightened approach? An open mind, with encouragement for scientific verification…After all, there’s a lot we don’t know about the ‘body electric.’
2. Casinos and Spas: A Good Bet
Placing a high-end spa in a casino hotel was once a long-shot idea, but today casino spas are the most profitable spas in the world. These world-class facilities cater to a free-spending clientele that sees the value both of high-octane indulgence and recharging, healthy pursuits.
For instance, Venetian Resort Hotel Casino’s Canyon Ranch SpaClub has expanded to become the largest spa in the world (with 90 treatment rooms), and Las Vegas’ forthcoming Fountainbleu (slated for fall 2009) will be one of the most expensive spas ever built.
And the stakes are rising in Asia: Macao has surpassed Vegas in annual gambling revenue, and the gargantuan Venetian Resort features the impressive V Spa. Singapore, which recently legalized gambling, will see the opening of the Marina Bay Sands in 2009 (which will no doubt breath new life into the award-winning Sentosa Resort & Spa), and there’s also talk of Banyan Tree opening a casino-spa resort.
Some casino operators are designing fun, more approachable facilities catering to first-time spa-goers, such as the Northern Quest Resort in Washington State (opening late 2009) and Ameristar Resorts of Black Hawk and St. Charles, MO. Look for more blending of casino excitement and the luxury spa experience in 2009.
3. The Medical and Spa Tourism Shuffle
Watch for the line between spas, medical spas and hospitals to become ever more creatively blurred as the phenomenon of medical or wellness travel evolves. Global consumers are increasingly journeying to access the services they want, need, and can afford.
This trend is fuelled by rising costs in the traditional health care system; the emergence of a more consumer-centric model revolving around greater choice and price transparency; and fluctuations in international currencies opening up attractive new markets—even in the U.S. Hospitals are unleashing programs to attract not only the sick and old, but also the young and well: from integrative programs, prevention centres, executive physicals, to aesthetic procedures.
At the Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan, the ‘patients’ have become ‘guests,’ healthcare and hospitality are united, and spa elements (serene gardens, feng shui design, organic local cuisine, on-demand massage and alternative therapies) have invaded the once drab hospital walls. At the same time ‘wellness diagnostics’ are on the rise within the medical spa environment, with services like imaging, genomics, stress tests, blood and urine analyses, and futuristic offerings that allow people to bank their own stem cells.
4. Eco-Embedded Spas: A Deeper Shade of Green
The ‘eco-embedded’ spa embraces environmental processes that are quietly and meaningfully enmeshed throughout the entire spa, so there’s no demanding efforts required by the spa guest, who is, after all, there to relax. Consumers in general are suffering from green fatigue and sustainability stress, so say goodbye to showy, loud, and superficial green gestures, and hello to initiatives that are both subtler and far bolder than ever before.
Examples are endless: across European spas, hotel room key slots trigger time-delayed sensors to turn off lights and air conditioning in rooms. Rock Resort Spa at Keystone Lodge in Colorado is built from the ‘earth up’ with sustainability in mind, using wind-powered electricity and building from recycled wood. The most innovative 21st-century eco destination spa? Six Senses in Thailand, where guests can eat any and all of the resort landscaping.
5. Trains, Boats and Planes: In-Transit Spa-Going
Spa-ing while travelling is reaching a whole new level: trains with fully equipped gyms and spas, planes with spa showers and massage treatments in-flight, health and wellness-oriented cruises, and more. What began as a novelty has turned into big business that uniquely targets today’s captive, over-stressed traveller.
Southern India’s Golden Chariot train already features an onboard Ayurvedic centre with a fully equipped gym and spa. Almost every major airport now boasts a spa; London’s Heathrow Airport alone has four to choose from! Cruise ships are broadening their health and wellness options beyond the spa facility itself:
Crystal Cruises offers Mind-Body-Spirit cruises and Disney has joined the trend by offering a “Detox for Weight Loss†program.
SpaFinder, the global spa resource, announces “Top 10 Spa Trends To Watch In 2009,†the company’s sixth annual forecast of the emerging concepts that will shape the world of spa in 2009 and beyond.
The global spa industry’s extraordinary growth and resiliency has been fuelled by important new ideas in health, wellness, fitness, beauty, design, and cuisine. Despite a turbulent economy, SpaFinder President Susie Ellis believes 2009 will prove no exception, with the industry continuing to innovate, including developments such as the ‘in-transit’ spa experience, new offerings for the exploding Gen X and Y demographic, bolder eco-friendly initiatives, and the ramping up of global spa brands.
1. Energy Medicine
Everyone’s ‘talking about energy,’ and in 2009 the spa industry will follow suit, with high-voltage buzz around ‘energy medicine’ and therapies like Reiki, Qi Gong, chakra balancing, healing touch, and magnetic, light and sound therapy.
While there’s charged debate about how to define these practices, whether they’re actually ‘new,’ and whether there’s enough scientific evidence to warrant our attention, energy medicine is a hot topic in both the spa industry and, increasingly, the medical establishment. Discussion on the medical side (centring on electromagnetic forces, laser beams, etc.) diverges from concepts like ‘qi,’ ‘chi,’ ‘prana,’ ‘chakras, and ‘doshas’ used in the spa sector, where the emphasis is on clearing imbalances in a body’s energy field to promote healing.
Interesting examples are emerging: from bite-size doses of energy medicine alongside traditional massage at properties like Conrad Maldives Rangali Island—to the extensive use of visiting ‘practitioners’ at Thai Resorts like Trisara, Chiva-Dom and Six Senses—to Canyon Ranch’s elaborate ‘Healing Energy’ menu. The enlightened approach? An open mind, with encouragement for scientific verification…After all, there’s a lot we don’t know about the ‘body electric.’
2. Casinos and Spas: A Good Bet
Placing a high-end spa in a casino hotel was once a long-shot idea, but today casino spas are the most profitable spas in the world. These world-class facilities cater to a free-spending clientele that sees the value both of high-octane indulgence and recharging, healthy pursuits.
For instance, Venetian Resort Hotel Casino’s Canyon Ranch SpaClub has expanded to become the largest spa in the world (with 90 treatment rooms), and Las Vegas’ forthcoming Fountainbleu (slated for fall 2009) will be one of the most expensive spas ever built.
And the stakes are rising in Asia: Macao has surpassed Vegas in annual gambling revenue, and the gargantuan Venetian Resort features the impressive V Spa. Singapore, which recently legalized gambling, will see the opening of the Marina Bay Sands in 2009 (which will no doubt breath new life into the award-winning Sentosa Resort & Spa), and there’s also talk of Banyan Tree opening a casino-spa resort.
Some casino operators are designing fun, more approachable facilities catering to first-time spa-goers, such as the Northern Quest Resort in Washington State (opening late 2009) and Ameristar Resorts of Black Hawk and St. Charles, MO. Look for more blending of casino excitement and the luxury spa experience in 2009.
3. The Medical and Spa Tourism Shuffle
Watch for the line between spas, medical spas and hospitals to become ever more creatively blurred as the phenomenon of medical or wellness travel evolves. Global consumers are increasingly journeying to access the services they want, need, and can afford.