Spa-sibilities in '09

(First of two parts)

Not too long ago, I wrote about meeting Susie Ellis, founder and president of Spa Finder based in New York.  She promised me then that she would make sure that I receive a copy of her annual spa trends prediction. She wrote in the accompanying note, “Although many people are currently thinking about economic issues — and we do see them impacting the spa industry in 2009 — I believe that it’s important to stay focused on the larger, long-term picture, which shows the industry progressing in very exciting and important ways. It is vital to forge ahead, not only with the strategies to weather the current storms, but with vigor in shaping the industry’s future.”

Susie excitedly predicts that the world of spa and medicine will further blend as consumers are becoming more health- and price-conscious. She notes, “In a few short years, I’ve watched spas go from a narrow focus on pampering to become a vastly expanded category where dozens of wellness solutions are explored.  They’ve become, in essence, our alternative ‘laboratories’ for testing new health and wellness approaches — from fitness to nutrition, acupuncture, and yoga — or more recently, sleep and fertility solutions. And for 2009, whether it’s energy medicine or brain health offerings — or the rise of wellness tourism or diagnostics — there’s never been more breeding going on in the spa petri dish.”

She pinpoints 10 emerging concepts below, believed to impact the spa industry this year and beyond. This is the sixth consecutive year for Spa Finder to publish its trend prediction as the world’s largest spa media and marketing company. The Manhattan-based group publishes the annual Global SpaFinder and the popular site Spafinder.com.  This annual trend report is based on data and insights gathered by a large team of experts who visit hundreds of spas every year, interviews with top analysts, and ongoing research in the consumer, travel, and spa sectors. 

 Here are their bold top 10 predictions:

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 (centering 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. 

For instance, Dr. Oz of Oprah fame recently argued that “the next big frontier of medicine … is energy medicine,” and former Surgeon General and Canyon Ranch CEO Richard Carmona recently reported that energy medicine is one of the emerging science areas they’re pursuing for their forward-thinking medical resorts. 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-Som, 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 a long-shot idea when Elaine and Steve Wynn (both Golden Door regulars) opened the first at the Golden Nugget Casino Hotel in the 1980s. But today, casino spas are some of the highest spa revenue producers 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: Macau has surpassed Vegas in annual gambling revenue, and the gargantuan Venetian Resort features the impressive V Spa. Singapore, which recently legalized gambling, is seeing the building of two major integrated resorts (IR) — the term they use for casino-based developments. The Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World at Sentosa are under construction. Working in partnership with ESPA, Resorts World at Sentosa will feature the luxurious Spa Villas as one of its hotel attractions. Meanwhile, Banyan Tree, a well-known spa brand based in Singapore, will be opening in the Galaxy Mega Resort in Macau. Some casino operators are even 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 fueled 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 US.

Hospitals are unleashing programs to attract not only the sick and old, but also the young and well: from integrative programs, prevention centers, 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” is 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. There are various examples worldwide: from a large Indian hospital performing hip and knee replacements at a fraction of Western prices to a hotel spa in Brazil featuring a nursing staff, catering to pre- and post-surgery patients (Kurotel Longevity Center), to a Mexican destination dental clinic, to a traditional Chinese medicine practice in China or ayurvedic center in India, to a Philippine prevention center that banks people’s stem cells, to a Swiss luxury spa with a popular plastic surgery business (Clinique La Prairie), to a new concept like paradise makeovers, where women join groups to journey to places like Bali for yoga, meditation, and spa services combined with non-surgical rejuvenation treatments.

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. At El Monte Sagrado Resort in New Mexico, the property is heated and cooled 100-percent geo-thermally. Rancho La Puerta serves cuisine from its organic farm, and embeds exclusively organic products (from cleaning supplies to spa products) throughout the resort.

The spa industry is seeing green everywhere: More spas are branding themselves with names like Green Spa (NY), Eden Organix Spa (NJ), GreenBliss EcoSpa (CA), etc.; the industry now boasts a green spa network and a relatively new magazine called Organic Spa. Consider a health club like Green Microgym in Oregon where the energy created on cardio-fitness equipment is captured and reused to light the facility — or perhaps the most innovative 21st-century eco destination spa, the Six Senses in Thailand, where guests can eat all of the resort landscaping.

5) Trains, boats, and planes: In-transit spa-going. With overbooked flights, tight security, and longer delays, there’s no doubt that the stress of modern travel has increased. Thankfully, spa-ing while traveling 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 traveler. Southern India’s Golden Chariot train already features an onboard ayurvedic center with a fully equipped gym and spa. China’s new Tangula luxury train will also include a spa when it launches in 2009 while Dubai’s Emirates Airlines even promises to include spa services on their new Airbus A380. New ships under construction are adding staterooms that effectively serve as mini-spa cabins.

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. (To be continued)