Larger Than Life
Spas and fitness centers were once the after-thought of the hotel industry, but now, as booming resorts open with name-branded 40,000-sq.-ft. (3,716 sq. m) fitness facilities, the spa business is new all over again, with an emphasis on new regimens, top-flight instruction and revenue generation.
By Tony Dela Cruz, Managing Editor -- Hotels, 7/31/1999 11:00:00 PM
The price of opening a new resort just got about 20,000 sq. ft. higher. So say experts who believe larger-than-life spas can produce high revenues and compete with golf and gaming as guest attractions.
Hotel spas are getting bigger, not just in perception or importance, but literally larger than they have ever been. The Venetian in Las Vegas just opened the 63,000 sq. ft. (5,853 sq. m) Canyon Ranch SpaClub, while at the nearby Resort At Summerlin, the new 40,000 sq. ft. (3,716 sq. m) Aquae Sulis is given equal billing with golf as attractions for the resort's Regent Grand Spa and Regent Grand Palms hotels.
Not long ago, 6,000 sq. ft. (557 sq. m) was considered ample space for a hotel spa, but experts say the high-concept, larger-than-life models do it all. They can act as a day spa and fitness center, meeting and exceeding the typical expectations of hotel guests. They can create three- to four-night packages typical of a resort spa. And they can wield the depth of product required by those looking for a seven- to 10-day stay at a destination spa.
Keeping a fine edge on fitness programs and body treatments is still possible for hotels, even if they are not building new spa facilities or renovating existing ones. Some of the newer fitness routines include paced cycling and combination martial arts and aerobics classes. Spa treatments are also in a state of constant evolution. Water therapies range from high-volume showers to underwater massage to jet-assisted hydrotherapy. Also gaining credibility are ancient healing treatments such as the Aryuveda, which uses mixtures of oils and herbs as restoratives.
The focus, without question, remains on a "well-equipped, well-staffed fitness center," says Gary Milner, director of new project development, Canyon Ranch. "Staff is essential, to show people how to use the machines, to offer water, juice and hand out towels."
And what does all of this mean to a hotel's bottom line? More than it used to, experts say. Obviously, a destination spa such as The Peaks Resort (Telluride, Colorado) and Golden Door Spa (Escondido, California) is built with health as the primary attraction and has much of its success invested in guests seeking out a world-class spa experience. But today, well-managed hotel spas can achieve the service levels of their larger brethren and bring incremental revenue to a resort or city hotel.
One example is the Regent Spa at the Regent Hotel Hong Kong, which recently began marketing to city locals for the first time. "We are definitely seeing an increase in usage and revenue," says Spa Manager Catherine Duke. One successful strategy has been a full day spa program that allows the Regent Spa to be marketed much like a day spa to non-overnight guests.
Illustrating how a resort dating back to the turn of the century can compete in the late-1990s spa market, the La Quinta Resort and Spa, La Quinta, California, just added a 4,000 sq. ft. (372 sq. m) fitness center to complement its recently opened 23,000 sq. ft. (2,137 sq. m) spa. As the home to two Professional Golf Association tournament courses, there is no shaking the image of La Quinta as a golf destination. But Spa Director Linda Richey says marketing the new facilities to a broad range of customers beyond golfers is working.
"The day spa business is booming," Richey says, pointing out that La Quinta's spa traffic in June was actually led by day guests. Normally, the spa's primary users are FIT hotel guests, followed by groups, then by day guests and lastly, by local club members from the surrounding community. Richey says there is no question that the spa is a high revenue generator; it is a classic example of spending money to make money. The end-product justifies its premium pricing. For example, use of the spa for a day and a massage costs about US$100.
If there is a single reason for spa owners to look to the future with confidence, it is the fact that its target audience-- adults with disposable income-- is growing and aging. "There are 80 million baby boomers, and none of them are getting any younger," says Bruce Campbell, senior vice president for Golden Door Spas and City Spas, Grand Bay Hotels & Resorts, Phoenix. Grand Bay, which owns the branding rights to the original Golden Door destination spa in Escondido, California.
The upscale branding now taking place with Golden Door and Canyon Ranch's SpaClub concept represents the first major attempts at segmentation, and at the very least, Campbell sees an opportunity to differentiate the slightly more than two dozen true destination spas in the world from other spas at hotels, which are referred to as hotel amenity spas.
Even at that level, experts see hotel spas stepping up in significance. Where once spas were generally treated as a concession, with the hotel owners content to collect fees instead of becoming spa operators, experts believe a reversal is coming. Canyon Ranch's Milner sees hotels either wanting to keep spa operations in-house as a department or wanting to own the spas and hire management companies to run them. "I think there's been some change in thinking, in that the revenue producing ability of spas was greatly underestimated," he says. The Canyon Ranch SpaClub at the Venetian, for example, is operated on a long-term lease, but there is also an equity partnership between Canyon Ranch, Crescent R.E. Equities, the REIT that owns the two Canyon Ranch destination spas and the Venetian hotel.
But even as part of the spa community campaigns to clearly label facilities as either destination or amenity spas, some spas, such as the Resort At Summerlin's Aquae Sulis, seek to break the mold. Spa Director Mindy Terry says Aquae Sulis targets the "golfer/gambler" who books into the resort for a three to four night stay. "We're essentially creating a new niche-- we are offering a destination experience within a resort spa setting," she says. "But we are not trying to get people in on a day spa basis."
The spa is wholly owned by the Resort At Summerlin, which in turn is owned by Swiss Casinos Holdings. As such, the spa is viewed as a revenue generating area, "not just covering our costs," Terry says. To live up to its expectations as a unique destination inspired by the spas at Bath, England, and ancient Greece, Aquae Sulis will have no shortage of worldly treatments, from the French thelasso therapies and watsu water massages considered standard for an upscale spa today, to esoteric para-medical measures such as negative ion chambers and aura imaging, with a camera supposedly designed to capture a person's spiritual aura.
For a business where 75% of all treatments are merely massages, product differentiation remains an importance aspect for a major spa, and spas remain almost indispensable as the final piece to a resort amenity package. "I doubt very much you can find an upscale resort being planned anywhere in the world without one," says Milner.
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