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 Magazine, 8/1/1999

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.