Spas Help Differentiate Deluxe, Upper Upscale Hotels
<B>Spas Help Differentiate Deluxe, Upper Upscale Hotels</B>
By Bruce Serlen
In today's crowded hotel marketplace, deluxe and upper upscale properties seek to distinguish themselves from other lodging industry segments by the high degree of individualized service they offer business guests. The latest arena for this high-end personal service isn't the gourmet restaurant or the business center or 24-hour room service, it's the spa.
Considering that most hotels catering to transient business travelers are in downtown locations, a new spa model has even evolved to service them. While this so-called "urban spa" resembles resort and destination spas, it also differs from them in crucial ways.
Certainly, business travelers traditionally have benefited from a massage, facial or other spa treatment when they checked into a first-class hotel. But today's business guests tend to be dealing with more stress than their predecessors and, given the amount of international travel they're doing, they're having to cope with an old-fashioned malady--jet lag--to a greater degree than before.
Consequently, a number of luxury hotels have developed remedies designed to revive and rejuvenate jet-lagged travelers, enough anyway to get them through a long day of business appointments. These treatments are predominantly offered in an onsite spa. Some hotels, however, are supplementing these services by devising jet-lag remedies for the guest room.
"In seeking out a hotel spa, the business traveler is looking for a restorative experience and sense of sanctuary, whether it's in an urban or resort setting," said Karen Antenucci-Korpi, corporate director of spas for Ritz-Carlton Hotels. "Fatigue is a huge issue today. No longer are spas thought of as an indulgence or pampering. For these weary travelers, it's a necessary measure to enable you to be productive."
By necessity, the urban variation is almost always smaller than its resort or destination cousin. "As a result, you design a spa to get the maximum value out of the square footage you have available," said Rose Genovese, director of sales and marketing at The Regent Wall Street in New York, whose spa opened this month. "What's crucial is to provide a calm and soothing environment, regardless of size. So many of our frequent traveler guests are time-deprived that careful scheduling of appointments becomes a priority as well." To address this issue, The Regent will offer aromatherapy, massages and facials in express half-hour and full-hour formats.
For travel buyers, the availability of spa facilities at a hotel is one more detail to confirm on an RFP. Considering the culture at the company and the degree of stress its travelers tend to deal with, spa availability can be more or less of a priority for the buyer. A related issue is spa charges, since these costs, which in aggregate can be considerable, almost always are billed in addition to room charges. Depending on the company, senior-level travelers who stay at deluxe and upper upscale properties may be permitted to expense them. For buyers who negotiate on the basis of total hotel spend, as opposed to strictly room spend, such add-ons as spa charges can become a factor.
Unlike the resort guest, it's rare that a business traveler would be available for a spa treatment during the day. "Consequently, urban spas have to make the most of those hours early in the morning and then again late in the afternoon or early evening," said Carlos Lopes, who as executive vice president of Rockresorts has developed spas in destinations such as Anguilla in the Caribbean and Santa Fe, N.M.
"Also, the business traveler might spend two days at a city hotel, compared with an average seven-day stay at a resort, so you have that much less time to get the traveler acclimated to the spa, comfortable with the staff, etc.," Lopes said.
The traveler's comfort level with the practitioner can be key to a successful spa experience. "Frequent travelers will request a particular practitioner if they've had an especially beneficial experience in the past," said Lynne Walker, executive director of the International Spa Association, an industry group based in Louisville, Ky. "It's just in the nature of the service being provided. Research has shown that travelers will select a hotel for this reason, if the spa experience is important enough to them." Consequently, spas put a lot of emphasis on retaining popular practitioners.
If gender ever was an issue, it no longer is--with businessmen as comfortable signing up for spa treatments today as businesswomen. "The all-inclusive massage remains the most popular service for both sexes," said Jennifer Wayland-Smith, director of the new spa at The Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Pa., opening in November. "It's what most people know and there's nothing exotic or mysterious about it. Practitioners also can emphasize specific body parts, where the client has pain or is experiencing special stress."
Where gender does seem to make a difference is in the sex of the practitioner. "There are more women than men providing the services and research shows that most travelers--male as well as female--prefer a woman practitioner," said Keri Printy, director of the Aqua Sulis spa at The Regent Las Vegas.
Typically, hotel spas make their facilities available to local residents through memberships as well as to hotel guests. However, given that business travelers have so few hours early or late in the day when they're likely to book treatments, spas need to be careful how this balance works out. "We have roughly a 50-50 mix of transient business travelers and local members," Printy said. "As a result, we encourage business travelers to book appointments in advance to ensure they get the times, services and practitioners they want.
But many spas find this turns out to be a non-issue. "Business people who understand the therapeutic value of these services don't tend to be casual when it comes to scheduling. They see it as a necessity," said Patty Monteson, a principal in the Health Fitness Dynamics spa consulting firm.
The needs of the international traveler, trying to overcome the effects of jet lag, give urban spas an even greater urgency. "Because so many business guests fly in from either U.S. or Asian gateway cities, assisting them with jet lag is a major concern for us," said Jean-Pierre Mainardi, general manager of the Langham Hilton in London. "Six a.m. to 7 a.m., London time, are critical hours with up to 20 percent of our guests checking in after eight-to-12-hour flights. They'll have a few hours before they leave for their first appointments, so we do what we can to help them recover their equilibrium."
Mainardi said this will get easier later this month when the Langham opens a full-service spa in a renovated bank adjoining the hotel. The new addition will house a branch of the Elizabeth Arden Red Door spa, the only one outside the United States. "A massage can be restorative, but so can a gym workout or a swim in the pool," he said.
Langham hotel guests will have exclusive use of the spa facilities from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. "Next to connectivity in the guest rooms, business travelers tell us access to these services is their number-one priority," Mainardi said.
Travelers respond to changes in time zones in different ways. "The body's circadian rhythms have been disturbed and, based on your individual reactions, different remedies can work," said Monica Tuma Brown, director of Spass, a spa development firm. "For some, aromatherapy is helpful because it involves essential oils. For others, hydrotherapy is rejuvenating."
As a result of this multiplicity of approaches, some deluxe and upper upscale hotels choose to bypass the spa altogether and combat jet lag in the guest bathroom, as well as the larger room.
Given how spacious and marble-tiled guest bathrooms in many luxury hotels have become, it's not surprising that they've come to function as a kind of mini-spa. At the Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia, the program of butler-drawn baths includes the Invigorating Bath intended for guests recovering from long flights. On two-hours notice, the bath can be drawn in 15 minutes. "Dimmed lighting and votive candles create a restorative mood," said Jeff Brower, executive assistant manager. "Bath salts are used and freshly squeezed juices are served. What's more, a small, portable Zen rock garden is assembled in the bath room that the guest can contemplate while in the bath."
At two Four Seasons Hotels, meanwhile, it's special teas and other restorative foods that are delivered to the room. At the Four Seasons Chicago, a complimentary pot of herbal tea is left for guests checking in after long-haul flights. "You can feel every muscle relax after one cup," said general manager Hans Williman of the special blend of anise, fennel seeds and juniper berries.
At the Four Seasons at Las Colinas outside Dallas, meanwhile, the age-old antidote is chicken soup. "Travelers recovering from the aches and pains of long flights are candidates for our Get Well amenity, which includes English Breakfast tea with milk and honey along with chicken noodle soup and saltines," said manager Richard Baker.
Seeing an opportunity to provide added customer value themselves, international airline carriers are getting into the spa act too. In the process, they hope to create a kind of competitive advantage over other airlines. "At our arrivals lounge at Heathrow Airport, we offer showers, suit pressing and are beginning to offer spa treatments for our first-class and business-class passengers," said Chris Allin, brand manager of Club World, the business-class service of British Airways.
The airline doesn't intend its service to replace the more lavish and thorough services provided by the hotel spas. Rather, it's a kind of stop gap for the jet-lagged traveler who doesn't even have time to check in at the hotel before heading for that first business appointment.