Seen in "USA Today", 9 Aug, 2006

By Beth J. Harpaz, AP
NEW YORK — America's top spas gathered in New York recently for the annual meeting of the International Spa Association.
But nobody at the meeting used the word "beauty."
Instead, today's spas are integrating cosmetic treatments like facials and manicures into holistic approaches to well-being.
You can still get that pedicure, but your spa visit will also include fitness, health, relaxation and even spirituality.
"Beauty is almost a given," said Nina Smiley,
spokeswoman for The Spa at Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, N.Y.
"But it's superficial. It's external. I'd say what's internal is as
important as the beauty aspect."
Spa-goers want more than a massage that feels
good for 20 minutes. They want advice on skin care and diet; products
to recreate the spa experience at home; and techniques they can use on
their own to relax and stay fit, from exercise to yoga to aromatherapy.
At some spas, guests are no longer sent from one treatment room to another. They sit in one spot, and specialists come to them.
Spa Montage in Laguna Beach, Calif., offers a
"Surrender" program in which "you get an analysis, and instead of
getting a menu of services, we design a program for you," said
spokeswoman Anne Bramham. "All the staff coordinates to work with you."
A weekend stay at a destination spa can easily
run $500 or more — including lodging, meals, a class, the pool and a
few treatments. So it's no wonder that a survey found guests at
destination spas want the experience to be more than skin-deep.
"They expect there'll be some major life
changes" when their stay is over, said Michelle Barry, a spokeswoman
for the Hartman Group, which polled 7,680 North Americans for the
International Spa Association 1006 "Spa-Goer Study."
Along with the overall shift toward integrating
spa services, other themes emerged at the July 27 spa meeting. Here are
five trends shaping today's spa experience.
Wellness
Procedures that used to be primarily cosmetic have been reconfigured as healthful and relaxing.
Mandarin Oriental's "Awaken Facial," "instead of
focusing on the face, incorporates different massage techniques over
the upper body to get the circulation moving," said Sharon Holtz, spa
director at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Miami. "It really is
relaxing."
Canyon Ranch, with resorts in Lenox, Mass., and
Tucson, has long combined medical care, nutrition and fitness with
relaxation and pampering. Now Canyon Ranch is collaborating with The
Cleveland Clinic in Ohio — to offer health and wellness programs in
areas like weight control, stress management and cardiac care. The
partnership includes staff exchanges, and an Executive Health Program
for CEOs.
Food
Forget "rabbit food" — raw veggies and skinless,
boneless (tasteless? colorless?) chicken breast. Today's spas are
ramping up their menus.
"Good spa, good food," said David Erlich,
director of the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa in Sonoma, Calif.
"We've taken spa cuisine to a whole other level — it looks good, tastes
good and smells good." Sonoma's menu — directed by Bruno Tison, former
chef at New York's Plaza Hotel, includes ahi tuna with cucumber jelly,
bright-red beet puree, and thick and flavorful gazpacho served with
jewels of cherry tomatoes speared on a toothpick.
You can even satisfy your sweet tooth at a spa.
Canyon Ranch serves chocolate chip cookies, and Mohonk will have
(large!) gingerbread men for the Christmas season.
Authenticity
Any spa in a mall can provide a massage or
facial. So spas are trying to differentiate themselves by evoking
regional traditions and landscapes.
Mii Amo in Sedona, Ariz., offers products to
scrub and cleanse the body made from blue corn and a succulent plant
called stonecrop, while an eagle feather is waved as part of a ceremony
to cleanse the spirit, inspired by local American Indian culture.
The new Willow Stream Spa at the Fairmont
Mayakoba on Mexico's Riviera Maya uses cacao, papaya, honey, lime and
cornmeal for body wraps, and corn meal and papaya treatments for hands.
At Cliff House Resort & Spa in Ogunquit on
the Maine coast, you can have body wraps made from Maine blueberries,
wild roses or juniper berries. Stones from the nearby Bald Head Cliff
are used in a stone massage, and warm seashells are applied to the body
in a two-hour "Seashell Therapy" treatment.
Manliness
Men comprise 31% of U.S. spa-goers and 29% of Canadian spa-goers, according to the Hartman Group study.
About two-thirds of U.S. men and 49% of Canadian
men who visited spas did so while traveling. Their top reasons for
going to a spa are to feel relaxed, calmed and refreshed, according to
the study.
"When men are at home, they don't necessarily
feel they have permission to go to a spa," said Barry, the Hartman
Group spokeswoman. But if they're staying in a hotel for business, they
may wander down to the spa for a massage.
Fairmont Hotels report that 50% of their spa
guests are male at certain times, like ski season in Banff, Alberta,
Canada, and golf season in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Spas have responded to the large numbers of male
guests with gender-specific products, and by making their menus and
decor more appealing to men.
The Lodge at Woodloch, in Hawley, Pa., which is
the first new destination spa to open in the country in more than a
decade, "was designed to be an environment that men would feel
comfortable in," said owner Ginny Michel Lopis.
The architecture is reminiscent of a mountain
lodge, incorporating stone and wood with picture-window views of the
forest. There is a private lake, golf course, a full bar with tapas,
and a dinner menu — no calories listed — that offers steak and bison
burgers.
Fun
Spas shouldn't only be about scrubbing skin, massaging muscles or lazing in the sauna. They should also be fun.
At Loews Hotels spas in Tucson, San Diego and
Santa Monica, Calif., you can get treatments based on astrology
readings. Is the Aquarian in you dominated by "air" qualities like
curiosity and multitasking, leaving you nervous and exhausted? If so,
Loews "Star Menu" recommends "earth" therapies to help "ground" you —
such as deep tissue massage, a desert herbal wrap or reflexology.
The Ojai Valley Inn & Spa in Ojai, Calif.,
has an Artist's Cottage and Apothecary where guests can weave, paint or
make a mandala. The spa has hosted three-generation families and
birthday parties for all ages where an art project or storytelling
brings the group together.