1) Energy Medicine Look for a whole spectrum of energy medicines including Reiki, chakra balancing, healing touch and sound therapy to be increasingly ‘on the table’ in the experimental theater that is the modern spa. The enlightened approach? An open mind, along with encouragement for solid scientific verification. After all, there’s a great deal we still don’t know about the ‘body electric.’
2) Casinos & Spas
Casinos that have rolled the dice on luxury spa facilities have seen big wins for ‘the house,' so look for more blending of casino excitement and luxury spa experiences in 2009. These world-class facilities are situated within hotels with hundreds (often thousands) of rooms, catering to a captive, free-spending clientele that both appreciates pampering and sees the value of balancing both high-octane indulgence and recharging, healthy pursuits.
3) The Medical and Spa Tourism Shuffle
Watch for the line between spas, medical spas and hospitals to become ever more creatively blended. The era of the ‘spa-spital,’ with global consumers traveling to access the services they want, need, and can afford, has arrived.
Picture a hospital with serene gardens, feng shui-designed private rooms, 24-hour room service with organic local cuisine, on-demand massage and a menu of alternative and healing therapies. At places like the Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan, the ‘patients’ have become ‘guests,’ healthcare and hospitality are united, and spa elements have invaded the once drab hospital walls.
4) Eco-Embedded Spas
Freen initiatives and eco processes 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. Across European spas, hotel room key slots trigger time-delayed sensors to turn off lights and air conditioning in rooms. Rancho La Puerta serves cuisine from its organic farm. And then there’s the new breed of spa like Rock Resort Spa at Keystone Lodge in Colorado, built, from the ‘earth up,’ with sustainability in mind: using wind-powered electricity, building from recycled wood, etc.
5)In-Transit Spa-Going Spa-ing while traveling is reaching a whole new cruising altitude: trains with fully equipped gyms and spas, planes with in-flight spa showers and massage treatments, health and wellness-oriented cruises, and more. What began as a novelty has turned into big business, targeting the uniquely captive, over-stressed traveler. Southern India’s Golden Chariot train already features an onboard Ayurvedic center with fully equipped gym and spa, while China’s new Tangula luxury train will also include a spa when it launches in 2009.
6) Brain Health and ‘Mind’ Gyms With a vast, aging Baby Boomer population, brain health is increasingly on the spa-goers’ mind. While research concurs that many spa cornerstones like healthy food, exercise, relaxation techniques and healthy sleep are key to long-term brain health, spas will really step it up in ’09 to add activities, education, and new technologies and therapies that function like ‘gyms for the mind.’ Whether it’s exercising the grey matter through brain boosting games or juggling, or spa educational programs where neuroscientists discuss books like "My Stroke of Insight", brain ‘work-outs’ are increasingly popping up on both day and stay spa menus
7) Learning Labs for Stress Reduction Spas, out of necessity, will increasingly become ‘learning labs’ for stress reduction. Look for spa staff to increasingly become teachers of take-home, DIY ‘relaxation responses.’ You'll also see effective stress therapies like breath work, hot baths, meditation, exercise, massage, MBSR (mindfulness-based stress reduction) programs, and even an emphasis on psychological support and the sharing of feelings. Mini-treatments like ten-minute chair massages will grow in popularity, not only because they’re relaxing on the wallet, but because of the increased awareness that stress reduction is critical to overall health, and can be accomplished quite quickly with the right techniques.
8) Mindful Spending
The spa industry has proven fairly resilient thus far, but consumers will increasingly be price shopping. Discount massage and facial businesses will enjoy more popularity, and significant spa deals and added value pricing will appear on most spa websites. Luxury facilities will need to work harder at demonstrating how their unique experiences and special treatments merit the greater expense.
9) Gen X & Y Are Spa-ing Their Way
As Gen X (born 1965 to 1980) and Gen Y (born 1981 to 1995) hit spas in record numbers, they’re shaping the experience to meet their unique wants and desires. They seek wellness, rather than pampering, and often head to the spa in packs—giving new meaning to the ongoing trend of social spa-ing. These generations also exhibit an unprecedented comfort level with cosmetic med-spa procedures, and are adopting them for prevention (“Give me Botox in my 20’s, so I can prevent wrinkles in the first place.”)
Spas need to rethink everything from design, to treatment menus, to standards for use of personal communication devices. Some spas are now allowing iPod usage during massage, adding party-size treatment rooms, and trumpeting philanthropic endeavors and their commitment to sustainability. Spas need to embrace new technologies, such as online bookings and mobile alerts for last minute spa deals.
10) Brands, Brands, Brands With almost 72,000 spas around the world, consumers may need some help distinguishing between them. Spas that establish and broadcast a truly unique brand identity will enjoy a powerful competitive advantage, and should attract more guests at a time when consumer budgets are under pressure.
Large companies liike Dove, Nivea and Shiseido are bringing strong branding savvy into the spa game High-end luxury brands like Prada are expanding into spa as well.
