Spas are not typically known as being green with the amount of water and energy used in excess to offer ultimate relaxation for guests’, spas are now finding creative ways to “green” themselves that are not only great for the environment, but great for their bottom line as well.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, which is a rating system created by the U.S. Green Building Council to help companies design, build, and operate their structures more sustainably.

Certifications are awarded according to points earned for things such as, design, energy efficiency and water conservation. LEED certifications entail different levels of Copper, Silver, Gold and Platinum in which only 118 buildings have received.

Here are a few spa pioneers whom have earned a LEED accolade and are setting a standard that other spas are soon to follow.

The Palazzo Resort-Hotel-Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada

Is the country’s largest LEED-certified high-rise building. Set on the Las Vegas strip, this resort opened in 2008 boasting an eco-friendly spa, the Canyon Ranch SpaClub offers an assortment of innovative spa treatments such the 100 minute Neuromuscular Therapy. This treatment is aimed to relieve tension headaches, back pain, TMJ, restricted ranges of movement and other musculoskeletal conditions. The service is conducted by a trained neuromuscular therapist, which includes referrals so you can continue treatments when you return home. All treatments incorporate organic spa products as well.

Other novel features include a 40-foot rock-climbing wall, water efficient showers, and valet bicycle parking.

 

 

Avalon Hotel & Spa, Portland, Oregon

 

Oregon’s first Silver LEED certification was awarded to the Avalon Hotel & Spa last August because of its energy and water conservation, recycling, and ethical purchasing efforts. Other reasons to visit this boutique hotel on the Willamette River are for its wine bar, complimentary breakfast, and 30 treatment rooms with Spa Chakra services.

 

The Lodge and Spa at Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, Georgia

The Callaway property sits on 13,000-acre preserve as a dedicated non-profit towards environmental education. The preserve consists of gardens, hiking trails and a butterfly pavilion. Receiving the title as a LEED certified property because it was built with recycled materials and has efficient plumbing, lighting, and air-filtration systems. The 13-treatment room spas uses natural, indigenous products inspired from the gardens that are on the property.

 

Gala Napa Valley Hotel & Spa, American Canyon, California

The Gala Napa Valley Hotel & Spa was the first hotel to receive the country’s Gold LEED lodging certification. Housing 132-rooms with a spa that is inspired by the wine region it calls home, offering locally sourced grape seeds for scrubs treatments and a restaurant that features seasonal, local and organic produce.

Its unique features that made this property LEED certified are its skylights that are shaped like magnifying glasses to help light interiors and real-time display of the hotel’s energy use in the lobby.

 

Nusta Spa, Washington, D.C.

The Nusta Spa is the first Gold LEED certified urban day spa in the country. Known as the pioneer for “spa-greening” in an urban environment it received this certification from its energy and water-saving features and waste reduction strategies. Sourcing only organic products along with its signature skincare line that contains sustainable, organic ingredients.

 

Hotel Terra Jackson Hole, Teton Village, Washington

The Hotel Terra has earned a Silver LEED certification by using an advanced water purification system that purifies wastewater and releases it back into the surrounding land, energy-saving fixtures, nontoxic paints and cleaning supplies. The Chill Spa offers organic and restorative treatments along with cotton robes and reusable water bottles for guests.

 

Other Spa’s that are in the process of gaining LEED certifications are:

Hyatt at Olive 8, Seattle Washington
Elaia Spa

The Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa, Avon, Colorado
Spa Anjali

Crystal Mountain Resort & Spa, Thompsonville, Michigan
Crystal Spa

Inn by the Sea Cape Elizabeth, Maine
Spa at the Inn by the Sea

Cavallo Point – The Lodge at the Golden Gate, Sausalito, California
Cavallo Point Healing Arts Center & Spa

The Springs Resort and Spa, Pagosa Spring, Colorado
The Springs Spa & Salon

Bardessono, Yountville, California
Spa Therapy Center

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Once an economic sweet spot, spas are aching for business.

Spas are discounting or tossing in freebies “to get people in the door,” says Shelby Jones, an International Spa Association (ISPA) spokeswoman. An ISPA survey found specials at slow times (Monday-Thursday) and more free use of amenities such as pools and hydrotherapy areas.

More hotels (1,646 in the USA had spas as of June, ISPA says) are giving spa credits. When ISPA president Lynne Walker McNees checked into a Lexington, Ky.-area Marriott after a power outage, it gave her a $40 spa credit.

Some soothing offers driven by the stressful economy:

•Through May, Miraval Tucson in Arizona (an Oprah Winfrey favorite) is touting “Authentic Remedy” packages from $399 a person daily to help manage angst. That covers meals and one spa service (up to $125) a day.

•At the Inn at Palmetto Bluff in South Carolina, visitors who book a 60-minute massage ($145-$160) also get a free mini-facial or foot refresher.

•Usually heavily booked Rancho La Puerta across the Mexican border from San Diego is holding rates at 2008 levels and running a “bring a friend for 50% off” deal on slow weeks.

•Pennsylvania’s The Lodge at Woodloch is massaging wallets with savings of 25% for a four-night minimum stay and 20% for three nights.

Even VIP-luring Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills is value-minded. It’s doing massages in a cabana at no extra cost, spa director Derek Hofmann says. “And if you’re a Bloody Mary girl, we’ll bring you one.”

Vegas spas deals:

•The Golden Nugget spa gives guests who have 50- or 80-minute services a free manicure or blow dry, based on availability.

•Some packages at The Mirage Hotel & Casino are deeply discounted ($150 for a massage and facial vs. the usual $260).

•The opulent Caesars Palace spa now gives new guests $25 off a service on request; all can get free eye treatments with a facial.

You can tell the industry is hurting  says Lindsey Gockenbach of the Spa Week Media Group. 

More spas with “treatments of $200-plus” are joining in, Gockenbach says. Among the 250 newcomers: pricey The Boulders Resort & Golden Door Spa in Arizona. “These are spas that never participated in Spa Week because of this discount but now are almost forced to do so.”

Spas also are touting wellness over pampering. But in general, rates for spa basics such as massages ($150-plus hourly at some chic sanctuaries) aren’t sliding.

“The idea is to protect the brands,” says Bernard Burt, co-author of 100 Best Spas of the World. “Historically, the best spas have ridden out recessions.”

Meanwhile, at a time when a good kneading is needed more than ever, he suggests asking for discounts. It can’t hurt, he says.

“The smart shopper will call direct and ask for the best price.”

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Extension to the Canyon Ranch SpaClub

The Canyon Ranch SpaClub fitness and wellness facility at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, is to nearly double in size.

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The current 69,000sq ft (6,410sq m) facility will be expanded to 134,000sq ft (12,449sq m) and will also service The Palazzo hotel.

The revamped SpaClub will include massage, skincare and body treatment rooms, a 40ft (12.1m) climbing wall, beauty salon and an Aquavana suite of thermal spa cabins, experiential showers, cold rooms and aqua thermal bathing experiences.

The extension is expected to be finished by late 2008 with portions of the expansion opening as soon as they are completed.

The SpaClub first opened in 1999 and is one of the largest of its kind in North America.

The inaugural Canyon Ranch Living, in Miami Beach, US, will fully open in October 2008 as a wellness community dedicated to healthy living. However, it was recently announced that another Canyon Ranch Living property in Chicago, US, has been canceled.

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With the opening of the Trump International Hotel & Tower Las Vegas, New York developer Donald Trump is bringing another dose of bravado to a city that already swaggers with it.

Trump’s approach to luxury hospitality may be more gilded, exclusive and Manhattan-inspired, but it’s no less bold.

The nine-treatment-room spa advances the look and feel of spas by putting the hair dryers in private dressing rooms, using glossy wood paneling and assigning guests a spa attache.

The 1,500-square-foot fitness center offers a view of the pool, Technogym cardio machines and staff members who offer training tips and chilled water bottles.

Two months ago, the guy opened a $1 billion hotel in Vegas without a casino. Madness. He built the thing off a lonely stretch of road behind the Fashion Show Mall. Insanity. He created his 64-story condo-hotel tower by selling the residential-style units to deed-holding investors, who may or may not add them to the hotel’s rental pool. That’s possibly brilliant – or disastrous if sales of the units, priced from $700,000 to $5.6 million, continue to slow.

Indulgent features

But he’s added enough novel, indulgent features to warm jaded travelers and soothe frequently frazzled fliers. A white-gloved doorman ushers guests into a high-ceilinged lobby that shimmers with crystal, marble and golden trim and is continuously scented with a lightly floral fragrance.

Guests are immediately offered a chilled bottle of water and a heated hand towel on individual trays. In half a minute, the elevator whisks them to the uppermost floors, where cozy but contemporary rooms offer vast views of the neon Strip or the golden sunset.

Trump leaves no doubt about his ambitions. The hotel’s logo

Trump is omnipresent: His name appears nearly three dozen times within the guest room, whether on his namesake magazine, a catalog for daughter Ivanka’s jewelry collection or on the bath toiletries.

He named the main restaurant with his initials, DJT, and put his favorite dishes on the menu (Mr. Trump’s Butter Whipped Potato Puree, Mr. Trump’s Butter Lettuce Salad). He installed his personal chef, Joe Isidori, at the helm of DJT, a grand restaurant of chandeliers, giant half-moon banquettes and inscrutable menu items. (Frozen goat cheese? Evaporated carrots?)

His personal vision

Moreover, plastered across a mirrored wall in H2(eau), the poolside restaurant, Trump spelled out his personal vision in capital letters: “As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.”

He does. Viewed from the side, the tower looks like a giant upside-down T, one that Trump crowned with his name in lights. With 1,282 rooms, it’s not the largest hotel in Vegas, but it may be the biggest gamble.

Tranquillity isn’t usually what brings the big-spending throngs to Vegas, but this no-smoking hotel is a serene oasis apart from the action on the Strip. The building sits alone behind a dusty vacant lot where the New Frontier hotel once stood and where a second tower may someday be built. To leave the hotel, guests must travel by car, traverse a rocky path without sidewalks and street lights or navigate through Nordstrom, which offers the nearest entrance to Fashion Show Mall across the street.

With the Wynn and the Palazzo as its luxury hotel neighbors, the Trump helps form a new Golden Triangle at the increasingly upscale northern end of the Strip. He’s dressed the building to fit in with its rich friends – in 24-karat-gold glass, we’re told. He should have spent more on sound insulation: Sirens, freeway noise and train whistles came right into my 46th-floor room, loudly enough to wake me.

The studios, one-bedroom and penthouse suites, from 515 to 3,500 square feet, are outfitted with golden-hued, contemporary decor and brand-name kitchens. My studio came with a compact Sub-Zero refrigerator, a two-burner Wolf stove and enough tools and appliances to make breakfast or mix cocktails but not a full meal.

Rack rates for studios begin at $349, and penthouses top out at $5,000.

The hotel aims to lure travelers who demand luxury accommodations plus a high level of staff attention.

Toward that goal, an “attache” calls travelers before and during arrival to answer any requests.

During my mid-May visit, about 10 percent of the units were functioning as hotel rooms, while the rest remained unsold or were private condos.

The low occupancy should have meant abundant, swift service. Yet in two days, housekeeping failed to clean the room or perform the promised turn-down service, even after I complained.

Still, when staffers were on top of their duties, they excelled, anticipating needs and working hard.

Sometime in the future, I’m told, the hotel will offer travelers personalized business cards and in-room loaner computers. Also to come: a gift shop and air-conditioned pool cabanas. The pool is a long, shallow stretch of glory for lap swimmers or sunbathers, who can pop into H2(eau) for cocktails or La Quercia prosciutto panini or salads.

Things may be a little slow at Trump’s golden oasis right now, but maybe that’s not such a bad thing. The traditional temptations of Sin City are, after all, exhausting. It’s nice to have a place to indulge in quieter pleasures, such as fine wine, hot baths and lazy days by the pool. Trump didn’t get to be Trump by being a bad judge of human nature.

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Mandalay Bay Mixes Intoxicating Spa Indulgences at Moorea Beach Club and BATHHOUSE Spa

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Fun in the sun has never been so refreshing. As temperatures heat up, Mandalay Bay is offering sun lovers tantalizing ways to cool down. Cocktail-inspired spa treatments at the sophisticated Moorea Beach Club and the award-winning BATHHOUSE at THE hotel provide the ideal respite from desert heat.

Offering European-style bathing, Moorea Beach Club at Mandalay Bay Beach invites guests to indulge themselves even more with an intoxicating “body shot.” During the 10-minute experience, guests relax poolside as BATHHOUSE massage therapists apply cooled lotion to parched or sunburned skin ($30). Moisturizing body shots are available in the decadent fragrances of a Mai Tai, Pina Colada or Margarita. Guests looking to augment their golden color can choose tan-enhancing body shots in the yummy scents of Coconut Colada, Beach Rum Cooler or Rum on the Rocks. For those who’ve had too much heat, a soothing sun-shield body shot is offered in SPF 15 or SPF 30.

“Guests at Moorea Beach Club are adventurous and ready to have a good time,” said Anna Stafford Heckman, director of Spa Operations for Mandalay Bay. “Our cocktail-inspired services are fun and relaxing, but they also cool and protect skin from the damaging effects of the sun.”

Within the cool stone walls of BATHHOUSE at THEhotel, guests in search of the ultimate in rejuvenation can enjoy a revitalizing Minty Mojito Manicure and Pedicure (75 minutes, $170) or a Hot Spiced Rum Stone Massage with essential oils of cinnamon, clove and arnica (50 minute, $145).

“Guests come to THEhotel to indulge,” Heckman said. “What could be more indulgent than having the scent of a Mojito or Spiced Rum envelope your senses while a BATHHOUSE therapist soothes away your tension?”

Designed by the renowned New York firm Richardson Sadeki, BATHHOUSE offers an environment like no other. The two-story, 16,000-square-foot complex includes 12 treatment rooms, separate hot-and-cold plunge pools, eucalyptus steam rooms, redwood saunas, relaxation lounges, vanity rooms, nail salon and state-of-the-art gym for guests to enjoy.

Open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., BATHHOUSE accepts reservations up to six months in advance. To book an appointment, call (702) 632-9240 or (877) 632-9636.

Moorea Beach Club features comfortable chaise lounges for one, opium and day beds for two and exclusive pavilions featuring private pools for groups up to eight. A year-round facility with seasonal hours, Moorea Beach Club is available to guests of Mandalay Bay and THEhotel who are 21 years of age or older. An entry fee applies. Opium bed, day bed and pavilion reservations may be made in advance by speaking to a cabana host at (702) 632-7997.

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