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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Wellness boom 

Until now, keeping check on one’s health consumed a lot of time. One never got to enjoy health. But with the advent of wellness firms, one can indulge in health, and experience fine touch of lifestyle and wellness firms..

Plump, wrinkled woman metamorphoses into svelte, charismatic lady. A scrawny man turns into well toned handsome being. A self—doubting and insecure person transforms into confident and positive personality. This is the magic, which the lifestyle and wellness firms are spreading.

Until now, keeping check on health consumed more time. One never got to enjoy health. But with the advent of wellness firms, one can indulge in health, and experience fine touch of lifestyle and wellness firms.

There is a new market category called wellness lifestyle, which consolidates a lot of sub-categories including spas, traditional medicine and alternative medicine, behavioral therapy, spirituality, fitness, nutrition and beauty.

Back in 1979, a fat, unhealthy property developer, Mel Zuckerman, and his exercise-fanatic wife, Enid, opened Canyon Ranch, ’America’s first total vacation/fitness resort’, on an old dude ranch in Tucson, Arizona. At the time, their outdoorsy, new age-ish venture seemed highly eccentric. But today, Indian markets have welcomed wellness firms and are savoring the indulgence.

There is growing evidence that focusing holistically on wellness can reduce healthcare costs by emphasizing prevention over treatment. The desire to reduce healthcare costs is one force behind the rise of the wellness industry; the other is the growing demand from consumers for things that make them feel healthier and better. Apart from regular services, these firms provide: Healthy lifestyle, coaches to work on issues like nutrition, stress management and weight loss, yoga classes, smoking cessation programs or other health-related programs.

One difficulty for wellness firms would be to acquire the expertise to operate in several different areas of the market.

Another would be to maintain credibility in (and for) an industry that combines serious science with snake oil. One problem—or is it an opportunity?—in selling wellness products to consumers is that some of the things they demand may be faddish or nonsensical. Easy fixes, such as new-age therapies, may appeal to them more than harder but proven ways to improve health. And there is much debate about the health benefits of vitamin supplements, organic food and alternative medicines, let alone different forms of spirituality.

Whatever the debate be, men and women are more then ready to pamper their body and are surely treading way to wellness. If not for health reasons, fun is definitely on their minds

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As selected by Health  Health Magazine

Los Angeles

Kate Somerville Skin Health Experts Clinic
A-list celebrities keep this cutting-edge medi-spa on speed dial. No frills here—just advanced treatments such as the Ultimate Kate ($350), which combines oxygen and light therapy to stimulate collagen and elastin production.

New York City

Cornelia Day Resort
Whether you’re lounging in the Relaxation Library, lunching in the rooftop garden or enjoying the only watsu (water-shiatsu) pool in Manhattan, it’s hard not to feel like royalty here. Cornelia has the little touches nailed, right down to a personalized label on your locker.

San Francisco
SenSpa:

This chic, 13,000-square-foot place is reminiscent of a destination spa. In addition to the usual spa treatments, it offers well-being seminars and complimentary sessions with an on-site life coach.

Chicago

Soulistic Studio
This eco-conscious yoga studio and spa uses only 100% certified organic products in its treatments. Don’t miss the by-appointment-only Sunlight Sauna ($30 for 30 minutes), featuring energy-efficient infrared technology.

Dallas

Renée Rouleau Skin Care Spa
If you want the ultimate facial, this is the place, Gelula says. The two-hour Synergy 7 combines the spa’s seven best antiaging facials into one amazing treatment; it costs $600…and it’s worth it.

 

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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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Hotels realize that if guests can’t snooze, they lose

Ericka Nelson, whose husband is a thunderous snorer, knows from personal experience that it can be hard to get a good night’s sleep.

The general manager of Kimpton’s 70 park avenue hotel found an anti-snore pillow in a store. It worked for her hubby, and in March she rolled out a pillowmenu at 70 park avenue, including a PillowPositive model. It props up the neck, she says, and allows users to sleep on their backs or sides with airways open to promote peaceful rest.

“A hotel can have all these great amenities, and everyone (in the industry) keeps trying to find the latest thing. But when it comes down to it, what we’re really about is a great night’s sleep,” Nelson says.

The pillow menu, which has been dreamed up by other hotels as well, is just one way lodgings are helping guests get their zzz’s. Counting sheep is so yesterday: In this restless age, sleep aids and enhancement programs are hot amenities at a growing number of hotels, resorts and spas, including W Hotels and Hilton’s Conrad Hotels & Resorts.

•Before arrival, 70 park avenue guests can e-mail or call a “pillow librarian” to request one of 15 complimentary rest-inducers. Most popular, Nelson says, is a pillow made with buckwheat hulls, which is said to stimulate acupressure points and increase circulation. Also on the menu are aromatherapy pillows containing scented sachets that aid in relaxation. Turn-down chocolates contain sleep-promoting melatonin.

•Another Kimpton, the Hotel Monaco Chicago, has unveiled a “KN Tranquility Suite,” an oasis of serenity with waterfall and soft bamboo sheets. It’s stocked with neck pillow, sleep masks, sound machine and named for Karen Neuburger, a designer of sleepwear. Rates start at about $360 a night. 866-610-0081;

•Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts in North America offer a “Sleep Advantage” program, developed by a sleep expert. Guests get a free kit with ear plugs and eye mask, calming lavender mist, a CD that lulls them to dreamland — even a clip to close drapes to shut out light. Also offered: “Quiet zone” floors. If guests don’t receive a requested wake-up call, they get a refund for that night’s room cost.

•A dozen Omni Hotels have in-room “Sensation Bars” that sell sleep CDs and lavender mist (average cost $10 and $5, respectively).

•SpaTerre at La Playa Beach and Golf Resort in Naples, Fla., covers wellness as well as sweet dreams. Its “Summer Sunset Slumber” program aims to encourage healthful sleep while teaching habits to incorporate back home. “We’re hoping to have it running by July,” spa director David Carter says. Rates begin at $250 for a lifestyle consultation, yoga or other classes and a sunset beach ritual and massage. Carter also suggests that guests trying to de-stress “put your cellphone in your room safe” and check e-mail only once a day on vacation

•The new Aqua Cancún resort wafts mint, eucalyptus, lavender and calming music throughout the property. Guests choose a pillow, order an aromatherapy turn-down service or take a calming “nap” spa treatment.

Some hotels and spas take a more medical approach to sleep problems, which the National Center for Health Statistics estimates affect as many as 70 million people in the USA.

•Canyon Ranch, with branches in Tucson and Lenox, Mass., offers physician assessments for insomnia, snoring and frequent waking at night. In Tucson, an all-night study in the Canyon Ranch sleep lab diagnoses problems, and a sleep-specialist MD recommends treatments. Cost is $2,325 and may be covered by insurance. In Lenox, guests can opt for a sleep study at a local hospital to check for common problems, such as sleep apnea. Cost: $1,200, including physician follow-up.

•Another leading spa, Miraval Tucson, also is serious about sleep. Its Director of Sleep Programs is Rubin Naiman, author of Healing Night, who opposes routinely prescribing sleeping pills. (They disturb natural sleep patterns, he says.) He takes a mind/body approach. Miraval guests can listen to Naiman lecture free or consult with him (from $190). Miraval just started a “Healthy Sleep and Dreams Package” (from $2,140 a person for four nights, including lodging, meals, customized sleep counseling and spa treatments).

•The Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village near L.A., which adjoins the California Health & Longevity Institute, has launched a “Sleep Well” program. Created by physicians, dietitians and other experts, the program includes sleep-inducing meals (no heartburn, please!), spa treatments, specialty pillows, acupuncture, meditation and clinical sleep studies. Eye masks, ear plugs, foot warmers, humidifiers, sound machines — even teddy bears — are available. Cost varies depending on services used.

•The four extended-stay AKA lodgings in Manhattan offer an “AKA Sleep School.” It includes a free lecture by directors of the New York University Sleep Disorders Center and New York Sleep Institute that is open to guests and the public. The next one is June 3 at 6 p.m. at the AKA Central Park at 42 W. 58th St. For a fee, experts from those sleep centers will make house calls to AKA guests to assess sleeping patterns and recommend treatments. A sleep study at the centers can be arranged.

Full Article USA Today

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The Raj Ayurveda Health Spa

1734 Jasmine Ave
Fairfield, IA 52556
(641) 472-9580

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Dr. Nancy Lonsdorf, esteemed past medical director of the Raj, and author of The Ageless Woman: Natural Health and Beauty After Forty with Maharishi Ayurveda will be giving a free, LIVE teleseminar for women on Wednesday, May 21st at 6 PM PDT/9PM ED.

 

She will be sharing a multitude of anti-aging tips and one special TOP secret from the time-tested natural health system Maharishi Ayurveda that will allow you to take charge of your personal aging process and transform your life, your looks and your health–naturally.

According to this ancient wisdom, aging occur in three basic patterns—your “Ageless Beauty Type.” Knowing your type will allow you to take advantage of those specific, key anti-aging tips that are most effective for your specific aging type.

How? It’s simple— click here and get access to your copy of the Ageless Beauty Type Quiz by posting a question to Dr. Nancy. You will automatically get registered and receive the Ageless Beauty Type Quiz.

Then take the quiz and join Dr. Nancy by phone or webcast on Wednesday, May 21st at 6 PM PDT/9PM EDT for a detailed discussion of your Ageless Beauty Type, three key tips for your type, and answers to your questions on how to stay young, healthy and beautiful after forty.

Be sure to register (even if you can’t be on the call) because you may order the audio recording and will have the opportunity to ask Dr. Nancy your question:

You’ll also learn about:

• The secret factor in weight loss—(no, it’s not carbs!)

• How to build “bionic” bones

• Calcium—to take or not to take

• 5 ways to lower blood pressure naturally

We hope you’ll be there on Wed., May 21st for a solution-packed evening of fresh insights, practical tips and self-discovery that will leave you inspired and empowered to look and feel younger naturally!

Wishing you the best of health,

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Canyon Ranch offers a wide range of lifestyle programs, including preventive medicine, healing energy (”acuphoria,” reiki, healing touch), astrology readings, handwriting analysis and a shamanic journey.

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Exhale Spa in Santa Monica has wellness coaching, which includes a class on developing life management skills and acu-energetic therapy to reduce stress with a mix of acupuncture, reiki and guided visualization.

 

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Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village combines traditional spa services along with wellness programs at the in-house California Health & Longevity Institute. In addition to top ranking medical care and lifestyle counselors, guests can get a detox body wrap and a body-fat scan to deliver a more scientific measurement of your well-being.

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Golden Door in Escondido offers 20 different “inner focus” classes in which participants can engage in art therapy through clay sculpting, meditative walking, journaling, or qi gong and breathing exercises to aid the immune system and the mind.

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Murad Health Center in El Segundo has a 34-page client questionnaine that ranges from the physical “Have ever had heart problems? to the metaphysical, “Do you have any meaningful plans for the rest of your life?”

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Oaks at Ojai offers a sexuality seminar led by Pamela Madison, founder of a Santa Barbara women’s sexuality center, “It’s a great setting,” she says. “The women are not in their daily life. They are there to relax, to take care of themselves and to be nurtured.”

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Qua Baths at Caesars’s Palace offers the Qua’s Dream Interpretation Journey–a 50-minute, $130 session in which a dream coach (a clinical psychologist) interprets your subconscious.

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“It may be rehab-lite, but as more patrons find emotional relief, spas are actively blending rubs and scrubs meant to pamper with programs that tackle the psychological toll of life,” says Herman. “Spas have become our gurus on mountaintops

 

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ADVENTURE SPA | Arizona dietitian wants guests to maintain healthy lifestyle

Lots of spa retreats do a great job getting guests to eat right and exercise while they’re there. But as soon as they get home and unpack, it’s back to nightly dates with Ben & Jerry and other bad habits.

Devon Metz watched this pattern play out repeatedly during her years working at some of the most high-end destination spas in the country.

Ellen McGann (left) and her hiking group take a snack break. There were hikes for beginners as well as advanced trekkers.

PRICE: Devon Hiking Spa vacations cost $2,900 per person, based on double occupancy. Solo travelers tack on $500 for their own room. The price includes five nights at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, all meals, two spa services, airport departure shuttle, backpack, pedometer and other little extras.

DATES: Eight trips are scheduled this year. They are: May 23-28; June 25-30; July 11-16; July 25-30; Nov. 16-21; Nov. 30-Dec. 5; Dec. 7-12; Dec. 14-19

FOR MORE INFO: Call (888) 823-2303

The 31-year-old dietitian and fitness instructor figured there had to be a better way to help guests keep a healthy lifestyle going long after checkout. Late last year, Metz began offering six-day getaways aimed at just that. Held in the sunny, Southwest city of Tucson, Ariz., Devon Hiking Spa vacations focus on nutrition and fitness in a “real world” way, Metz said.

“Most places just put a plate in front of you and you’re not really learning how to eat out and make the right choices,” she said. “We take people out to real restaurants each night and have them navigate the menu. We do a supermarket tour and learn how to really read the ingredient list.

“We try to do the same thing with exercise,” Metz added. “We’ll use a resistance band instead of heavy equipment and give them the band to take home with a list of exercises to do.”

The idea of a week away from the office hiking past saguaro cacti in the Arizona mountains, learning how to have a better diet and enjoying some relaxing massages sounded like the perfect escape to Ellen McGann. This Hinsdale banking executive deserved an escape. The 48-year-old mother had recently wrapped up eight rounds of chemotherapy and 28 radiation treatments after having surgery for breast cancer.

“I viewed it as the ultimate detox,” McGann said. “I’d wanted to do a health spa thing my entire life. I thought, ‘Why not just take a week off work and focus on myself, focus on diet, exercise and healthy living?’ “

McGann was one of 12 who signed up for the inaugural Devon Hiking Spa vacation in December. Most of the guests were women, ranging in age from their late 20s to 50s. And most were like McGann, traveling on their own. Base camp was the swanky Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains.

A typical day started around 7 a.m. with a half-hour of stretching followed by breakfast in the hotel. Then it was time for an hour-long class that usually revolved around nutrition. After that, everyone laced up their hiking boots and hit the trail, where people had the option of choosing between guided hikes for beginners or advanced trekkers.

Guests who wanted more of a fitness fix could take a post-hike class in pilates, yoga or strength-building resistance bands and then treat their sore muscles to a massage; two spa treatments came with the package.

In the evening, everyone got together for dinner at a local restaurant to practice what was preached.

“Every night before dinner we went over what to order, what questions to ask,” McGann said. “You do things like mindful eating exercises, where you put your fork down between every bite.

“A lot of the stuff I learned I came home and taught my husband,” she added. “We tend to go out to dinner a lot. I’m not afraid anymore to ask the restaurant for something special, like putting the sauce on the side or skipping the breading. My husband’s lost about 15 pounds since I got back.”

During her stint in Tucson, McGann tried Pilates for the first time. She liked it so much, she now does it once a week. She’s also making a weekly visit to a personal trainer.

“I’m still working on the exercise thing,” McGann said. “It’s my worst category.”

About once every three weeks, McGann gets an e-mail from Metz asking how she’s doing and whether she’s meeting her goals.

“I love the follow-up,” said McGann, who plans to show Metz her progress in person when she takes another Devon Hiking Spa vacation later this year.

McGann finished her cancer treatments a year ago this month.

She said that when you’re in the midst of battling something as formidable as cancer, “you don’t feel like you’re ever going to get on the other side . . . focusing on myself and my health during that week helped push me to the other side.”

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