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Strategies for stretching your spa dollars
If your tastes run toward pampering spa surroundings, but your budget doesn’t, there are other ways to economize besides taking time off midweek to snare an off-peak discount.
One option is to visit a hotel or resort’s fancy spa just for the day.
“At most hotel and resort spas, even with just the cost of one treatment you can stay in the spa and relaxation area pretty much the whole day,” says Julie Sinclair, editor in chief of Spa magazine. “You book the treatment for 2 o’clock, and you show up at 10.”
I used that strategy to visit the spa at the Breakers Hotel and Resort in Palm Beach, Fla., in March. If you book at least a 50-minute treatment, you also can use the outdoor lap pool and Jacuzzi (both of which overlook the beach), join a yoga class in the courtyard and use the steam room and sauna.
The indoor facilities were disappointing: a steam room that resembled the one at my gym and a surprisingly grim relaxation area with curtains that blocked the ocean view. I also had to ask to use the outdoor pool area, which was the only justification for paying $195 for a 50-minute massage (itself rather mediocre). But that price also included valet parking, normally $30, and the chance to wander the grounds of the historic hotel.
At the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa in Chandler, Ariz., you do not even have to book a treatment to use the spa’s pools, Jacuzzis, steam rooms, saunas and fitness center; hotel guests can buy a day pass for $20 ($35 for nonguests).
Another tip is to ask for a discount if you are traveling with a group, even if it is just a few friends.
Many other deals are designed for just two people, such as the package offered by the Cal-a-Vie spa in Vista, Calif., where the second person gets half off the normal weekly rate of $7,395 during certain weeks. (OK, so that’s not exactly cheap, but even wealthy spagoers like to save.)
A handful of spas also show up frequently on lists of affordable retreats, among them the Oaks at Ojai in Ojai, Calif.; the Red Mountain Spa in St. George, Utah; the New Age Health Spa in Neversink, N.Y.; Ten Thousand Waves in Santa Fe, N.M.; and Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico, which claims it was “the world’s first destination spa.”
For that price, you generally get a lower staff-to-guest ratio and less-luxurious accommodations, which aren’t necessarily as important for this type of vacation.
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