Wellness Products Shape Up For Spring
by Anne Dimon /Photo courtesy: TBYH
From Spa Houses to healing therapies, from personal coaches to MDs, new wellness products are helping form a larger niche for travel agents to sell.
Encouraged by reports that support the continuing growth of wellness tourism, suppliers are rolling out new or enhanced wellness travel offerings.
The introduction of new product is in keeping with agents’ expectations. SpaFinder’s State of Wellness Travel Report in September LINK revealed that the highest percentage of travel agents in the survey’s eight-year history expect growth in the wellness travel sector, which is expanding beyond luxury spas to hotels, and into more far-flung global regions.
Here are five recently introduced or soon-to-launch wellness travel offerings:
Uniworld takes wellness onto the river
Earlier this year, Uniworld added complimentary daily yoga and exercise classes, and a suspension bodyweight-training system in gyms on all company-owned ships. Guests staying in suites now receive a complimentary personal training session plus a meeting with the onboard wellness coach.
“We see wellness travel as a growing market,” said Uniworld president Guy Young, “and as we look to attract a younger demographic, we want to continue to include more wellness offerings.”
A wellness front-runner on the river cruising scene, Uniworld was the first river-cruise company with a wellness director on board, Young noted, and the first to introduce the Go Active program, which includes hiking, walking, and cycling shore excursions with local guides.
Next on the agenda, he said, “given the interest we have seen with our Go Active programs and wellness coaches, we are looking at developing wellness-themed cruises.”
Luxury boutique retreat meets ashram
Positioned to attract the wellness-seeking connoisseur, Aja Malibu, a luxury, seven-guestroom retreat set on a 23-acre estate in the Malibu Mountains, is set to open in June.
Its owner, the Australian mystic and artist Inannya Magick, has spent the past seven years transforming the former private residence into what she calls a “Garden of Eden” sanctuary.
“Our signature all-inclusive seven-night program incorporates powerful plant-spirit medicine, daily ceremonies, meditations and workshops, a healing spa with light, sound and vibration therapies, plus a vegetarian, nutrient-dense, garden-to-table biodynamic diet,” said spokesperson Mel Nahas.
The “new age” program will also offer unique sessions and therapies, such as Crystal Light Healing Therapy, sound therapy, and chakra tune-up massages with ingredients from the Aja gardens, plus daily hikes in the surrounding canyons. Points of differentiation include a sacred water and tea bar, a living food kitchen, an apothecary, and seven biodynamic chakra-themed gardens. Rates are expected to be around $10,000 per person for a seven-night stay.
New Spa House caters to private groups
In April, Scottsdale’s Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain will unveil a unique four-bedroom Spa House and four neighboring casitas, creating a commune catering to private groups (of up to 16 people) looking for a tranquil environment in a mountainside setting.
The four-bedroom Spa House includes a full kitchen, private pool, a double treatment room, plus a studio for private fitness classes or personal training sessions.
Distinct wellness-inspired touch points include the option of a
bedtime aromatherapy massage for hands and feet, the delivery of a coloring book to help in the practice of mindfulness, a journal to make notes of daily reflections, and a turn down service with freshly cut flowers and cards offering a calming sentiment or a suggestion for a balancing yoga pose.
A multi-day Spa House program can be custom-designed to meet specific wellness goals.
Santani to open in June in Sri Lanka
Santani, a 20-room all-inclusive luxury resort opening in late June on the island of Sri Lanka, will offer 3- to 14-day wellness programs targeted at specific intentions, such as weight loss, enhanced sleep, or detox.
Located about 12 miles from Kandy, the nation’s cultural capital, Santani will be a sustainable development set on a 50-acre estate in the Sri Lankan hills and surrounded by jungle, forest, rivers, and mountains.
In keeping with sustainability principles, all guestrooms will be built on stilts, a design that is “70% more energy efficient,” said founder and CEO Vickum Nawagamuwage.
“A misconception about Sri Lanka is that we are so far away,” he noted, “but Sri Lanka is actually closer (to the U.S. East Coast) than Thailand.”
The all-inclusive Santani will offer fine dining with preparation procedures influenced by Ayurvedic principals, and with options for detox and vegetarian diets. Other features will include a modern, full-service spa with eastern and western therapies, plus daily yoga, guided hikes, mountain biking, and bathing in a secluded forest river.
Day of medical testing added to fitness retreat
In keeping with the trend to include medical testing in wellness retreat programs, Malibu-based The Ranch has created a full-day program called the Integrated Lifestyle Physical to complement its Ranch 4.0 fitness retreat at the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village.
Created in conjunction with the medical team at the California Health & Longevity Institute (CHLI), the new, day-long offering will take participants through a comprehensive medical diagnostic check-up that includes a 90-minute medical interview with a physician, laboratory analysis, fitness evaluations, diagnostic testing, a comprehensive summary upon completion, plus a three-month follow up to monitor progress.
The Integrative Lifestyle Physical testing is limited to two participants each week, with an all-inclusive rate of $4,000.
“Guests who opt for The Ranch Integrative Lifestyle Physical are taking their annual doctor’s visit to a new level,” said The Ranch founder and CEO Alex Glasscock.
Dr. Leon Henderson-MacLennan of the California Health & Longevity Institute added, “we believe a schedule of follow up and monitoring creates accountability and helps guests achieve better long-term results.”
