Business Travel
Should You Consider a Spa?
If
you’ve ever wondered what’s behind the explosive growth in the
number of upscale resorts in North Carolina and around the nation,
Peter Yesawich has the answer.
Yesawich, president of Yesawich, Pepperdine & Brown, an Orlando,
Fla.-based marketing, advertising and public relations agency, says
recent research conducted by his firm shows that while one out of six
travelers want to play golf, one out of three wants to be pampered in
a spa.
“People are feeling a sense of time poverty,” says Yesawich.
“They want to take a break and indulge themselves in stress
reduction.”
Recent events, including the terrorist attacks last September, seem to
have fueled the backlash against hectic lives and sent people on a
mission to find more relaxation. And resort spas seem to be
rejuvenating occupancy rates as well as feeding the souls of guests.
The International Spa Association polled its members three months
after the Sept. 11 tragedies and found that group bookings at spas —
be it corporate outings or mother/daughter visits — had increased
dramatically.
Purist spas, such as the famed Canyon Ranch Resort in Tucson, Ariz.,
that offer full medical staffs and concentrate on weight reduction and
health improvements, have been around for years. The growth in spas
today is among those dedicated purely to pampering guests.
In the last year at least three acclaimed resort spas have opened
across the state in Asheville, Charlotte and Pinehurst.
“The spas have added a whole new dimension to a trip to one of North
Carolina’s resorts,” says Greer Bowen Beaty, director of public
relations for the N.C. Division of Tourism, Film and Sports
Development. “Many of the properties that were known for their
convention business, by adding a spa have encouraged those going to
the convention to bring their spouse.”
Management of Asheville’s Grove Park Inn credits its subterranean
spa with helping the resort deliver its best performance ever to start
the year in terms of both occupancy rates and average daily rate. What
makes the record even more impressive is that January and February are
generally slower months, the travel industry is still feeling the
effects of 9/11, and the resort’s golf course had been closed for
renovations over the past year.
“We built the spa just to be another amenity for our guests, much
like the pool, tennis courts and restaurants,” says Dave Tomsky,
media and public relations manager for the Grove Park. “It has
turned out to be an attraction in and of itself,” helping bring in
guests from across the country.
Just months after the spa opened in February 2001, USA Today named it
among the top 10 spas in the world. The $40 million facility was
constructed underground so as not to block the inn’s famous sunset
views from the veranda. The spa, built with 4,000 tons of native
granite and offering eight water features and a main spa pool, served
60,000 people last year in its 24 treatment rooms.
In April, resort spas opened at the sparkling Ballantyne Resort in
Charlotte and at the famed Pinehurst Resort.
Pinehurst’s resort spa includes an indoor lap pool and cascading
whirlpool, as well as separate steam, sauna and whirlpool areas for
men and women. The spa has six massage suites for couples and 28
treatment rooms for an array of indulgent treatments.
Ballantyne Resort, which opened last September, launched its
full-service, all-European spa this spring with members of the NBA’s
Chicago Bulls, in town to play the Charlotte Hornets, among its first
guests. The spa offers everything from botanical facials to salt and
sugar exfoliations.
The Spa at Grandover Resort in Greensboro opened in June 1999 and now
rivals golf as a favorite activity among the resort’s guests.
Spa visits are up 300 percent from opening day, says Jerry Lotich,
director of sales and marketing — so much so that when booking a
group meeting Lotich checks spa availability as much as guest room and
meeting space availability.
Around the state there are a number of other spas at some of North
Carolina’s most celebrated destinations, including a spa and fitness
center at The Sanderling Inn Resort in Duck, where guests can gaze at
the waters of the Currituck Sound while relaxing during a spa
treatment; The Spa at The Greystone Inn in Lake Toxaway, located in an
elegant mountain lakeside inn where you can be pampered with massage
therapy as well as hair, nail, body and skin care; Westglow Spa in
Blowing Rock, a full-service European-style spa with a staff that
assists with factors of good health and diet; Mountain Waters Spa and
Retreat Center at Lake Lure; The Panes, a residential spa retreat in
Burnsville; and one of the state’s oldest resorts with a spa, the
Hot Springs Spa & Resort in Hot Springs.
While spas still primarily appeal to women, more men are beginning to
try the treatments and more spas are catering to couples.
“The spa compliments the golf course,” says Wayne Shusko, managing
director for Bissell Hotels, which owns Ballantyne Resort. “We’re
not only attracting the spouse who doesn’t play golf but also the
one who does who comes to the spa after a round on our course.”
— Laura Williams-Tracy
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