According to new research by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the consulting firm, a fifth of the top nonresort hotels in the United States now have spas. Of hotels in this category that are currently under construction or about to start construction, almost 40 percent will have spas, the survey found.
Bjorn Hanson, a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, said spas in business travel hotels were once 'an unusual amenity, then became common and are now emerging as expected.''
Top-tier urban hotels in the United States are building more spas, Mr. Hanson said, to respond to Americans' growing interest in spa treatments.
According to research released last month by the International Spa Association, a trade group, more than a fourth of American adults have visited a spa; 15 percent began going within the last year. The study also found that 31 percent of those who go to spas were men.
Spas can also be major moneymakers for hotels, Mr. Hanson and other industry experts say. Mr. Hanson estimated that spas have the second-highest profit margin in hotels, after rooms. Gordon Tareta, assistant vice president of spa operations at the Hyatt Corporation, says spas generate, on average, 10 percent of a Hyatt hotel's revenue. He said that figure could jump to 20 percent at city hotels favored by business travelers.
Hotels also find spas lucrative in other ways. 'If you have a 5 p.m. massage, you're not as likely to leave the hotel to have dinner, you'll stay for more services,' Susie Ellis, president of Spa Finder, a spa marketing company, said.
A number of hotel companies including Mandarin Oriental, Hyatt, Starwood, Four Seasons and, most recently, Hilton are investing hundreds of millions of dollars on spas. Mandarin Oriental so far has invested $150 million on spas worldwide and will spend another $150 million in the next four years, said Ingo Schweder, who oversee the company's spas. Mr. Tareta said Hyatt was spending $80 million on spas globally through 2008; Four Seasons is investing more than $100 million worldwide through mid-2008, said Craig Reid, general manager of the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Dallas.
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Source - New York Times
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