Resorts and hotels along OC’s coast from Huntington Beach to Dana Point have spas, have rejuvenated them recently, or will add the amenity in the next year. Smaller coastal properties have added fitness areas and programs to emphasize health and wellness.
The properties are taking themed approaches, branding their pampering elements, and seeking niches to set themselves apart in the increasingly popular amenity category.
“To be competitive at the four- and five-star level, a hotel or resort needs a spa,” said Gary Henkin, president of WTS International Inc. in Rockville, Md., which consults on and runs spa and fitness facilities.
He said that once a resort joins the spa-and-fitness bandwagon, fitness offerings help it attract meetings and events, even if group members never set foot in one.
Such facilities “certainly influence whether a client brings an event to the property,” Henkin said.
He added that meetings planners and corporate executives attribute higher value to a property offering such elements and are likelier to choose it, and that people who attend a meeting there are more prone to say they enjoyed their stay.
Keeping guests “on-property for ancillary activities [throughout] a given program is the goal,” said Scott O’Hanlon, marketing director at Waterfront Beach Resort, A Hilton Hotel in Huntington Beach, which plans to add a 30,000-square-foot spa in January 2018, in part by swapping out current meeting space.
Plans include “indoor treatment rooms and an outdoor Zen garden,” and will be part of meetings and convention marketing, O’Hanlon said.
“For group business or wedding weekends … spa packages are very much in line with what meeting planners are looking for,” he said. “All current research and specific requests from meeting and event planners [support spas]. We believe it has yet to hit its peak.”
Brands
The new Waterfront Beach Resort facility will join other hotel spas in the city: Pacific Waters Spa at Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa and Paséa Hotel & Spa’s Aarna Spa.
Hyatt’s is currently the city’s largest hotel spa, with 20,000 square feet. California, ocean and earth themes, such as a garden and koi pond and products derived from organic elements, are prominent in its offerings.
Aarna debuted last May when Paséa opened. Hotel co-owner and manager Pacific Hospitality Group in Irvine calls the 5,800-square-foot spa “Balinese-inspired.” Aarna is Sanskrit for wave or ocean.
“We show it to groups, and it becomes something in the (event) mix,” said General Manager Scott Blakeslee.
Kimpton Shorebreak Hotel stakes its brand on a new industrial-looking gym—think burnished metal—and a climbing wall. Meetings clients have used it for group workouts and Tai Chi classes, said Marketing and Sales Director Lizzie Raudenbush.
“Health and wellness is a big part of the experience” in Huntington Beach, said Susan Bryant Thomas, chief marketing officer at Visit Huntington Beach, which promotes the city as a destination.
The coastal connection also extends south.
Sycamore Spa at Ranch at Laguna Beach encompasses about 3,000 square feet and focuses on “the healing elements of land and sea that we put together in the spa,” said Director of Sales and Marketing Jim Tolbert. The property is on Aliso Beach, and Aliso Creek runs through it, he said.
The 8,000-square-foot Ritz-Carlton Spa at Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel taps the high-end experience via its name and variety via specific treatments—Eastern treatments, such as Ashatisu or deep-tissue massage, and a Vichy room, which involves a salt scrub and rinse.
Director of Sales and Marketing Shannon Gilbert said the spa has had group buyouts and that meetings guests have extended spa lounge areas into event space, a media company event being a recent example.
Miraval Life in Balance Spa at Monarch Beach Resort took its brand from a high-end spa and resort in Tucson. The resort’s move to independent status last year—it was previously the St. Regis—included expanding the spa, which is now 30,000 square feet and looks to attract “meeting planners booking groups who expect the highest level of wellness and beauty services,” a spokesperson said in an email.
“Coastal destinations are perfect for [spas],” said John Ehlenfeldt, Visit Huntington Beach executive vice president of sales and administration. “It’s not just an oceanfront room at a meeting but a free spa day or a massage.”
Value Add
One large hotel company recently confirmed the value of high-end spas to its business model.
Hyatt Hotels Corp. in Chicago paid $215 million for Miraval Group in mid-January. Miraval had owned the Tucson resort and three other spas—including one in Dana Point.
“We are the only multibrand company exclusively focused on the higher end traveler,” Hyatt Chief Executive Mark Hoplamazian told the Wall Street Journal. “Our research has shown our guests value wellness in an increasingly intense way.”
Affiliates of KSL Capital Partners LLC in Denver owned Miraval and own Monarch Beach Resort, which they purchased in May 2014 for $317 million. Affiliates of the Pritzker family have ownership in Hyatt Hotels and 50% ownership in the Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach.
Miraval Group also helped develop the retail product line and menu at Paséa’s Aarna Spa.
Spa consultant Henkin said a high-end spa adds 20% to 28% to a facility’s net operating income and that after a year of operation should bring in about $200,000 to $225,000 per treatment room.
Miraval has 24 local treatment rooms; Hyatt’s spa has 17; Ritz-Carlton has 12; Waterfront plans 10; Paséa has 8.
Henkin said a spa facility at a hotel can add 7% to 12% to a property’s average daily rate.
“The number and kinds of groups that will come because of spa will affect ADR.”
That extends from the spa as a tipping point for landing a group event to how much a group will pay for a property with a spa.
People Pleasers
Spas and fitness facilities for group business have often been used to draw what’s known in the industry as incentive travel, or perks for top sales performers or company executives. They’re often targeted to female clients, either those choosing a larger group’s meeting spot, or the actual spa users.
Waterfront Hilton’s O’Hanlon said marketing of its new spa will focus on incentive-inclined groups. Spa consultant Henkin said most group business for spas is still incentive travel, though differences in the way men and women use them have declined. Women still use spas at a rate twice as high men—a gap that’s narrowed.
People who choose events venues, whether men or women, are “asking the same questions,” he said.
“‘Do you have a spa, and if so, what kind?’”
