Gaga for spas
Virginia resorts go on a spending binge to give their guests pampered treatment

by Jessica Sabbath
Virginia Business
April 2006

For Michi Magee, a hot stone massage at Wintergreen’s expanded luxury spa is the most relaxing part of her vacation. When this New Jersey mother of two escapes to her Wintergreen Resort vacation home in the Blue Ridge Mountains, she doesn’t miss an opportunity to indulge in the Lastone Massage at the Wintergarden Spa. “It’s my favorite thing to do on vacation,” says Magee, who’s owned a Wintergreen home with her husband since 2001. “It contributes to the whole relaxation and getting away experience . . . I also enjoy the pampering.”

Magee sees the availability of spa treatments as a necessity in choosing where to vacation, and she’s not alone. An increasing number of travelers and conference goers expect an opportunity to escape into the soothing ambiance of a spa and indulge in a range of exotic treatments, from oatmeal gommage and honey wraps to aromatherapy massages.

In response to the increasing demand for spa treatments, Virginia resorts are spending millions to add or transform their limited-service spas into luxury “destination spas,” where guests can escape daily pressures for a full-fledged spa experience in tranquil surroundings. “The spa really has made the transformation from being simply an amenity at a resort to a core element,” says Kate Mearns, chairman of the International Spa Association (ISPA) and director of sports and spa at the Kingsmill Resort & Spa in Williamsburg.

Recently, the Lansdowne Resort in Loudoun County and Wintergreen opened multimillion-dollar destination spas to replace their limited spa options. Later this year the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the Founders Inn in Virginia Beach are scheduled to open expansive spas, and The Homestead in Hot Springs — a well-established and award-winning destination spa — plans to almost double its number of treatment rooms in 2007.

“Our competitors are offering the spa experience, and if they don’t, they know they ought to be,” says Lloyd Williams, vice president of sales and marketing for Wintergreen, which opened a $4 million overhaul to its spa in late November. “It’s almost a given under the category of a resort.”

The spurt of enhanced spas at Virginia resorts follows a national trend in the fast-growing $15 billion health spa industry. There are currently more than 12,000 spas in the United States, according to ISPA, and resort spas are the industry’s fastest-growing segment. Between 1999 and 2004, the number of American spas increased 128 percent, and the number of resort spas increased 290 percent.

Mearns attributes the popularity of spa treatments to increasingly busy lifestyles and a growing acceptance of spa treatment benefits. “People want to relax and balance their lives,” says Mearns, who has seen an increasing demand for spa services at Kingsmill, which opened its destination spa in 1996. “When people are away, whether they’re on vacation or whether they’re at a conference, they understand that the spa’s an opportunity to relax.”

Similarities are apparent throughout Virginia’s newest resort spas. Each has a wide-ranging menu of massages, body wraps, facials and salon services, a treatment room or two specifically for couple massages and lounges for relaxation before and after treatments. Typically, a 50-minute Swedish massage will cost about $90, a body wrap can range from $95 to $150 and 50-minute facials run about $95.

Invigorating aromas, earthy hues and soft music await guests who are encouraged to leave everyday cares behind as they don thick spa robes and slippers before treatments. While the ambiance varies from spa to spa, each is designed to make guests feel pampered and to offer a distinctive flair, befitting the resort.

Wintergreen, for instance, used a mountain top location to its advantage. The resort placed the 12,000-square-foot spa atop the resort’s highest peak, Devil’s Knob, giving spa-goers an expansive view of the Blue Ridge mountains from 4,000 feet above sea level while they receive services in one of 13 treatment rooms. The emphasis on natural surroundings is apparent even at the spa’s entrance where two fountains greet guests with the relaxing sound of water gurgling over rocks.

After looking at national trends, Wintergreen directors decided to morph the resort’s limited-service spa into a destination spa. “Before, no one was going to come up here for a spa experience,” says Williams, since the ski and golf resort offered only limited services. “Now it’s a destination spa as opposed to an amenity.”

The resort has already seen benefits since it opened last November, reports Williams. Ski guests are staying longer and advanced bookings for the spring golf season are up over previous years. In recent weekends, the spa has been booked solid. “We’re definitely seeing an effect in the short term,” says Williams.

A destination spa is one of the final projects of the $60 million overhaul of the Lansdowne Resort. The 12,000-square-foot Spa Minérale opened in March, quadrupling the size of its former spa, which included just a couple of treatment rooms. “It’s really being built as a destination spa, and could stand on its own and drive business to the resort,” says Josh Herman, director of public relations for Lansdowne Resort. “With our old spa, we were sold out a lot of the time. There obviously was a big demand for spa services.”

About 80 percent of the resort’s business is from meeting and conference guests. Resort directors hope the new amenities will increase the number of leisure guests and appeal to meeting planners as well. “We’ve really done all of these renovations to target more leisure customers,” says Herman. “Also, the trend around the country is that groups have more time for golf and more time for spa activities, and we’re seeing a huge demand for that.”

The facility includes 13 treatment rooms and three lounges, each equipped with a fireplace. Products include its own Spa Minérale items, many made from Virginia soils. Nearby Luck Goose Creek Quarry was used to produce many of the salts, scrubs and muds used in its product line. The resort also plans to use the dogwood, Virginia’s state tree and flower, as an astringent in many of its products.

The Founders Inn in Virginia Beach is adding a $4.3 million spa set to open May 15 for a simple reason — its conference guests asked for it. “We’ve just gotten so many requests for it that we couldn’t ignore it,” says Steve Migliara, director of sales and marketing. “We just had to give our clients what they’re asking for. When we get overwhelming requests from our clients, we need to spend our money to stay competitive.”

Conference clients increasingly want amenities for their guests during free time. The 10,000-square-foot spa and fitness center will include six treatment rooms and a 2,500-square-foot conservatory, with ceiling-to-floor windows for spa-goers to relax in over-sized furniture with views of the resort’s private lake. “This is so before and after their treatment they’re not in a lobby, they’re in a nice tranquil environment, taking some time taking in the entire process,” says Migliara.

The spa will include a heated indoor pool and is located steps away from the resort’s new zero-entry outdoor pool — featuring fountains and a circular slide for children.

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, which operates five hotels, sees a new spa as the missing piece to its resort. “From a hotel product offering, we have all of the amenities and all of the facilities of any great resort in the mid-Atlantic area,” says Perry Goodbar, vice president of hospitality sales and business development for Colonial Williamsburg. “We have golf, shopping, dining, tennis, biking. But overall, the missing element for us was a spa.”

The foundation is renovating a three-level brick building that once housed its folk art museum into a 25,000-square-foot fitness and spa facility that includes 12 treatment rooms and is scheduled to open in late 2006. The facility will include an indoor pool. The building sits between the Williamsburg Inn and the Williamsburg Lodge and Conference Center, which is currently undergoing a major renovation and expansion. “We’ve always offered limited massages, but no soaking tubs or further amenities,” says Goodbar. “The spa just opens up a whole new arena for us in that regard.”

It will incorporate the historic theme of Virginia’s 18th century capital, and Goodbar promises it will be different than a “trendy” spa. The new spa will join others in the Williamsburg area, including Elements, a 3,400-square-foot spa at Great Wolf Lodge, which opened last year.

An increased demand for luxury spa services at The Homestead Spa — known as the oldest spa in the United States — has inspired an expansion of its spa and fitness facilities starting in 2007 as part of a five-year renovation of the resort. The project will likely increase the number of treatment rooms from 17 to 30. “It’s extremely important to the customer today that goes on vacation that they have a place to go to rejuvenate,” says Gary Cherrett, the Homestead’s vice president of marketing.

“It’s just exploded,” adds Cherrett. “Ten or 15 years ago very few hotels had a spa, and now every hotel and resort has a spa.”