A recent survey carried out by the Healing Hotels of the World group says that hotels with a holistic approaches and a focus on health and wellbeing are, basically, doing good for everyone. Healing Hotels members usually offer services like spas, meditation, yoga, life coaching and healthy eating, and we've never heard people complain that somewhere had too many spas (although we're not quite sure if getting analyzed by a life coach is quite what we want on our holiday).
The survey also found that a hotel focused on these kinds of add-ons also makes for a better working environment:
Hoteliers reported deeper commitment from their employees when the whole philosophy of the hotel revolved around wellness and healing
So the hotel workers are happier, which surely means they serve us better, and everyone goes to bed at night healthy and happy. Who said a spa can't change the world?
It seems there are more than just funky artist communities and sensible beaches in south-west England: Devon also boasts a fancy spa resort in the form of the Dart Marina Hotel. Recently refurbished (aren't they all), Dart Marina sells itself as being located on "one of the most spectacular estuaries in Europe", and since most people aren't sure what an estuary really is, who's gonna call them on this? With one of those over-adjectived websites, we always get a little bit sceptical that the food might be slightly less than "extraordinarily tasty" and the spa facilities not quite as "unsurpassed" as they claim.
And when we get hold of last weekend's Guardian review it turns out our scepticism may be on the money. While reviewer Rafael Behr is plenty pleased with the medical-like touches to the spa resort (they erase the guilt, apparently, by helping you believe that it's a necessity instead of a luxury), he suggests that the whole resort might be a bit on the bland side. He has two big gripes: the rooms have those terrible plug-in "lavender-copy" air fresheners, and the informal restaurant did something quite unwelcoming:
The soundtrack to dinner was a single CD programmed to repeat. There is no surer way of making guests feel they have outstayed their welcome than to force them to memorise the track list of your one Lounge Classics Vol VII album.
Fair point. Room rates (starting at $250 a night in March) do include breakfast and dinner, though, so at least your repeating-CD-nightmare doesn't feel like it comes at an extra cost.
When it's not enough to provide benefits for the holidaymaker's body like herbal wraps, ayurveda, fancy massage therapy and yoga galore, you have to start dealing with your guests' minds. That's the message we're getting from the Como Shambhala at Uma Ubud on Bali, which has just started offering the services of a counselling psychologist.
It'd be nice if being on holiday was mental therapy enough, but perhaps some people have trouble adjusting to the lack of tightly scheduled routine, the excess of time spent lying by the pool or the presence of delicious foods prepared by somebody else. It mightn't be long before psychological travel becomes the new catch phrase of hotel and spa stays.
According to plenty of hit or miss celebrity dailies, Britney Spears checked into Sanctuary @ Camelback Mountain on New Years Day to recover from the "exhaustion" caused end of 2006 antics that we are all too familiar with.
Sanctuary is luxe spa hotel which accommodates both hotel guests and local resident members. Sometimes these two groups end up fighting like the Hatfield's and the McCoy's (usual arguments: locals think they own the place, those from away act better than the locals--blah, blah, blah). What both groups agree on are that the facials and other spa treatments offered here are amongst the best in the biz.
Oh, and one recent negative review from a tipster that came in over the holidays is sure not to bother Britney:
They only had one private dressing room which I would be using because I am a modest person and don't typically walk around naked in public with strangers.
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by amandak
