1. Healthy Hotels: This year will see far more hotels serve up health-focused guest experiences and environments with accommodations offering personalized spa menus, wakeup light therapy, vitamin C-infused showers and aromatherapy. In 2014, Intercontinental Hotels Group will unveil its all wellness brand, Even, in New York City.
2. The Mindfulness Massage: A blend of mindfulness techniques (to keep the guest in the moment) and bodywork aim to help reduce stress levels.
3. Earthing: Spas are busy devising creative, soul-stirring ways to re-immerse clients into nature, from treetop massages to tented spas in the wilderness to digital-detoxes.
4. Spa-Genomic: Destination and medical spas are offering diverse genetic tests, such as nutrigenomic testing, which identifies an individual’s best eating strategies; and telomere testing, to gauge a person’s true cellular age.
5. Authentic Ayurveda and other ancient revivals: Expect more aggressively authentic and comprehensively executed global wellness experiences.
6. Color Self-Expression: Look for more in-your-face shades of hair color, Technicolor nail designs and body art.
7. Inclusive Wellness: The spa industry will rethink how it caters to people will disabilities by offering facilities and services that address their needs.
8. Label-Conscious Fitness: See intro.
9. Men: From Barbers to “Brotox”: Men’s focus on beauty has evolved since the trend emerged in 2001. Waxing is one of the biggest trends, with spas such as Bliss devising a Men’s Waxing Menu, and Manhattan’s Yelospa reporting an increase of male visits to 32% from 21% over the last four years. Brazil is expected to represent one-third of the men’s total grooming market in 2016.
10. Where the Jobs Are: The massive global wellness market is overwhelmingly understaffed. Opportunities await for spa managers and directors and beyond.
