FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Robert Kenderdine, a visitor from Houston, relaxed in the Thalassos Bath last week at the Ihilani Spa in the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa at Ko Olina.

Pampered guests
open up their wallets

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By Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.com

Spas have become so commonplace at Hawaii resorts that it's easy to take them for just another amenity, but their ability to soak guests for hundreds of dollars is astounding

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM The Ihilani Spa also features a Roman pool. Mainland visitors make up nine out of 10 the spa's customers.

More than a dozen Hawaii hotels and resorts house their own spas, along with 1,150 hotels across the United States.

Even the Ilikai has been wooed by the trend, having recently opened a massage clinic near its swimming pool. One hour of massage and aromatherapy goes for $120.

The Halekulani was supposed to get a spa, but that was put on hold when operator Malama Salon & Spa Ltd. went bankrupt three months ago. Malama was $590,000 short of completing construction of the spa, according to a court filing. Halekulani is still planning to open a spa by spring. "It meets the needs of travelers today," said Joyce Matsumoto, hotel director of public relations.

Hotel guests have come to expect the presence of a spa, like a golf course, swimming pool, restaurant or sauna.

"Spa, like golf, is becoming increasingly important," said Mark Barnes, director of marketing for the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa at Ko Olina.

The spa business is a $10.7 billion industry that employs 282,000 people, according to the International Spa Association.

Spas are becoming increasingly popular with men, who now make up about one-quarter of spa customers.

Spas have been around since ancient times, though they acquired that name from a town in eastern Belgium known for its mineral springs.

Hawaii's resort spa history started in 1988 with the opening of the Hilton Waikoloa Village. The Ihilani was the first resort to have a spa on Oahu when it opened in 1993.

More recently, Hilton Hawaiian Village, the Pacific Beach Hotel, the Royal Hawaiian and the Kahala Mandarin have all opened spas. Three of the seven Marriott properties in Hawaii have spas.

During the holidays, nearly one of every three hotel guests use the 35,000-square-foot indoor-outdoor Ihilani spa, Barnes said. At slower times, roughly one in six guests will use it.

Just over 11 percent of U.S. West visitors to Hawaii use a spa or gym during their stay, according to state surveys filled out in the first half of 2001 by visitors, following their trips.

At Ihilani, nine out of 10 spa visitors are from the mainland, Barnes said. Only 4 percent to 5 percent of spa visitors are from Asia.

At the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort and Spa, the mix is completely different. More than 60 percent of the people who use the property's Na Hoola spa are Japanese, said Ron Nomura, hotel marketing director. Another 20 percent of spa clientele are locals, and the remaining 20 percent come from the mainland and elsewhere.

STAR-BULLETIN / JULY 2001 Annalee Teodoro-Wurman used garlic and kukui nut oils for massage at Serenity Spa at the Outrigger Reef Hotel.

Both hotels are focusing promotion efforts toward mainland visitors, not the Japanese. The Hyatt is happy with the number of Japanese it receives.

The Ihilani is in search of visitors from greener pastures. Hawaii's visitor arrivals from Japan have been slow to recover since plummeting after Sept. 11, 2001. "You know you fish where the fish are," Barnes said.

Moreover, Japanese appear more reluctant than their mainland counterparts to use a spa while they stay in Hawaii on a holiday.

Of the Japanese visitors who came to Hawaii in first half of 2001, 4 percent reported using a gym or health spa. For perspective, 11 percent of the same visitors played golf while they were here.

Those Japanese who want to use a spa during an overseas vacation can get far cheaper spa deals in Southeast Asia resorts, such as in Thailand or Indonesia.

A quick review of resorts on the Internet shows that massage, body wraps and facials that cost from $100 to $140 in Hawaii can go for less than $40 in Asia.

Labor costs are the reason, said Nomura.

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Robert Kenderdine, visiting from Houston, was under the Vichy Shower at the Ihilani Spa last week. The shower was operated by men's spa supervisor Barry Leaman. A big part of promoting the Ihilani spa is not through advertising, but through more personal public-relations efforts such as accommodating travel writers and film producers, Barnes said. Parts of the "Blue Crush" surf movie were shot at the hotel, and the film's press junket was housed there as well.

In Hawaii and several other states, paid massage therapists and their establishments must be licensed.

There are other reasons why Japanese visitors to Hawaii have different spa habits from mainland visitors. The Japanese take short vacations in the isles, with trips lasting an average of five to six days. Mainland visitors typically stay here longer, 10 days or more, giving them a day to while away in a tub. Japanese spa guests, who are typically younger women, tend to opt for a short spa treatment, though they do like to buy the retail products, Nomura said.

In addition to hotel spas, Hawaii has its share of day spas. What Hawaii does not have is a so-called destination spa, a hideaway where guests spend thousands of dollars to hide for several weeks from the outside world. Arizona has quite a few of these, and so does California.

The problem with having a destination resort spa here is that people come to Hawaii to see Hawaii, said Eric Kwan, head of sales and marketing at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental, which opened its new spa suites in July.

"I don't know that you would really be able to break it apart as a pure destination," Kwan said.

Scanning at the spa At Hilton Hawaiian Village, 3,500 people have had their inner bodies looked at intently by an Electron Beam Tomography scanner since October 2000. Most of the customers are locals. The $2 million piece of equipment, operated by Holistica Hawaii in the hotel's Kalia Tower, can detect coronary artery disease and other ailments. A full body scan goes for $1,335.