Fruits, vegetables, chocolate and wine are no longer merely F&B item choices for meeting groups. They are now appearing on the treatment menus of an increasing number of resort and hotel spas, as research indicates the healing effects of incorporating F&B components into spa treatments. Such edible elements can also help reinforce a sense of place.
Lovely Libations
For example, what could be more interesting than having a viticulture scrub at a resort surrounded by vineyards? Now groups can do that in a variety of wine regions across the nation.
At the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa in California’s Sonoma Wine Country, spa treatments include a Chardonnay-Olive Oil Sugar Polish, which incorporates such locally grown ingredients as olive oil, chardonnay grape seed extract and lavender, a combination that is said to stimulate the mind, body and senses.
“As a destination spa located in the heart of California Wine Country, it is impossible not to be influenced by the local produce, products and culture of this area,” says Donna Shaffer, the property’s spa director. “We proudly feature numerous local products that inspire and showcase the magic of Sonoma Valley.”
The 226-room inn has 18,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting facilities. It also has its own source of thermal mineral water.
On the other side of the country, Keswick Hall at Monticello, in Charlottesville, Va., offers the Keswick Reserve Vinotherapy Regimen, a three-hour treatment that focuses on red wine and includes a red wine greeting, one-hour grape seed oil massage, shiraz body scrub, red wine body mask and pinot noir facial. The 48-room property includes the century-old, Italianate-style Villa Crawford estate, as well as 7,000 square feet of flexible meeting space.
Groups whose members prefer beer might consider The Ritz-Carlton, Denver, which has a spa menu that includes the Mile High Malt Scrub and Microbrew Massage. Incorporating two beers from the local Great Divide Brewing Co., the treatment begins with a frosty brew sample followed by a full-body malt scrub, a Vichy shower and a stout beer mask. The experience is topped off with a scalp massage using beer, a moisturizing Yeti beer massage and last, but not least, another chance to imbibe a cold one.
The 202-room hotel includes 13,000 feet of meeting space.
Another drink being creatively incorporated into spa treatments is coffee. One of these treatments, the Kona Coffee Exfoliation at the Spa Without Walls at the Fairmont Orchid on Hawaii’s Big Island, uses locally grown coffee, an ingredient that is recognized as having antioxidants—which work to diminish the signs of aging skin. The caffeine is said to promote circulation and help reduce the appearance of cellulite.
Located on the Kohala Coast, the Fairmont Orchid has 540 guest rooms, along with 30,000 square feet of indoor meeting space and 76,000 square feet of outdoor function space.PageBreak
Treated Sweetly
Honey serves to sweeten spa treatments at an increasing number of properties, some of which maintain their own hives. One of these, The Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes, established its own apiary two years ago and has been sourcing honey for its treatments from it ever since. These include the Harvest Glow Hot Honey Treatment, which incorporates a hot honey glaze with pineapple and papaya cells to soothe dry skin. The 582-room Ritz-Carlton is part of the Grande Lakes Orlando resort, which also includes the 1,000-room JW Marriott Orlando Great Lakes. Between them they have 147,000 square feet of meeting space.
The Grand Wailea Resort on Maui has expanded the rooftop apiary on top of its ballroom from four to seven hives and uses the honey in treatments at its Spa Grande. The spa’s Ali’i Honey Steam Cocoon begins with a full-body mango exfoliation, followed by an application of raw honey over the entire surface of the body. Eucalyptus steam is then used to maximize the absorption of the honey’s nutrients. The 780-room hotel incorporates 100,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space.
Another luscious option is chocolate, which has properties that enrich the skin. And where better to experience a chocolate-infused body treatment than The Spa at The Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Pa.?
The spa features a menu of treatments that pay tribute to the sweet treat that put the town on the map. These include the Whipped Cocoa Bath, which is like sitting in a cup of hot chocolate; the Chocolate Fondue Wrap comprised of warm mud and essence of cocoa; and the Cocoa Facial Experience, which includes an edible dark chocolate mask.
Built in the 1930s, the 278-room Hotel Hershey overlooks the town from the top of a hill and includes 25,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
The Three Springs Spa at the Barton Creek Resort & Spa in the Texas Hill Country outside of Austin offers a Southwest-inspired treatment that combines Mexican chocolate and cayenne pepper. The Mexican Chocolate Cayenne Scrub starts with a gentle exfoliation using a mix of crushed chocolate, cayenne pepper that has been used as a folk remedy to alleviate pain and discomfort, and vanilla beans. It ends by lathering the skin with vanilla body butter.
The 303-room resort boasts an 18-hole golf course and more than 43,000 square feet of meeting space, including a separate ranch-style house.PageBreak
Pampered with Produce
Perhaps nothing symbolizes a sense of place—at least historically—for Southern California’s Orange County than citrus groves, which once covered the landscape.
Citrus plays a starring role at Kelly’s Spa at the Mission Inn Hotel and Spa in Riverside, Calif., where treatments include the Orange Blossom Body Polish, which incorporates botanical extracts and essential oils from oranges, coconuts, mangos and limes. Another citrus-infused treatment, the Pure Orange Essence Microdermabrasion Facial, is said to be effective in resurfacing the skin.
The hotel, which dates to an original adobe guesthouse that opened in 1876, is now a Mission Revival-styled landmark hotel listed on the National Register. It has 238 guest rooms, 20,000 square feet of meeting space and its own museum with art, photographs and artifacts related to aviation, architecture, the California missions and the area’s citrus cultivation history.
In Florida, another locale known for citrus, the Spa at Ponte Vedra Club & Inn, located about 25 miles north of St. Augustine, pays homage to the tropical fruit in its Citrus Refresh Body Facial, a full body facial in which the essence of Florida citrus is used to revitalize the body with a gentle exfoliation, a brightening mask and a toning mist, ending with a mini-massage using Vitamin C-enriched body butter.
The 250-room historic property includes 30,000 square feet of meeting space.
At The Spa Coeur d’Alene in the Coeur d’Alene Resort, The Blueberry Rain Fusion, a new treatment launched June 1, incorporates a blueberry seasonal sugar scrub designed to smooth the skin and increase circulation and a deep-tissue massage. The 338-room resort, located on the north edge of Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, has 32,000 square feet of meeting space in its new Hagadone Events Center. Wild berries grow in the mountains surrounding the resort.
The Waldorf Astoria Spa at The Boulders in Carefree, Ariz., just north of Scottsdale, uses a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables—harvested in its organic garden—in some of the treatments provided. The seasonal sugar scrubs include cucumber mint in the summer, pear and green apple in the fall, cranberry and pomegranate in the winter, and blueberry in the spring. Located on 1,300 acres of Sonoran desert, The Boulders has 220 lodging units and more than 50,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor function space, including the 17,800-square-foot Tohono Conference Center.
Judy Jacobs is a longtime travel writer who has never met a spa she didn’t like.
