Resorts are facilities that aim to provide leisure, recreation and relaxation. They can be focussed on general relaxation and entertainment or around a specific theme like golfing, spa treatments, skiing etc. Resorts differ from hotels as they provide a range of leisure and recreational facilities apart from basic food and lodging. They are generally located away from busy cities and towns to enable the guests to enjoy a complete break, away from the rush and hassles of daily life.
Based on their location and the kind of facilities they provide, they can be divided into activity focussed facilities like ski, golf and spa resorts, or into recreational facilities like beach and destination resorts. In this article, we shall be focussing on spa resorts and their features.
Spa Resorts
These are facilities focussed on providing a complete spa experience to their guests, but over a longer period of time. They provide a variety of facilities including fitness sessions, individual spa services, meditation areas and wellness instructions. They can be located near natural hot springs or medicinal waters.
Characteristics of spa resorts
Spa resorts have some key features that differentiate them from regular resorts. Some of these have been listed below:
· Philosophy - This is the most important differentiator between a spa resort and a regular resort. While regular ones are focussed purely on guest enjoyment and entertainment, spa resorts are focussed on providing the guests with a holistic way of living. They are retreats where the guests can rejuvenate themselves. They are centred around facilities that help the guests to re-energize, away from the grind and turmoil of day to day life
· Location - These tend to be located in isolated places to provide their guests the benefit of peaceful and natural surroundings. These can be mountain areas, secluded riversides or nature reserves and forests. Access to towns and cities is generally limited as the guests are expected to spend the majority of their time within the premises.
· Facilities - While all resorts provide basic spa facilities, spa resorts are focussed around them. They provide a comprehensive list of amenities like massages, aroma therapy, hot springs, yoga, meditation, body wraps, variety of special baths, fitness training, etc.
· Food and beverage - This is also an important differentiator between a regular and a spa resort. These facilities focus on healthy eating and thus a healthy diet forms a key part of their philosophy. They provide a balanced diet that avoids excessive oil, sugar and salt usage. Alcohol intake is also generally discouraged. Some of them even provide customized food services to suit the specific disposition of their guests.
Benefits for the owner
These resorts also provide benefits to the owners, which a regular resort might not be able to. These include the following:
· Higher occupancy - These are seen as providing a specialized service, not being offered by a regular resort. This becomes a key marketing and differentiating factor for the resort, which can lead to increased occupancy.
· Revenue per guest - Guests come to these facilities to avail their specialized services. While basic spa treatments are generally part of their packages, many guests go in for specialized treatments that increase the revenue per guest.
· Customer satisfaction and repeat guests - Like any other specialized service, guests who like the services provided by the resort are likely to come more frequently. Since the focus is not on sight-seeing and new experiences, spa resorts tend to have a higher repeat customer base.
This article aims to provide information on spa resorts. The characteristic features and myriad benefits of these facilities have been highlighted.
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