Christopher Boyd, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Clients not all Guests
Like many spas, the Ritz-Carlton has reached beyond its hotel clientele for business. Holbrook said about half of the spa's customers aren't guests, and many live in Central Florida. To cater to locals, the spa offers two classes of monthly memberships as well as one-day packages, some costing thousands of dollars.
Brian and Frances Giessuebel of Orlando recently became Ritz-Carlton members. They said the spa's wide array of offerings makes it more appealing than a conventional fitness center.
"They always have a water bottle and a towel waiting for you in the fitness room," Frances Giessuebel said. "It's a very clean place that doesn't feel like a gym. But what I really love are the massages. I'm a massage fanatic, and I've never had a bad one there."
Giessuebel said she and her husband consider the spa a vacation spot that doesn't require traveling.
"We can pretend we are on vacation and go home at the end of the day," she said.
The Ritz-Carlton shares its 40,000-square-foot spa with Grande Lakes' other hotel, the JW Marriott. When it opened four years ago, it immediately attracted wide attention and helped accelerate the spa movement.
As the popularity of spas grows, they are beginning to function more like businesses within businesses than hotel amenities. Hotels are turning to specialty companies to design their spas, creating spaces that are very different from their surroundings.
The Swan and Dolphin hotels at Walt Disney World share a spa designed to conjure the South Pacific. It includes a meditation garden and 13 treatment rooms.
Peter Kacheris, the hotels' general manager, said the spa has resonated with group-travel planners.
Like the Ritz-Carlton, the Swan and Dolphin are taking advantage of their spa's marketing potential. They sell products used in the spas as retail items, creating another revenue source.
"We will add spa items in our guest rooms," Kacheris said. "The usual shampoos won't do anymore."
