Beauty's Spa: Dollar Down, Chakra Up.

The director of the Spa at Conrad Maldives just got back from Spa Asia and says she's seeing an industry-wide trend: bite-size samples of alternative treatments. The economy hasn't resulted in the spa drop-off full stop but the treatments are changing. Clients are moving from beauty work to wellness work. Instead of putting down $150 for a facial, they're more likely to look at alternatives like reiki, light therapy, gemstone energies, etc.; the same "trippy-dippy” treatments that met with resistance in the past are suddenly drawing a lot more curiosity. Good thing since I've had energy work spectacular enough to move internal mountains.

Presumably, people are looking for deeper value from their spa expenditures, or because they're just more desperate for a spiritual uplift. In response to this trend, several spas are attaching small samples of these treatments to otherwise standard massages. The Conrad Maldives recently attached 8- or 10-minute alternative treatments to more than half of their standard offerings. While the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island has always been at the forefront of the wellness mission (they were the first in the Maldives to offer a full destination spa and currently have three distinct spas on property, with resident experts in reiki, acupuncture, meditation, sports medicine and yoga) they are seeing an increase in client interest in alternative energy work. Last month they launched a first-of-its-kind treatment program with Dorrisima, with eight chakra-based treatments that each interweave color therapy, light therapy, sound therapy, reiki, and a tea ceremony. Feels like Om, indeed.