Spas tips

When brothers Tony and Nate DeLois opened The Francis, a boutique hotel in Portland, Maine, back in 2017, they realized something was missing in the market. “There has been a lot of hotel development in the past 10 years in Portland, and every new hotel that has been built on the peninsula has been branded,” said Nate, the co-principal and chief financial officer of Uncommon Hospitality.

Hotels increasingly consider wellness investments as travelers’ expectations evolve, but what trends are rising, and which services are the most profitable after accounting for everything?

I received a lot of reader response back in March when I wrote about hotel strategies in wellness. So I went back to the well on wellness and found fresh data from another authoritative source.

When visiting Tokyo, it’s key to book a luxurious hotel that feels like a serene retreat removed from the crowds. After all, Japan’s sprawling capital is populated by 37 million people, making it the single largest city in the world.

Going to a spa in Iceland can feel wonderfully alien. Against a backdrop of barren moonscapes and denuded hills, the waters are so preternaturally blue, so exaggerated and preposterously warm, that a simple dip can feel borderline indecent. Venture from the capital Reykjavik as far as Reyðarfjörður in the extreme east and you’ll also find that the country hides hundreds of out-of-this-world geothermal pools and naturally-heated hot tubs.