By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser Staff Writer
The spa trend has hit the stately Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hawai‘i Hotel, which will join other full-service resorts by building a spa and fitness center, additional suites and tennis courts.
Plans call for construction to begin later this year on a 13,000-square-foot spa and fitness center. Opening is anticipated in the second quarter of 2002, said Eric Qwan, director of sales and marketing for the Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hawai‘i.
"There’s definitely a need in terms of expectation from guests of a five-star hotel," Qwan said. "Spas have become quite popular in the past two years."
The move is part of a trend islandwide of resorts attempting to pamper their guests and to tap into the trend worldwide toward health and wellness.
The Hilton Hawaiian Village last month announced an alliance with the Mandara Spa at its new Kalia Tower scheduled to open in May. Last year, the Royal Hawaiian opened its spa, and the JW Marriott ‘Ihilani Resort and Spa at Ko Olina has been marketing itself as the resort for spa treatment since it opened. Outrigger properties have added three full-service on site spas: on the Big Island at the Outrigger Waikoloa Beach, on Maui at Outrigger’s Wailea Resort, and on O‘ahu at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach in Waikiki.
Last year there were an estimated 5,689 spas throughout the United States, a 19 percent increase over 1994, according to the International Spa Association’s 2000 spa report. The industry showed revenues of about $5 million in 1999.
"The consumer trend toward health and aging baby boomers is what is pushing the trend," said Nancy Griffin, The Wellness Resource president, a trend-research firm. "Meeting planners are asking for spas."
At the Mandarin, the new two-story spa and fitness center will be for guests only, said Anne Kusao, a consultant at Kusao & Kurahashi Inc., a planning and consulting firm hired by the hotel. A facility exists already, but is small. The hotel also plans to add five new units to its beach suites, build a tennis court and expand the swimming pool.
The cost of construction has not been determined, she said.
The hotel needs to do an environmental assessment and obtain a special management area permit from the the City Council before construction can begin.
"The main reason is to keep up with the other hotels, and guests are asking for more pampering," Kusao said. "These renovations are being done to keep upgrading the hotel. It’s a big thing for resort hotels. The demand is there for pampering."
Asian tourists have found it fashionable to visit spas. The operator of the Royal Hawaiian facility, Be Mind Co., operates 11 spas in Japan and has offices in Los Angeles and Shanghai.
The Mandarin was closed for more than a year in the mid-1990s while the hotel underwent a $75 million remodeling. At the same time, the hotel changed flags from Hilton to the Mandarin Oriental. The 368-room hotel was built in 1965.
