It has become almost impossible not to find a spa at a Five Star Hotel. I read that the Bellagio in Las Vegas opened a spa tower at the expense of $375 million. It is a 928 room tower located above its 65,000 square-foot Spa and Salon. It has 56 treatment rooms that handle things like, hydrotherapy, massage, candlelit meditation, water falls, music, skin therapy, private showers, yoga etc… That seems like a huge investment in “Spa’s”. I say that in surprise because I used to view the spa experience as kind of the “Girls Deal”. I’m talking about the place the ladies go while the men go out, golf, fish, skydive, the usual stuff. Now don’t call me chauvinist. It’s just that I fall into the category of an old school “man’s man”. That should be description enough. To continue; last summer I was in Las Vegas and my back was killing me. It was enough that I decided to get a deep tissue massage at the hotel where I was staying. This happened to be the Excalibur. I have gotten massages before but they have always been associated with Physical Therapy visits or sports events. So I knew the benefit of the massage, but the mystique about going to the spa still seemed a bit girly to me. Not to beat that concept to death but it leads up to a very interesting statistic I will get to later. So I went and had a very good deep tissue massage. The Excalibur’s spa is called the Royal Treatment Spa and Fitness Center by the way. I also experienced the manicure. Now hold on! This was a big deal and I was thinking hey this spa stuff is pretty cool. I enjoyed my visit and decided I would like to do it again. I just wasn’t going to advertise to my friends that I had developed a liking to the spa. Here is where the statistic comes in. It appears that a third of all spa visitors are now men. Yes this surprises me. It seems that my friends were the ones not telling me about liking the spa, not the other way around. I have now retrained my male thought process to drop the girly concept around spas and enjoy them for what they are. I always new that the ladies liked the spa, but the realization that this many men enjoy the relaxing and therapeutic atmosphere as well gives me an understanding of why the hotels are investing so much in spa’s and personal luxury. Now when I stay at a hotel they are probably going to get a little bit of return on their spa investments.

Hey Desktop Traveler,
Next time in New York, check out the Affinia 50 Hotel. Believe me, I am not on their payroll! But, when I am treated exceptionally well while traveling, I like to give credit where it is due. Hence my enthusiasm for the Affina 50 Hotel.
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