Spa and Hotel news from SpaCast.com. Part of Spa Index Media Network.

Economy affecting spa and beauty routines?

When a money crunch forces a choice between prescription medications and food, that’s a crisis. Far from dire are the decisions necessary to make a checkbook balance. So when we asked readers what beauty or spa services they have sacrificed out of concerns about the shaky economy, they had ready answers.

Relinquishing a spa or beauty service and calling the gesture a “sacrifice,” she said, indicates anyone using the words in the same sentence means they “are so out of touch with what is really going on ...”

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Dubai Spa Owners anxious; too many spas, too few clients

An increase in the number of spas in Dubai might suggest that business for the industry is booming. But owners of the pampering parlours view the near future as far from relaxing.  On average, the emirate’s spas expect to see their revenue halved before an anticipated economic recovery next year. They also envisage the number of visits this year dropping by nearly 34 per cent.

The gloomy outlook comes from a survey of Dubai’s spas by the Singapore-based research company Intelligent Spas. Out of the emirate’s 62 spas, 55 replied to the survey.

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Starwood Teams with Europe's First Social Concierge Service

Hotel chain The Luxury Collection by Starwood has launched an interactive travel community within up-market social network Asmallworld.net, which it is calling Europe's first social media-based hotel concierge service.

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Canyon Ranch expands Sea Spa

Canyon Ranch, which first took its health spa operations to sea when Cunard launched the Queen Mary 2 in 2004, has announced a similar deal with Oceania Cruises. The Tucson-based company's SpaClub at Sea will debut next month aboard Oceania Cruises ships Regatta, Insignia and Nautica, and it will also be aboard the line's newest ship, the Marina, expected to be put into service in 2010.

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Hotels, Spas Enjoy Big Savings from Green Projects

By implementing energy- and water-saving initiatives, hotels and spas are illustrating how businesses across all industries can reduce their operational costs while cutting their environmental footprint. As an example, the Embassy Suites Lake Tahoe Hotel & Ski Resort has spent $250,000 less than it had expected to spend on energy so far this year after rolling out a series of energy-saving improvements that cost about $200,000, reports Green Lodging News.

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Make it a Mammogram and Spa Day in Michigan

St. Joseph Mercy Hospital and its Mercy Women’s Health Center is pleased to host a special day just for women 35 years of age and older. Local women are invited to have their baseline mammogram completed at the Mercy Women’s Health Center. Prepare to be pampered! In addition to obtaining the mammogram via the most advanced digital mammography system in Port Huron, participants also will be treated to complimentary teas and coffees, paraffin hand wax treatments, and free bone density testing. No appointments are necessary and mammograms will be read immediately on site.

Baseline Mammogram Spa Day will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday, August 6, at Mercy Women’s Health Center, located at 2601 Electric Avenue, in Port Huron, Michigan

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NJ Spa Owner Valentina Chistova comments on customer service

The Spa Industry has long struggled with finding good customer service for the front desk. If you ask any salon or spa owner what position is the most important in their business, most will say it’s the front desk. Why then is finding qualified individuals to work the front desk in a salon or spa such a struggle?

Valentina Chistova, owner of Aquamedica Salon and Day Spa in Long Branch, NJ shares her thoughts on the day spa industry’s struggle to hire professional help for the front desk.

Chistova starts off by saying, “In Russia we say: At the theater, the experience starts at the coat check. At the spa, it starts with front desk. Many salons and spas across the country continue to struggle with their front desk. Finding good, qualified front desk support is not as easy as it may seem.”

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Government Meeting? Don't Book a Spa Resort

What do Reno, Orlando and Las Vegas have in common? To some pockets of the federal government, they just seem like too much fun. 

Instead, employees at some big agencies, like the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are being encouraged to host meetings in more buttoned-down places such as St. Louis, Milwaukee or Denver.

When a conference planner for MGM Mirage's New York-New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas tried to book a conference with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, she received a polite refusal.

The Department of Justice "decided conference[s] are not to be held in cities that are vacation destinations/spa/resort/gambling," according to a May email from an FBI employee obtained by the U.S. Travel Association and viewed by The Wall Street Journal. "Las Vegas and Orland[o] are the first 2 on the chopping block."

A Department of Justice spokeswoman said, "We do have guidance that says avoid locations and accommodations that give the appearance of being lavish or are resort destinations."

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Luxury hotel chains make a play for business travelers

The drop in business and group travel because of the recession has dealt a body blow to airlines and hotels.

Part of that drop came after critics, including President Obama, lashed out at companies that rewarded executives with expensive junkets after accepting government bailout money.

At some airlines, business travel has fallen more than 20% this year. During the first two months of 2009, America's lodging industry reported losing more than $1 billion in revenue from canceled corporate meetings and events, according to the U.S. Travel Assn., a nationwide industry group.

And now airlines and hotels are fighting back with a slew of new campaigns to boost business travel.

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The 5 most expensive hotel rooms in the world

Forget about your financial worries and enter the world of the super rich, where spending almost £23,000 a night to stay at the world's most luxurious hotels is nothing special. With help from Forbes here is a list of the five most expensive hotels in the world.

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