From the coconut oil at The Fairmont Orchid's Spa Without Walls in Hawaii to the fynbos plants at Pezula Resort Hotel & Spa in South Africa, more spas are finding the ingredients of signature treatments in their own backyards. It's part of an increasing emphasis on place in destination spas, says Sylvia Sepielli, a spa developer and consultant, and recipient of the International Spa Association 2006 Visionary Award.
"A spa experience, especially a destination spa, is also travel," Sepielli said. "When I travel, I want to know I'm not going to have a rubber-stamp experience." The focus on indigenous therapies and authentic regional atmosphere, she said, is an extension of that desire for a unique travel experience.
Sepielli's newest project, the Spa of Colonial Williamsburg, set to open this month , combines traditions and ingredients used by Native Americans, English settlers, African- Americans, and immigrants, such as a ginger and orange body scrub inspired by 18th-century apothecary practices.
We visited three destination spas in geographically distinct US locales and tried body treatments using local ingredients. We came away palpably smoother, and we learned a few things: that indigenous ingredients combine with architecture and design to create a harmonious whole, that good therapists can make you feel like the most important person in the world, and that a Vichy shower resembles nothing so much as a car wash.
Amid sandstone and towering pines At Sundara, guests are asked to arrive early to enjoy a purifying bath ritual that consists of an exfoliating rainfall shower using the signature sandstone body polish, followed by steam scented with eucalyptus, and then alternating soaks in hot and cool plunge pools.
