Skift Take

The original digital detox break gains in importance as travelers look for more ways to unplug and reconnect.

Recently, we came out with a report in our Skift Trends series, Health and Wellness in the Travel Industry. Below is an extract. 

Get the full report here to get ahead of this trend.

Carlsbad, California-based Vera Via’s recently launched Executive Health Reboot aims to not only de-stress busy C-Suite types, but get them thinking about and maintaining their wellness long after they leave. A typical week-long stay focuses on fitness education, including ways to minimize risk of exercise-related injury, stay fit while traveling and work out better in less time. Proper eating habits are tackled, including strategies for maintaining healthy choices while traveling and dining out, and prioritizing nutrition in a busy schedule. Participants are also immersed in wellness measures like stress-management.

Of course, this is a luxury health and fitness retreat with a price tag just shy of $10,000, which means high-end accommodations and healthy food that doesn’t taste like cardboard.

Canyon Ranch, in Lenox, Mass.; Rancho La Puerta, in Tecate, Mexico; and Pritikin in Miami have followed suit, offering programs at busy and often unhealthy executives.

Rancho La Puerta is also targeting families with the typical classes and spa treatments for adults plus specialized amenities for kids, including less-challenging hikes, healthy cooking classes, and art projects. There are family water classes, and at dinnertime kids can choice from a host of options like whole-wheat pizza and gluten-free pasta.

“We’ve been doing it now for two to three years, but this is the year we are really seeing more interest in booking,” says Roma Maxwell, Director of Public Relations. “I think that for our guests in particular they had always considered the Ranch to be a place for adults and it took them time to understand they can bring kids.”

Other spas are focusing on modernizing their grounds, rooms and common areas in a bid to keep up with its glossier competitors.

Last year, the 57-year-old Golden Door in San Marcos, California, underwent a massive renovation, upgrading its rooms, lobby and doubling its size to 600 acres, resulting in more hiking areas, and revamped its agricultural areas to focus on holistic, organic fare. That’s likely to better compete with global destinations like the coastal spa at Mukul Beach, Nicaragua. An example of the 100% immersive experience guests are demanding, it provides them a completely private spa experience from three hours to full day. Six separate spa buildings are connected and themed, among them, a Healing Hut, Crystal Temple and Rain Forest.

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Tags: health, spa, yoga

Photo credit: Morning hike and meditation at Rancho la Puerta in Tecate, Mexico. Rancho la Puerta

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