The most compelling argument for offering a treatment to a child in your spa is a child and his parent demanding one, as it happened with at the Heavenly Spa at the Westin Mumbai Garden City this summer. Parents of 11-year-old Daniel, regulars at the Mumbai hotel, insisted that he get a massage as part of the treatment.
“He took treatment for three days. He was very aware of what goes on and what his expectations were from the therapists. He knew all about various types of massage, including hot stone massage, which is an advanced one,” says Vinaya Jadhav, assistant manager at the Heavenly Spa.
The first reaction of the hotel was to say ‘no’ since the age cut-off is understood to be 16 years. “His mom and dad insisted. We did extend that courtesy given that his parents were repeat customers at the spa. We had one of our senior most therapists involved in creating an experience that is good, keeping in mind his age,” says hotel manager Sushil Sharma.
It is not unknown for hotels to have never faced this. “It never came up as a possibility. It was taken for granted that the spa was for adults. No one even said children were not allowed,” says Anamika Gupta, who is spearheading the d’Essence Hospitality Advisory Services Initiatives. Earlier, she has been a part of various spa launch teams, including the one responsible for setting up Jiva Spa at Wellington Mews in Mumbai in 2004-05.
Spas, in India and the rest of the world follow diverse policies when it comes to little ones and treatments. “We are catering to adults in spas. We are catering to people who want to come and experience a wellness treatment. It is an adult market that we are catering to. We have other things for children, but just not spas,” says Mandarin Oriental’s group public relations manager, Sally D’ Souza. Mandarin Oriental follows each country’s regulations for age limit, but, in general, guests must be 18 and older to use spa facilities.
Spa resorts are often designed as havens of wellness and peace – not exactly compatible with children, even the guests’ own. Several resort spas, even in Kerala, discreetly let the guests know at the time of booking that children are not preferred. City hotels and a few resorts may allow children in larger areas and would ensure that children are taken care of, if the guests happen to bring them along. The Westin brand even has designated Fun Managers whose job is to keep children entertained while their parents relax at the spa.
Ashok Khanna, managing director IHHR Hospitality, who built India’s first destination spa, Ananda in the Himalayas, says that children are not allowed in his spas even at Ista, which is not a resort, but a city hotel brand.
“In Ananda we don’t allow kids below 15. They can’t stay there. It is a detox and de-stress destination. You are not giving value if you allow children. People don’t like children running around. Even your own children cause you stress because you have to look after them. You need to be completely free when you go to Ananda. It does make us let go of a lot of people, but it also attracts a lot of people. For the focus of what we are and what we are promoting, it has to be without children,” says Khanna.
Be that as it may, those who do offer treatments for children say that at no point will one witness a group of children rushing in for a treatment. The One & Only Le Saint Géran in Mauritius has recently introduced a new Junior Spa for children, tweens and teens – ages six to 16. The treatments allow parents and children to unwind together.
Several hotels treat their little guests like future customers. Badrutt’s Palace Hotel in St Moritz Switzerland, for instance, allows children in certain areas of the resort and spa. The zones designated as quiet zones are off limits. “They are our future customers. For many of them, it is the first experience that they had of a spa. We create a wow experience for them,” says Martha Wiedemann, wellness advisor, Badrutt’s Palace Hotel.
German sauna and spa company Klafs, has created a children’s spa facility at The Steigenberger Hotel Gstaad-Saanen in Switzerland, devoting an entire floor of its large Spa Luxury World, which is spread across three storeys, to children alone.
“It has become very popular. At the beginning, it was quite strange for parents to leave their children alone in the spa area, because it is not a general practice to take kids into the sauna,” says Ferdinand T Salverda, the director of the Steigenberger Hotel Gstaad-Saanen.
In India, Leonia Holistic Destination near Hyderabad has long offered a kids’ spa and salon at LEOjuventa, with a spa suite complete with stuffed toys and happy colours. But it is not the norm.
“The Indian spa industry is not seeing children as revenue generators. At the moment, I would not recommend it either. Children have to be closely monitored. There are safety issues involved. If at all, a body massage in a dedicated space would be good. But even the adult spa industry is fragmented and unregulated at the moment,” says Gupta.
The industry is very cautious when it comes to spa and children. The New York-based Ritz Carlton Westchester, for instance, clear states that while minors, age 14-17 may receive facial or massage services, there are conditions: “a parent or guardian must be in the treatment room, the child needs to be wearing a bathing suit, and the therapist needs to be the same gender as the child.”
The health aspects of it cannot be ignored. “It is bad for a child below 15 to have a massage,” Khanna says. Badrutt, which is family-friendly, does not allow children in the saunas and steam rooms because of health reasons.
“If you can give a massage to a one month old baby, why can’t we give it to other children? The children should be handled with care, should not be given pressure point massage,” says Jadhav, who cautions against facials and steam for girls below 16.
Spa specialists agree that it won’t do to simply let children in the adult zone and consider a spa child-friendly. While not many go so far as to redesign the spa itself, child-friendly interiors and treatments are needed. “The problem was that the normal wellness areas were boring for the little guests and other people complained about the children being too loud or too playful,” Salverda says. At Steigenberger, in a 150m2 area children get to sample a quaint tree sauna with a mild temperature of 40 degrees. To cool down there is water grotto with an adventure shower and waterfall. Here, soft tropical raindrops or sudden thunder and lightning are the special touches for children. Then they relax in swaying hammocks, sofas and in swinging gondolas.
Gupta has her finger on the pulse of the market when she says that increasingly wellness, lifestyle and health are getting inter linked and spa usage is no longer an indulgence but associated with health.
Wiedemann says that treatments at Badrutt focus on addressing growing pains, hyper-activity and offer a therapeutic, as opposed to a disciplinary touch. “We have a special massage for children – 20 minutes. We invite parents to be present during the treatment. So they can understand what is therapeutic about the treatment. We do massages for pressure points with unrefined, organic oils and non-synthetic products,” she says.
Many spas offer salon treatment for children while shying away from therapies. Waxing and manicures are a good way of pampering young guests while staying safe.
At the One&Only Le Saint Géran offers ‘Spa Princesses’ and ‘Spa for Boys’ packages for six to 12-year-olds. A mini manicure for girls includes a hand and arm massage. Boys get a hydrating facial treatment. The ‘Martinis and Manicures’ gives a little non-alcoholic spa-tini for under-18s and a martini of choice for the parent, combined with indulgences such as ‘Henna Together’ and ‘Hairstyling Together’.
At LEOjuventa, massages are available even for newborns. For ages five to 12 years, head massages, back, shoulder, arms, neck, foot massage with reflexology are all available. For guests over a year old, a signature massage directed to improve health and improve blood circulation is recommended.
