The cutting edge of wellness is getting sharper. Not to worry: The only thing spa-goers will feel is enhancement of their physical and mental well-being.
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The cutting edge of wellness is getting sharper. Not to worry: The only thing spa-goers will feel is enhancement of their physical and mental well-being.
Touchless wellness technology is a new and growing segment of the spa industry that predated the pandemic, but gained steam during that time. People sought alternatives to traditional therapies that were suspended at spas for the safety of clients and staff.
My introduction to touchless wellness came in May 2019 at the Hotel & Spa Forum in Paris that, among other things, showcased products to advance wellness through technology. Among the products that caught my eye were the Halogenerator that employs tiny salt particles to detox the skin and open up the body’s airways, and the Vibragenix that uses sonic vibrations to exercise cells with the intensity of an hour of cardio; this provides improved circulation, lymphatic health and sports performance.
After personally experiencing these and other touchless offerings at the conference, I extended offers of partnerships to their developers on behalf of Carillon Miami Wellness Resort to feature these innovations at our spa under the banner of “touchless wellness technologies.” Several developers were interested. So, too, were Carillon Miamis’s guests and residents, whose desire for wellness grew precipitously during the early months of the pandemic and remains undiminished today.
When the Spa at Carillon Miami reopened amid the pandemic in summer 2020, we offered seven touchless wellness experiences. Today, we offer 20 and have essentially become a North American showroom, attracting interest from spas and resorts across the continent seeking to expand their guest services beyond traditional treatments.
Top Treatments
For the uninitiated, there is quite a bit of touching involved in touchless wellness technologies, but it is surface level via vibration, light, sound, scent and other means alternative to the soothing hands of spa therapists.
Among Carillon’s top touchless treatments is the Wellsystem Wave Massage, which uses dry water massage—heated water that runs head-to-toe beneath the soft surface of a vinyl mat—to relieve tension and pain throughout the body. It also provides clients with a feeling of floating weightlessly as the motion of the ocean beneath them activates deep layers of tissue and loosens their entire muscle system.
Easily programmed or reprogrammed at a given moment via an intuitive touch display, the Wellsystem is equipped with a slide-over dome that offers stimulation including a relaxing beauty light, sound system and aromatherapy to soothe the senses throughout the experience.
There is also Indiba Deep Beauty, a noninvasive technology that applies a monopolar radiofrequency of 448 kilohertz to the body via a handheld device, encouraging collagen production, oxygenating tissues and cells, and increasing circulation while activating cell metabolism and the cells of connective tissue, also known as fibroblasts. All of this helps the skin regenerate, recover lost elasticity and decrease fat, making the technology effective for both body contouring and skin health.
Finally, the BioCharger NG is a cloud-based health optimization platform that generates variable pulsed electromagnetic fields to restore cell energy, reduce inflammation and pain, encourage healing and improve immune health, circulation and blood oxygenation. Resembling a glowing piece of scenery from a vintage sci-fi movie, the BioCharger NG was a hot exhibit at the annual Medical Wellness Congress in Vienna this past April 2023, as attendees lined up to sample some of its 1,200 healing modalities.
No one could actually feel the frequencies coursing through their cells, of course. But if they had held a light bulb in their fingertips as they sat near the BioCharger NG, the globe would have glowed!
Related: Touchless Tech Is Taking Over the Spa Industry
Delivering Touchless Tech
Key to the appeal of touchless wellness for the spa industry is how the technologies can be experienced back-to-back to address a range of physical and mental concerns, keeping clients engaged in revenue generation for extended periods.
Early on at Carillon, for instance, we packaged multiple touchless technologies into circuits, starting with a Muscle Recovery circuit that quickly found followers, including four teammates of the Miami Heat and a female bodybuilder who competed professionally.
Since its rebranding as Recovery & Pain Management, the circuit now offers four touchless experiences including the BioCharger NG, as well as Whole Body Electric Cryotherapy, which dips to temperatures as low as -275° F to reduce fatigue, soreness and chronic pain.
The circuit also features Avacen 100, a high-tech mitt about the size of a breadbox, which delivers negative pressure and heat to clients’ hands. It encourages blood flow through arterio-venous anastomoses for muscle relaxation throughout the body. Meanwhile, the Relounge Wave Mat serves up mid-frequency electrostimulation and heat therapy to ease back pain and tension.
The Recovery & Pain Management circuit keeps guests engaged, relaxed and on their way to wellness for about two-and-a-half hours, as do the six other themed circuits on the menu at Carillon’s spa: Relaxation & Stress; Sleep Well; Skin Conditioning & Anti-Aging; Detoxification & Optimal Weight; Better Your Back; and Couples Wellness Journey. The first three, including Recovery & Pain Management, have proven particularly popular, addressing the needs of so many people who are still in a heightened state of anxiety from the pandemic.
On the Horizon
With all of the above and new touchless technologies under development, some may wonder if the days of traditional spa services are numbered. Hardly!
At Carillon Miami, I’ve noticed patterns of usage shift year to year. In 2020, guests would purchase single treatments for whatever ailed their minds and bodies. By 2021, they were buying touchless treatment series: 5 or 10 experiences for a special rate. Come 2022, our wellness circuits really started to catch on.
Now, guests are pairing touchless wellness with traditional treatments, like following up a BioCharger NG session with a facial or massage.
We also include touchless wellness treatments within multi-day holistic health and wellness retreats, which are led by visiting experts and focused on themes like longevity, women’s health, relaxation and more. Participants are inevitably dazzled by the technologies, which provide in-depth, comprehensive and personalized wellness journeys.
Still, I can’t help but be impressed with the degree to which our clients have embraced these new means of heightening personal well-being. There are 38 treatment rooms within the 70,000 square feet of Carillon Miami’s spa, 20 of which are reserved for touchless treatments. All are quite busy and business continues to grow, with revenues from the technologies having risen more than four-fold since 2020 and forecasted to climb another 33% during 2023.
It comes as no surprise that other major spas and resorts are catching on and finding innovative ways to use touchless wellness for their guests. The CEO of a sizable ski resort brand with 27 properties throughout Canada recently visited our spa to check out the Recovery & Pain Management circuit. His goal, he said, is to get guests to ski for two days when they’re at his resorts, so offering them a circuit to relieve their aches and pains will get them back up to the top of the mountains for more.
In the meantime, the developers that I’m in touch with believe the sky is the limit on touchless wellness. One engineer told me he is always on the lookout for wellness-related equipment that he can enhance with technology, because more and more wellness seekers are becoming open to it.
With the spa sector not yet fully recovered from the pandemic downturn and staff shortages still an issue throughout the hospitality industry, touchless wellness technologies are getting clients interested in just the right way at just the right time.
Tammy Pahel, VP of spa and wellness operations at Carillon Miami Wellness Resort, is a transformative and strategic spa, wellness, fitness and retail executive with 30 years of leadership experience. She’s responsible for all spa, health, wellness and fitness operations at Carillon, including forecasting, talent acquisition, learning and development.
