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Mobile spas make headway in hotels

By Nick Easen for CNN

Mobile spas that come to your room are cheaper for hotels to run.
Mobile spas that come to your room are cheaper for hotels to run.

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(CNN) -- First mobile hairdressers came to your hotel room, then massage therapists. Now it is time for mobile spas.

Instead of having to sprint through lobbies in a dressing gown to get to the hotel spa, customers in some central London hotels can get treatments including massages, facials and manicures in their room.

"Some hotels want to manage hotels -- not spas -- so they are happy about having a reliable operator to take control," Kerrin Wallace of Unlisted London, a mobile spa company, told CNN.

"Our clients range from music industry to banking, from insurance to travel."

Corporate customers also use spa parties to add sparkle to client networking events and conferences.

But some business travelers get the wrong idea about the services mobile spas offer.

"We do get calls for sleazy services now and then, but we are definitely not like that," says Body Treats spa founder Bernard Tang, from Singapore.

Massage is the most popular treatment, helping the body unwind after a flight or combat post-deal nerves or hangovers.

"More businessmen are booking facials using the prefix 'detox,' as it helps remove the girly stigma," says Wallace.

There has also been an increase in demand for traditional Thai and aromatherapy massages. The latter apparently help you adjust to time differences by inducing sleep.

Mobile spas mean that for a small investment, hotels can offer an extra service and encourage greater loyalty.

Currently Body Treats operates in people's homes, but is gearing up to offering mobile spa services in hotels.

"The start-up cost before wages for a hotel spa can be upwards of $200,000, and you only get a return after three to six years," says Tang.

"Therefore it's cheaper for hotels without facilities to use mobile spas. They can then start earning revenue straight away."


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