By Susie Ellis, SpaFinder Insider
Thought you might enjoy this article, “Istanbul’s Booming Spa Culture Is Revisiting Old Turkish Bathhouse Rituals” for your weekend reading!
Jayda Uras who is quoted in this Wall Street Journal article just sent me the link and I am delighted to share it with you right away so you will be among the first to know about something that is “sizzling” here in the U.S. (I am a NY Times reader and might not have come across this until later… so thank you to my network for helping keep all of us informed!)
This article titled “Hammam Rejuvenation” will be of particular interest to those who will be attending the Global Spa Summit in Istanbul in May. Many of the hammams mentioned are on the Summit itinerary. However it should also be of interest to others who are connected with the spa and wellness industry.
The market seems to be embracing more of these kinds of fantastic authentic European/
Eastern European spa traditions, helping educate consumers and of particular importance stressing the therapeutic value of these experiences. Not only is this great news for the architects and manufacturers of hydro/thermal experiences (note the additional article about the sauna underneath the hammam article) but it also reinforces our industry’s commitment to authenticity.
Oh… and did I mention that one of SpaFinder’s Top 10 Spa Trends for 2010 was “Year of the Hammam?”
I just love it when this happens…
My twitter address: @susieellis
Hi Susie,
I appreciate your thoughts and leadership but I would hope that you might clearly differentiate the top trends for resort spas and day spas. Being from Budapest (where I grew up and began my career as an esthetician) I absolutely love Hammans and the whole experience that they bring. But they do not translate into the American dayspa guest’s lexicon (I am not sure that they ever will). There was one quote that really stood out when you mentioned this in your top trends; “spa owners and designers love them [hammans] because they are show pieces that look great” (I am paraphrasing).
The expense that is required to properly include a Hamman in a dayspa establishment (and all but the most well-funded and luxurious of resort spas) is far beyond anything that such an expense would reasonabe be expected to generate in revenue, not to mention profit (or opportunity costs when accounting for unused space that might otherwise be generating revenue).
I place the Hamman in the same category as a wet room (or vichy shower) or steam room or sauna or other “resort” type experience. Dayspas would be well-advised to stay away from these cash-intense investments because they will never bring in anything near the revenue that the sales person used to sell the product in the first place.
Just my two cents and I feel bad about this because my background and history makes me predisposed to loving the Hamman (and other wet-room) type spa experiences.
Dear Eva,
Thank you so much for your email – you’ve made some very good points. You are so right about the costly expense of building a spa making it very unlikely we will see hammam day spas anytime too. (Although I understand there will be one opening in New York city this summer – however NY is a special circumstance because of the high density.) It is a shame because the hammam experience is so great.
One thing that gives me a glimmer of hope however is that some of the hydro/thermal companies (most from Europe) have been creating smaller versions of hammams that can be used for individual treatments or couple’s treatments that are beginning to make more economical sense. When I was in Istanbul last year, most of the hotel spas I visited told me that their hammams were constantly booked – that they were the most popular treatment. And since they were charging a very healthy price for these hammam treatments (many were for couples) they actually have become quite lucrative. I think the one advantage they have over steam rooms, saunas and whirlpools is that the consumer isn’t likely to expect them to be free which they have learned to expect from the steam/sauna/jacuzzi – at least here in the U.S.
It will remain to be seen how things develop but I have my fingers crossed that we will be seeing more hammams and that more people will be able to enjoy them and the results a good scrubbing and soaping give.
I tried to get an RSS Feed to this website & for some odd reason it isn’t properly displaying in Google Chrome. Does anyone have any suggestions??
Thank you for the comment. Chrome acts this way with all RSS feeds. Here are 2 solutions:
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-I hope this helps.