Amid soft music, gentle lighting, pleasant fragrances, beautiful views and guided by deft, professional fingers, health spas are springing up in Hawaii faster than you can say lomilomi.
Lomilomi is the traditional massage of the Islands, a combination rough-and-gentle technique dating back to prehistoric times. Today this treatment is offered everywhere in Hawaii, along with many standard choices such as Swedish or shiatsu or Thai massages and reflexology techniques. Both vacationers and locals today are pursuing “wellness,” some with almost religious fervor, embracing natural, organic treatments for body, mind and spirit, and speaking of these things in language and tone reminiscent of dedicated oenophiles describing fine wines.
In many spas, there are special Hawaiian tropical touches such as the use of kukui nut oil, ti leaves, local mud, seaweed and the like.
Most of these facilities are being installed as integral parts of the luxury hotel experience, and the word “spa” sometimes becomes part of the name of the establishment. Treatments are priced accordingly, and most are open to non-guests as well as guests, although sometimes with a small extra charge. Spas also sell health and beauty products designed to help guests continue some of these special treatments after they return home.
Locals point out, however, that expert massages without all the glitz and glitter can still be had at much lower rates by independent therapists operating outside the mega-resorts.
Currently, these are the spa leaders, organized here island by island.
Oahu
Here on the capital island, luxury spas have come along more slowly than in other parts of the state. However, many believe the preeminent establishment throughout Hawaii is still the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa, a half-hour’s drive west of Honolulu and Waikiki. The award-winning health center offers dozens of different therapies ranging in length from 25 to 110 minutes, at prices ranging between $45 and $195. There are also special half-day and full-day programs combining several treatments and topping out at $375.
One distinctive treatment at the Ihilani is the Green Tea Detoxifying Wrap, an experience with mud mixed with extracts from both green and Paraguay tea along with certain essential oils, like sage, ivy, rosemary and grapefruit.
Back in town, the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort & Spa features its new 10,000-square-foot Na Ho’ola Spa, which overlooks Waikiki Beach from aeries on the fifth and sixth floors. It offers several massages, body treatments, body wraps, facials and waxing services for 12 hours every day. The facility opened in April, becoming the first health spa in Waikiki.
Even newer, though, is the Abhasa Spa, which partly opened in July at the venerable Royal Hawaiian Hotel, displacing the former beauty salon. It is slated for total completion later this month. The Tokyo-based company, which operates 11 spas in Japan, is offering aromatherapy using natural flowers and herbs, along with thallassotherapy, phytotherapy and a list of more traditional services like facials, body treatments and hydrotherapy.
Not to be outdone, the local Outrigger hotel chain is building its new Serenity Spa Hawaii and Rejuvenation Center, which will open at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach Hotel before the end of the year. Local and imported massage techniques will be offered, both at the spa as well as in an outcall service to other Outrigger properties.
The Hilton Hawaiian Village, Hawaii’s largest hotel, expects to have its new Mandara Spa open when the newest tower at the establishment is unveiled in the spring. Not content with run-of-the-mill equipment, management has announced that its Health & Wellness Center will feature “an ultra fast CT scanner using electronic beam tomography and high-resolution ultra sound 3-D images.”
Outside the tourist precincts in Honolulu is the Malama Salon, an Aveda “Lifestyle Salon Spa,” in Manoa, a well-known Honolulu suburb. It is the first of three to be operated under the same management. Spa services begin at $50 for facials and $80 for massages. Special features also include a Vichy Shower, which shoots water simultaneously on seven different pressure points on the body. Ultimately there will be three Aveda spas in Honolulu.
The Big Island
Health spas sprouted much earlier in the luxury resorts on the west coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. One is the Kohala Spa now installed on the vast campus of the Hilton Waikoloa Village. (That’s the hotel with the dolphins and the trains, and which many remember as a Hyatt.) Some unusual treatments include the Kohala’s Color Therapy Program and the Big Island Healing Ritual (which includes Hawaiian Kava tea served in a coconut shell).
Besides the individual massages and therapies, the Kohala Spa also offers several “rejuvenating packages,” each consisting of various combinations of treatments. These vary in price from the “Maternity Bliss” at $265 to “Honeymoon Delight” at $375 for two.
Nearby, the Outrigger Waikoloa Beach hotel is the venue for the Hawaiian Rainforest Salon and Spa. The facility says its guests can “refresh themselves with an exotic herbal body wrap or relax in a luxurious, lightly scented whirlpool bath, with the most advanced hydrotherapy system.”
The Rainforest people also say that one of the most popular massage treatments for soothing muscle tension includes applying pressure and heat to the body through the application of natural Hawaiian lava rocks.
Farther up the coast, the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel also specializes in hot rocks, along with special consultations on wellness and some seaside massages. Also on staff at the Mauna Lani Spa are an acupuncturist and a Chinese herbalist. One interesting Mauna Lani Bay specialty is Golf Conditioning, which teaches mind-body techniques designed to advance your golf game–90 minutes for $120.
A neighboring resort, the Orchid at Mauna Lani, is especially proud of its Spa Without Walls. Here guests can take their treatments either in a shoreline tented cabana or at a waterfall tea house to “let nature get involved in the healing process.” Another unusual program at the Orchid is the Wisdom of the Roses, a “rose powder massage to gently exfoliate, followed by a shower with rose gel and a nurturing rose oil massage”–50 minutes for $115.
The two hotels at the Mauna Kea Resort each boasts its own health spa. The venerable Westin Mauna Kea Beach Hotel features Light & Life, Inc., with all the standard treatments, plus several Millennium Massage combinations. Some of the more unusual choices include the Hawaiian Sea Salt Body Glow (30 minutes for $50) and the Aztec Clay Masque (one hour for $85).
The Westin Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, on the same resort campus, adds to its massage menu a Hapuna Special–a body wrap followed by a your-choice massage “guaranteed to leave you feeling like Hawaiian royalty”–two hours for $180.
Farther down the Kona coast, at the Aston Keauhou Beach Resort, is the more modest Kalona Salon and Spa. Besides the traditional therapies, the spa makes use of Hawaiian medicinal plants and herbs, including Hawaiian ti leaves applied to help remove toxins from the skin on facial massages. Also featured is custom-made Aqua Polish, which uses local sea salts along with nutrient-rich seaweed, grown at ocean research facilities on the Big Island.
Maui
The brand new Spa Moana, just opened at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa, is a sparkling addition to the spa scene. It offers all the old tried-and-true standbys–lomilomi and all that–plus some unusual classes by different health and nutrition teachers. These include lectures by some traditional Hawaiian healers, who demonstrate the medicinal powers of fruits, herbs and other exotic flora used by the ancient Hawaiians.
Sure to be popular are the Moana’s 50-minute Anti-Aging Facial, which uses marine spring water for toning and anti-free radical effects. Some body treatments involve the use of authentic Maui coffee, both regular and decaf.
Over in the Wailea resort area on East Maui, the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa has an operation it calls the Spa Grande. It includes an amenity called the Terme Wailea Hydrotherapy Circuit treatment, a water therapy that is a prelude to all massages, facials and body treatments.
The Spa Grande also likes to talk about its “East meets West” philosophy, focusing on blending traditional Hawaiian healing techniques with European, American, Japanese and Indian spa treatments and therapies. The spa is currently the largest in Hawaii, and features some dramatic architecture and colorful interior decorations.
Nearby, the Four Seasons Resort Maui seems to have every standard massage and body treatment. A couple of different wrinkles, however, include the 120-minute Hawaiian Temple Lomilomi Massage, using two therapists, i.e. four hands on the body at once, “combining ancient dance, flowing touch and conscious breath to facilitate profound relaxation, the release of limiting concepts and the integration of body, mind and spirit.” The price is $390.
Lanai
Here on the former “Pineapple Island” the Manele Bay Hotel has its Spa at Manele Bay. It features tea house and cabana massages overlooking the ocean. Guests at the Lodge at Koele, under the same management, may also shuttle over to use the spa facilities. The Deluxe Facial by the spa’s licensed aesthetician costs $90 and runs one hour and 15 minutes.
Kauai
The two super deluxe resorts on Kauai each offers a wide variety of treatments in their health spas. The Hyatt Regency Kauai Resort & Spa features a branch of the Anara Spa operation, known in many Hyatt resorts around the world. Here in Kauai each massage room faces its own private garden.
In addition to the popular massages, this Anara has several treatments that are distinctly based on native Hawaiian healing practices. Two of these are the $100 Kapu Kai ‘Alaea (Sacred Bath and Clay Treatment), which uses Honey Mango Bath Gel and a loofah pad, plus Papaya Blossom Oil. Another is the $140 Ti Leaf Cool Wrap, a popular technique to alleviate the effects of mild sunburn. On the northern shore, the Princeville Resort offers its Princeville Health Club & Spa. Besides the standard treatments, you can find a few specialties such as the 60-minute Hawaiian Salt Glow body treatment, currently $90 for guests, $95 for non-guests.
Molokai
Healing hands have even come to Molokai these days, notably at the rustic Molokai Ranch Lodge. In addition to the standard therapies, the spa has recently introduced the 75-minute Aromatherapy Facial Treatment ($100), a seven-stop process to stimulate cellular regeneration, and the 90-minute Serenity C Treatment ($130), an all-over body exfoliating together with hand and foot massage.
IF YOU GO
For further information, here are phone numbers and Web sites of some hotels and spas in Hawaii.
OAHU
JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa: 800-626-4446; www.ihilani.com.
Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort & Spa: 800-233-1234; www.hyattwaikiki.com.
Royal Hawaiian Hotel (Abhasa Spa): 800-782-9488; www.royal-hawaiian.com.
Outrigger Reef on the Beach Hotel (Serenity Spa Hawaii): 800-688-7444; www.outrigger.com.
Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel (Mandara Spa): 800-HILTONS; www.hawaiianvillage.hilton.com.
Malama Salon (Aveda Lifestyle Salon Spa): 808-988-0101; www.avedahawaii.com
THE BIG ISLAND
Hilton Waikoloa Village (Kohala Spa): 800-HILTONS; www.hilton.com/hawaii/waikoloa.
Outrigger Waikoloa Beach Hotel (Hawaiian Rainforest Salon & Spa): 800-688-7444; www.outrigger.com.
Mauna Lani Bay Hotel (Mauna Lani Spa): 800-356-6652; www.maunalani.com.
Orchid at Mauna Lani (Spa Without Walls): 800-782-9488; www.orchid-maunalani.com.
Westin Mauna Kea Beach Hotel (Light and Life Inc.), and the Westin Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel: 800-882-6060; www.maunakeabeachhotel.com.
Aston Keauhou Beach Resort (Kalona Salon and Spa): 800-92-ASTON; www.aston-hotels.com.
MAUI
Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa (Spa Moana): 800-233-1234; www.hyatt.com.
Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa (Spa Grande): 800-888-6100; www.grandwailea.com.
Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea: 800-334-MAUI); www.fourseasons.com/maui.
LANAI
Manele Bay Hotel (Spa at Manele Bay): 800-321-4666; www.lanai-resorts.com.
KAUAI
Hyatt Regency Kauai Resort & Spa (Anara Spa): 800-55-HYATT; www.kauai-hyatt.com.
Princeville Resort (Princeville Health Club & Spa): 800-782-9488; www.princeville.com.
MOLOKAI
Molokai Ranch Lodge: 877-PANIOLO; www.molokai-ranch.com.
— R.W.B.
