Five Spa Design Considerations
Updated: Oct 14
The treatment is only part of the treatment.
Wellness is taking on a much bigger role in hospitality, and we think the spaces built around it are ready to evolve with it. The next generation of spas won’t be defined by how many amenities can fit under one roof, but by how thoughtfully the entire experience has been considered.
Here are five ideas to consider in spa design:
Design the time in between.
The treatment might be what someone books, but it’s only one part of the experience.
There’s the time before it starts. The walk from one space to another. The pause between hot and cold. Those few minutes afterward when you’re not quite ready to return to your day.
We think those moments deserve just as much thought.
Instead of designing a place to simply wait, can we create somewhere a guest actually wants to linger? Can the transition from arrival to treatment begin the process of slowing down before a therapist ever enters the room? Can light become softer, ceilings lower, acoustics quieter or views more intimate as a guest moves deeper into the spa? Can temperature, texture, scent and sound subtly signal that they’ve entered a different state of mind?
And what happens between the programmed spaces? Could the walk to a treatment room become part of the ritual? Could a garden, a framed view, a warm stone underfoot or a deliberate pause between hot and cold encourage guests to move differently? And after the treatment, rather than sending them immediately back into the world, can we give them somewhere beautiful enough to stay awhile?
As wellness experiences become longer and more layered, these in-between spaces have a bigger job to do.
Sometimes the best thing a spa can offer is somewhere beautiful to do absolutely nothing.
Treat solitude as a luxury.
Most people aren’t coming to the spa with a group. They’re coming alone.
It sounds obvious, but it changes how we think about the space.
A relaxation lounge might technically seat twenty people, but does it still feel good when there’s only one? Is there somewhere to sit without feeling exposed? Can you find privacy without being tucked away in a corner? Can you understand where to go next without having to ask?
There’s a difference between being alone and feeling alone.
As so much of our everyday lives becomes louder, busier and more connected, we think having permission to be by yourself is becoming a luxury of its own. Spa design has an opportunity to make that solitude feel intentional.
Create rituals, not just amenities.
Cold plunges, saunas, steam rooms and recovery spaces are showing up everywhere. The question is becoming less about whether you have them and more about what you do with them.
That’s where ritual comes in.
It could be something a guest drinks when they arrive, the order they move through a thermal experience, something they choose before a treatment or a small moment that signals it’s time to slow down.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. It just has to feel considered.
These rituals also give a spa something of its own. A moment a guest remembers because it belongs specifically to that experience, rather than another amenity they’ve seen somewhere else.
Instead of asking, What else can we add? We’d rather ask, What do we want someone to experience here?
Look locally before looking globally.
We borrow a lot from wellness traditions around the world, and there’s plenty to learn from them. But we think there’s just as much opportunity in looking at what already exists around us.
What does wellness mean in this particular place?
Climate, landscape, native plants, materials, food and local history can all give us clues. A spa in the desert shouldn’t necessarily feel like one on the coast or in the mountains.
Here in the desert, our relationship with shade, water, heat and the transition between indoors and out can become part of the experience itself. Somewhere else, a completely different set of conditions might lead the design.
And it can go much deeper than the aesthetic. Place can influence treatments, rituals, scent, food and beverage, materiality and how the spaces are used throughout the day.
The more wellness becomes part of hospitality, the more we think a sense of place will matter.
A memorable spa should feel like it belongs exactly where it is.
Design for the transformation.
This might be the most important question we ask:
What are you promising someone will feel when they leave?
Every wellness concept is making some version of that promise. Maybe they arrive overstimulated and leave grounded. Maybe they want to feel restored, energized or simply removed from the rest of the world for a few hours.
Once you know that, the design has something to work toward, starting from the first five minutes.
If the goal is to help someone decompress, maybe the transition from a bright hotel lobby into the spa happens gradually rather than through a single door. The acoustics quiet down. The lighting gets warmer and lower. Their phone goes into a locker. Instead of checking in while standing at a desk, they’re handed tea and invited to sit somewhere comfortable.
That shift can continue throughout the entire journey. A long, quiet corridor can slow the walk to a treatment room. A glimpse into a garden creates a natural pause. A thermal circuit moves someone from heat to cold to stillness. Spaces become progressively more private and cocooned. Even the feeling underfoot can shift from cool stone in a wet area to warm wood in a treatment space.
The transformation doesn’t have to begin when someone gets on the treatment table. Ideally, the space has already started doing some of the work.
And that may be where wellness hospitality is heading more broadly. We’re moving beyond the idea of a spa as a beautiful collection of treatment rooms and amenities toward something more layered, personal and integrated into the larger hospitality experience.
The question is no longer simply what wellness looks like.
It’s what wellness can make us feel.
And when that feeling becomes the starting point, the space itself becomes part of the treatment.
The best hospitality experiences don't happen by chance. They're intentionally designed, from the first impression to the moments guests photograph, recommend to friends, and remember long after they've returned home.
Whether you're launching a boutique hotel or reimagining an existing property, we'd love to help create a destination people can't wait to experience.
