TechnoAlpin snowrooms are a powerful contributor to a touchless wellness offering / photo: TechnoAlpin/Tritone
The advent of touchless wellness experiences is enabling operators to deliver benefits without direct practitioner involvement, reshaping how people experience relaxation and making wellness services scalable, efficient and accessible.
Snowrooms are part of this shift, providing cooling that can be used to deliver contrast therapy in a touchless setting.
Cold therapy with snow offers a gentle, immersive cool-down option that combines the restorative effects of cold with the benefits of a biophilic experience.
Why do we need snow-based cooling? Touchless Wellness is about leveraging technology to provide effective treatments without touch, making services more accessible and adapted to today’s needs.
Snow-based cooling solutions, such as snowrooms, provide a way for clients to cool down after a heat experience without the need for an attendant.
They also offer a gentler, more prolonged cooling experience when compared to more intense cold-water immersion, allowing clients to connect with nature while controlling their comfort level.
As more people seek personalised experiences, snow becomes a crucial element in offering an effective and autonomous contrast therapy option.
How do touchless solutions address industry challenges...? The wellness industry faces labour shortages and a demand for technology-driven services and touchless wellness is designed to respond to these shifts by allowing facilities to offer consistent experiences without relying on practitioners.
For owners, this model can be a game-changer, it decreases operational costs, maximises revenue by providing uninterrupted service and reduces risks associated with labour shortages.
...And help the mind-body connection? In addition to being rituals, these experiences are fun, meaningful and plain good for your health and wellness.
A strong body of scientific evidence tells us contrast therapy, thermal circuit cycles, or sauna and cool-down are beneficial to human health. This means there’s a mind-body-connection that provides multiple wins for the wellness consumer while also delivering a joyful experience filled with connection that just feels good.
How is cooling with snow different? I’ve come to love the gentle cool-down that’s provided by snowrooms and would even say that what sauna does with heat, the snowroom does with the cold. This means it’s fun, it makes you feel good and provides many opportunities to be social or just go inward and be reflective.
Unlike cold water immersion (which I also like), snowroom cool-downs provide just as many benefits, but they also allow people to take their time and be fully immersive and biophilic.
How does the use of snow align with the philosophy of touchless wellness? The fundamental premise of touchless is that we’re able to provide high benefits without some of the potential pitfalls in service provider-led treatments.
The experience of a snowroom becomes a self-directed journey – as with saunas, guest take themselves there.
The philosophy embodied in the work we’re doing at the Touchless Wellness Association is a direct reflection of this shift and is why its founder, Erin Lee, and myself, together with Nigel Franklyn – who is on its advisory board – are excited and convinced this new way of thinking about service delivery is one of the key emerging iterations of wellness.
Sara Brenninger is executive manager at TechnoAlpin Indoor
Alina Hernandez is advisory board member and innovation director of the Touchless Wellness Association, a wellness programme designer and industry thought leader
photo: Alina Hernandez
"What sauna does with heat, the snowroom does with the cold" – Alina Hernandez, innovation director, The Touchless Wellness Association
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Interview: Dean Kowarski
Virgin Active is transforming its gym business with 230 sites and 1.2 million members into a social wellness brand. The CEO reveals more details to Liz Terry
First person: Steamy situation
Cassandra Cavanah is moved to tears (and also a little nervous) as she joins hundreds of near-naked heat enthusiasts at this year's Aufguss World Championships
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Sara Brenninger talks
to wellness expert
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about the power of
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immersive touchless
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Interview: Fabian Dolman
How can operators make a successful business out of aufguss programmes? Thermen Resort's CEO gives some tips
Sponsored: Best of both
Alina Hernandez, Gharieni Group advisory board member, explains how Metawell – its portfolio of tech-forward mind/body technologies – is right on time for the next era of wellness
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Transform your business with fully connected, personalised and data-powered solutions that drive results
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Sponsored: Outstanding in its field
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Promotion: Rest and repeat
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TechnoAlpin snowrooms are a powerful contributor to a touchless wellness offering / photo: TechnoAlpin/Tritone
The advent of touchless wellness experiences is enabling operators to deliver benefits without direct practitioner involvement, reshaping how people experience relaxation and making wellness services scalable, efficient and accessible.
Snowrooms are part of this shift, providing cooling that can be used to deliver contrast therapy in a touchless setting.
Cold therapy with snow offers a gentle, immersive cool-down option that combines the restorative effects of cold with the benefits of a biophilic experience.
Why do we need snow-based cooling? Touchless Wellness is about leveraging technology to provide effective treatments without touch, making services more accessible and adapted to today’s needs.
Snow-based cooling solutions, such as snowrooms, provide a way for clients to cool down after a heat experience without the need for an attendant.
They also offer a gentler, more prolonged cooling experience when compared to more intense cold-water immersion, allowing clients to connect with nature while controlling their comfort level.
As more people seek personalised experiences, snow becomes a crucial element in offering an effective and autonomous contrast therapy option.
How do touchless solutions address industry challenges...? The wellness industry faces labour shortages and a demand for technology-driven services and touchless wellness is designed to respond to these shifts by allowing facilities to offer consistent experiences without relying on practitioners.
For owners, this model can be a game-changer, it decreases operational costs, maximises revenue by providing uninterrupted service and reduces risks associated with labour shortages.
...And help the mind-body connection? In addition to being rituals, these experiences are fun, meaningful and plain good for your health and wellness.
A strong body of scientific evidence tells us contrast therapy, thermal circuit cycles, or sauna and cool-down are beneficial to human health. This means there’s a mind-body-connection that provides multiple wins for the wellness consumer while also delivering a joyful experience filled with connection that just feels good.
How is cooling with snow different? I’ve come to love the gentle cool-down that’s provided by snowrooms and would even say that what sauna does with heat, the snowroom does with the cold. This means it’s fun, it makes you feel good and provides many opportunities to be social or just go inward and be reflective.
Unlike cold water immersion (which I also like), snowroom cool-downs provide just as many benefits, but they also allow people to take their time and be fully immersive and biophilic.
How does the use of snow align with the philosophy of touchless wellness? The fundamental premise of touchless is that we’re able to provide high benefits without some of the potential pitfalls in service provider-led treatments.
The experience of a snowroom becomes a self-directed journey – as with saunas, guest take themselves there.
The philosophy embodied in the work we’re doing at the Touchless Wellness Association is a direct reflection of this shift and is why its founder, Erin Lee, and myself, together with Nigel Franklyn – who is on its advisory board – are excited and convinced this new way of thinking about service delivery is one of the key emerging iterations of wellness.
Sara Brenninger is executive manager at TechnoAlpin Indoor
Alina Hernandez is advisory board member and innovation director of the Touchless Wellness Association, a wellness programme designer and industry thought leader
photo: Alina Hernandez
"What sauna does with heat, the snowroom does with the cold" – Alina Hernandez, innovation director, The Touchless Wellness Association
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
View contents of Spa Business 2024 issue 4
Editor's letter: Pleasure time
It’s time to make ‘pleasure health’ the new ‘play’ to realise the true value of the wellness sector, says Katie Barnes
Spa people: Luuk Melisse
Sanctum's co-founder Luuk Melisse on going global with the unique, spiritual workout that originated in Amsterdam
Interview: Dean Kowarski
Virgin Active is transforming its gym business with 230 sites and 1.2 million members into a social wellness brand. The CEO reveals more details to Liz Terry
First person: Steamy situation
Cassandra Cavanah is moved to tears (and also a little nervous) as she joins hundreds of near-naked heat enthusiasts at this year's Aufguss World Championships
Promotion: TechnoAlpin: In touch
Sara Brenninger talks
to wellness expert
Alina Hernandez
about the power of
real snow to create
immersive touchless
wellness experiences
Interview: Fabian Dolman
How can operators make a successful business out of aufguss programmes? Thermen Resort's CEO gives some tips
Sponsored: Best of both
Alina Hernandez, Gharieni Group advisory board member, explains how Metawell – its portfolio of tech-forward mind/body technologies – is right on time for the next era of wellness
Sponsored: Elevate your business with EGYM
Transform your business with fully connected, personalised and data-powered solutions that drive results
for members, trainers and businesses
Sponsored: Outstanding in its field
RKF Luxury Linen has had a stellar year in 2024, hitting new standards of excellence with a raft of certifications
Promotion: Rest and repeat
Starpool is drawing on science, innovation and equilibrium to offer the industry’s leading recovery solutions
Sponsored: Iyashi Dôme's Oteire
Modern consumers demand solutions that blend cutting-edge technology with proven results, and Iyashi Dôme is rising to the challenge by redefining industry standards
First person: Sparkling Water
Mary Bemis is one of the first to visit the stunning new Sacred River Spa at Four Seasons Bali at Sayan
People taking GLP-1 weight loss medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound
may be losing weight, but they’re also becoming less physically active, according to new
research presented at the ENDO 2026 annual meeting of the Endocrine Society
Global retreat trade show, Synergy The Retreat Show, has launched a resource called The
Source, which hosts an open-access online Transformation Series programme.
The Standards Authority for Touch in Cancer Care (SATCC) charity has announced its first five-
day Living with Cancer and Beyond retreat, which will be held at Carden Park Hotel and Spa in
Cheshire, UK, between 1 and 5 September.
Patmos Aktis, a Luxury Collection Resort and Spa, has opened in Greece, with a renovated and
rebranded wellness offering called Ansana Wellness and Spa.
The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, an Autograph Collection property in Hawaii, US, has opened its
22,000 sq ft indoor-outdoor Spa at Mauna Kea as the final step in the property’s overall
renovation, which has cost more than US$180 million (€166 million, £140 mill
The UK spa review and discovery platform for consumers, the Good Spa Guide, has announced
it will host the Good Spa Guide Awards 2026 during an event on 16 November at Sopwell House
Hotel in St Albans, UK.
Eighty-four per cent of consumers now say wellness is a top priority in their lives, with this
percentage increasing year on year, according to a preview presentation of McKinsey’s Future of
Wellness 2026 research report.
Mass protests have been taking place since Monday 1 June in Albania over the development of
a luxury resort by Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.
Global Wellness Day (GWD) marked its 15th anniversary on Saturday 13 June 2026, with the
theme: #JoyMagenta – a celebration of the healing qualities of simple gestures and activities
that spark joy.
Global luxury hospitality brand, Six Senses, has partnered with longevity healthcare provider,
HUM2N, to launch a clinic at Six Senses London, at The Whiteley.
In today’s premium spa environment, every detail shapes the guest experience – right down to
the softness of towels and the freshness of linens. [more...]
