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Rudnitsky joined Miraval last October and has been tasked will leading the global expansion of the brand
Steve Rudnitsky was named president and CEO of Miraval Group last October, and tasked with leading the global expansion of the brand, which includes the iconic wellness destination Miraval in Tucson, Arizona.
Now, Miraval has made its first big leap: the debut of a Miraval-branded spa at the St Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Orange County, California. The Miraval Life in Balance at Monarch Beach has 24 treatment rooms and 70 signature Miraval therapies, including things like ayurvedic-inspired Shamana-Karma energy rituals and floating meditation.
ESPA, which Miraval investors KSL Capital Partners also owns a stake in, has had a hand in the design and programming.
The St Regis Monarch Beach Resort is owned KSL too, no doubt making the move a no-brainer. But Rudnitsky says Southern California was picked because it has a heavy concentration of existing Miraval customers and destination spa-goers, many of whom are looking for alternatives to Tucson.
The spa is the first step in a major brand expansion for Miraval that will see the it try to replicate the full experience of its wellness destination spa in other locales. “The primary emphasis will be with other destination resorts,” says Rudnitsky. “We know we can easily adapt this experience to the California wine country, the Colorado mountains, parts of New England, Hawaii as well as parts of Florida.”
In the next five years, Rudnitsky is “very confident” there will be up to seven “full-blown” Miraval resorts in North America. “We’ve got a very, very active pipeline for that expansion,” he says.
One location not on that list is the 400-acre (162-hectare) Natirar in New Jersey, which was slated to become a Miraval property back in 2014 (see SB13/4 p38) – before Rudnitsky’s came on board. “It’s a magnificent site, but we’re really focused on resort destinations first and foremost,” he says.
It’s thought the company will seek an alternative location within the New York City catchment.
Full-blown Miraval destination resorts will be augmented with Miraval Life in Balance spas – similar to the Monarch Beach property – located in four-plus star hotels with “owners who understand the value of a Miraval-branded spa.”
While the company has a “pretty big expansion” plan in mind for the Life in Balance spas, Rudnitsky wants to first address the market with destination resorts, and then see what locations make sense for the standalone spa facilities.
Miraval has its eyes set beyond the US: locations in Mexico are on its short-list for development and Rudnitsky is also looking around London. “We’d love to get the product in the UK and really leverage ESPA,” he says. “They add tremendous value to us, given their core competencies in spa design, spa management and their extensive skincare line.”
But, Rudnitsky says, there are so many opportunities in North America – including sites in Mexico and Hawaii – that he wants to get up and running on home ground before crossing the pond.
“We have to be thoughtful about where we locate a property,” he says. “There’s got to be a certain scale and traffic of wellness or luxury spa consumers for us to be interested and roll up our sleeves and say, ‘this makes sense’.”
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
View contents of Spa Business 2016 issue 2
Editor’s letter: Who will own the well-life consumer?
It’s the wild west out there and there’s a land grab going on as interested parties make their play to own the well-life consumer. It’s not clear yet how this will pan out as the industry matures, or where spa stands in the pecking order, but the threats are clear
Spa people: Tyler Gage
Runa’s Tyler Gage working with Channing Tatum on an Amazon healing centre
Spa people: Todd Hewitt
For the first time in four years, Shangri-La appoints a global head of spas. Spa Business talks to Todd Hewitt, the man to fill the role
Spa people: James White
Thermal spa researcher and consultant to head up major overhaul of Maruia Hot Springs in New Zealand
Interview: Irene Forte
Daughter of hotelier Sir Rocco Forte and niece of designer Olga Polizzi tells Jane Kitchen why the Rocco Forte Hotel’s new spa concept is a family affair
Design: Natural wonderland
Neena Dhillon visits the striking new Keemala resort and spa in Phuket and finds out about its unique design
Science: Skin deep
Modern research is redefining the way we think about skin. Neuroscientist Dr Claudia Aguirre explains what the findings mean for spas
Promotional feature: Clarins
Clarins’ head of Spas, My Blend and Retail, Prisca Courtin-Clarins, talks about the strides the company is making in highly prescriptive skincare, and the development of hotel spa concepts with the My Blend brand
Promotional feature: Massage Heights
There’s a clear gap in the UK spa market for an affordable local offering that places an emphasis on top-quality treatments and services. Is Massage Heights, the successful US franchise chain, the solution?
Promotional feature: Neaumorinc
From a director of spa at Four Seasons to an entrepreneur who introduces exciting new beauty brands to five-star facilities, Shawna Morneau’s experience on both sides of the industry is enabling her consultancy to have an impact worldwide
Promotional feature: Dr Burgener Switzerland
Dr Burgener Switzerland to launch Haute Couture, a revolutionary skin treatment that personalises product and treatments to each person’s skin, using cutting-edge technology
Sensory zone: Set adrift
Niamh Madigan talks to researcher Justin Feinstein who thinks floatation could be a shortcut to meditation
Fitness: Defying gravity
The founder of AntiGravity® Aerial Yoga tells Niamh Madigan about the technique and a new suspension massage he’s developing for spas
Promotional feature: Gharieni
As Gharieni prepares to celebrate 25 years in the industry, founder and CEO Sammy Gharieni talks about the company’s culture of innovation, and how there will so many more exciting products to come
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...]
+ More featured suppliers
COMPANY PROFILES
Esse
Esse is a professional microbiome skincare brand founded in South Africa in 2002 by organic chemist, [more...]
Rudnitsky joined Miraval last October and has been tasked will leading the global expansion of the brand
Steve Rudnitsky was named president and CEO of Miraval Group last October, and tasked with leading the global expansion of the brand, which includes the iconic wellness destination Miraval in Tucson, Arizona.
Now, Miraval has made its first big leap: the debut of a Miraval-branded spa at the St Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Orange County, California. The Miraval Life in Balance at Monarch Beach has 24 treatment rooms and 70 signature Miraval therapies, including things like ayurvedic-inspired Shamana-Karma energy rituals and floating meditation.
ESPA, which Miraval investors KSL Capital Partners also owns a stake in, has had a hand in the design and programming.
The St Regis Monarch Beach Resort is owned KSL too, no doubt making the move a no-brainer. But Rudnitsky says Southern California was picked because it has a heavy concentration of existing Miraval customers and destination spa-goers, many of whom are looking for alternatives to Tucson.
The spa is the first step in a major brand expansion for Miraval that will see the it try to replicate the full experience of its wellness destination spa in other locales. “The primary emphasis will be with other destination resorts,” says Rudnitsky. “We know we can easily adapt this experience to the California wine country, the Colorado mountains, parts of New England, Hawaii as well as parts of Florida.”
In the next five years, Rudnitsky is “very confident” there will be up to seven “full-blown” Miraval resorts in North America. “We’ve got a very, very active pipeline for that expansion,” he says.
One location not on that list is the 400-acre (162-hectare) Natirar in New Jersey, which was slated to become a Miraval property back in 2014 (see SB13/4 p38) – before Rudnitsky’s came on board. “It’s a magnificent site, but we’re really focused on resort destinations first and foremost,” he says.
It’s thought the company will seek an alternative location within the New York City catchment.
Full-blown Miraval destination resorts will be augmented with Miraval Life in Balance spas – similar to the Monarch Beach property – located in four-plus star hotels with “owners who understand the value of a Miraval-branded spa.”
While the company has a “pretty big expansion” plan in mind for the Life in Balance spas, Rudnitsky wants to first address the market with destination resorts, and then see what locations make sense for the standalone spa facilities.
Miraval has its eyes set beyond the US: locations in Mexico are on its short-list for development and Rudnitsky is also looking around London. “We’d love to get the product in the UK and really leverage ESPA,” he says. “They add tremendous value to us, given their core competencies in spa design, spa management and their extensive skincare line.”
But, Rudnitsky says, there are so many opportunities in North America – including sites in Mexico and Hawaii – that he wants to get up and running on home ground before crossing the pond.
“We have to be thoughtful about where we locate a property,” he says. “There’s got to be a certain scale and traffic of wellness or luxury spa consumers for us to be interested and roll up our sleeves and say, ‘this makes sense’.”
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
View contents of Spa Business 2016 issue 2
Editor’s letter: Who will own the well-life consumer?
It’s the wild west out there and there’s a land grab going on as interested parties make their play to own the well-life consumer. It’s not clear yet how this will pan out as the industry matures, or where spa stands in the pecking order, but the threats are clear
Spa people: Tyler Gage
Runa’s Tyler Gage working with Channing Tatum on an Amazon healing centre
Spa people: Todd Hewitt
For the first time in four years, Shangri-La appoints a global head of spas. Spa Business talks to Todd Hewitt, the man to fill the role
Spa people: James White
Thermal spa researcher and consultant to head up major overhaul of Maruia Hot Springs in New Zealand
Interview: Irene Forte
Daughter of hotelier Sir Rocco Forte and niece of designer Olga Polizzi tells Jane Kitchen why the Rocco Forte Hotel’s new spa concept is a family affair
Design: Natural wonderland
Neena Dhillon visits the striking new Keemala resort and spa in Phuket and finds out about its unique design
Science: Skin deep
Modern research is redefining the way we think about skin. Neuroscientist Dr Claudia Aguirre explains what the findings mean for spas
Promotional feature: Clarins
Clarins’ head of Spas, My Blend and Retail, Prisca Courtin-Clarins, talks about the strides the company is making in highly prescriptive skincare, and the development of hotel spa concepts with the My Blend brand
Promotional feature: Massage Heights
There’s a clear gap in the UK spa market for an affordable local offering that places an emphasis on top-quality treatments and services. Is Massage Heights, the successful US franchise chain, the solution?
Promotional feature: Neaumorinc
From a director of spa at Four Seasons to an entrepreneur who introduces exciting new beauty brands to five-star facilities, Shawna Morneau’s experience on both sides of the industry is enabling her consultancy to have an impact worldwide
Promotional feature: Dr Burgener Switzerland
Dr Burgener Switzerland to launch Haute Couture, a revolutionary skin treatment that personalises product and treatments to each person’s skin, using cutting-edge technology
Sensory zone: Set adrift
Niamh Madigan talks to researcher Justin Feinstein who thinks floatation could be a shortcut to meditation
Fitness: Defying gravity
The founder of AntiGravity® Aerial Yoga tells Niamh Madigan about the technique and a new suspension massage he’s developing for spas
Promotional feature: Gharieni
As Gharieni prepares to celebrate 25 years in the industry, founder and CEO Sammy Gharieni talks about the company’s culture of innovation, and how there will so many more exciting products to come
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
Abu Dhabi-based investment firm Mubadala Capital has made a binding, fully financed
€1 billion
offer to acquire Pierre and Vacances SA, the European holiday resort operator behind the
continental European Center Parcs business.
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.
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...]
+ More featured suppliers
COMPANY PROFILES
Esse Esse is a professional microbiome skincare brand founded in South Africa in 2002 by organic chemist, [more...]
