Luxury spas at US hotels have experienced further falls in profitability as less people look to use top-end services amid the deepening recession.

In the latest update of its Spa STAR report, research company STR revealed that revenue per available treatment room hour (RevPATH) declined 13 per cent during the year to June 2009 (from US$136.79 in June 2008 to US$120.88 in June 2009) at hotel spas.

According to STR vice president Jan Freitag, even hotels that have introduced discounts in services have suffered as people are simply staying away.

"The luxury hotel industry is facing a very tough operating environment," he said. "The luxury spas have not been immune to the effects. It stands to reason that operators are now giving renewed attention to locals business, which seems to have the desired effect on utilization rates."

Spa STAR is a benchmarking program for spas launched in 2007 that collects nine data points from hotels spas across the US and selected non-US markets.