Suppliers and operators have a responsibility to ensure that all their clients understand the benefits of each thermal bathing practice, says Erin Lee, project director at Drom. In an exclusive Thought Leader column for Spa Opportunities, Lee discusses ways in which they can help educate their end users.

Understanding the benefits of today’s thermal bathing, by Erin Lee

Everyone’s spa journey is different. Suppliers and operators have a responsibility to ensure that all their clients understand the benefits of each thermal bathing practice and how they interrelate, so that customers can achieve optimum well-being from their personal experiences.

Understanding how to use each room – and what etiquette can be expected – also makes the spa experience less daunting. Suppliers can educate the operators at the time of install.

For instance, they can help them understand that sitting in a communal sauna for ten minutes after a workout is not as beneficial for achieving maximum wellbeing as following a specific sauna-bathing process of heating and cooling the body.

Explaining the benefits of adding water to the stones to create steam and teaching staff how to manipulate the air within the room – and why – will greatly enhance the experience for their clients and ensure those guests become regulars.

When installing wet zone equipment, it is important that the supplier ensures the right product is specified to do the job and withstand wear and tear over time. It is also important that the rooms themselves are constructed correctly, using waterproofing systems and appropriate drainage.

We often find that little consideration has been made for the location of the equipment, especially as more functions are now being expected, including fragrance injection systems, fibre optics, steam blasts, experience showers, ice machines, etc.

The suppliers should be consulted at the very beginning of any new scheme to prevent costly mistakes occurring later. A traditional sauna is more of an expected spa ‘experience’, with more intense heat and steam involving cooling treatments along with the thermal rituals; however, infrared saunas can also be a beneficial element of the spa journey.

An infrared sauna is not a traditional sauna and uses radiant heat to target muscle tissue, easing tension and reducing arthritic pain, which some clients will find valuable. The air temperature in an infrared does not get to extreme temperatures, and the target is not to induce sweating.