By Alexis Benveniste, Bloomberg News
Hotel spas were once sanctuaries of adults-only serenity, where frazzled executives and exhausted parents could escape, leaving chaos outside. But step into that same tranquil space today, and you might find a different scene: a mother and her 12-year-old daughter in matching robes, preparing for side-by-side massages. Mom opts for deep tissue, while her daughter enjoys a gentle “mini-me” massage. Nearby, a teenager waits for a specialized treatment that targets muscle tension caused by her phone use.
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What was once an exclusively grown-up domain is now being marketed as a multigenerational wellness experience appropriate for stressed teenagers, curious elementary schoolers and even toddlers and babies.
Gone are the days of dropping your children off at a “kids club” so you could enjoy a few child-free hours—parents now expect to share most experiences with their kids. And there’s a consensus, among the wealthiest parents at least, that spending money on these bonding activities, no matter how luxurious, is worth it. The wellness and travel industries have taken note, identifying the under-16 crowd as their next lucrative frontier, blazing ahead with offerings that go well beyond “Mommy and Me” manicures.
At Le Barthélemy hotel in St. Barths, home to the Caribbean’s only La Mer spa, alongside $390 moisturizer and $450 night cream you’ll find TooFruit products, a French skin-care line specifically formulated for children. And the hotel’s spa menu features a 30-minute “relaxing back massage” for kids for 80€ ($93) and a 25-minute kid’s facial for 70€. The hotel wants to offer its youngest guests “a gentle, joyful introduction to self-care,” says Spa Manager Karine Valdenaire.
At South Bank in Turks and Caicos, which opened last November, the spa’s treatments for kids mirror those on the adult menu, with age-appropriate modifications. The most popular offering, for example, is a back, neck and shoulder massage designed to help youngsters relax after a day of adventure. “Children truly engage with the experience,” says Gamze Gunay, the hotel’s director of rooms and spa, adding that kids “take their spa treatments seriously, especially when it is a shared experience with a family member.” South Bank has leaned into small touches to help kids feel celebrated. There are pillows that help them relax on the massage table, and staff will weave sparkly strands into braids for kids who get facials or massages. To cap it all off, the spa gives kids mango sorbet at the end of the treatment.
Younger guests book treatments about 10 times per week, Gunay says. “We are seeing a significant shift, where wellness is becoming a family activity rather than an individual pursuit.”
The Family That Spas Together
Children notice when they’re treated as more than an afterthought, says Gia Lee, a Chicago-based travel consultant and mother of three who recently visited South Bank. Her daughter wasn’t just “some kid” at the spa there—she was welcomed and pampered. “I could see it in how poised she was when she walked in her robe to the relaxation area for her post-facial mango ice cream,” Lee remembers. “Yes, she’s a kid, but the experience made her feel special.”
At the Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita in Mexico, parents can even sign their youngest children up for treatments. The hotel’s Babies for All Seasons program is designed for families with children from newborn to 18 months old. Parents can take their littlest ones to baby yoga and baby reflexology, which uses light pressure to “support circulation, strengthen the immune system and promote restful sleep.” Says John O’Sullivan, regional vice president and general manager: “We believe wellness is a lifelong journey that can begin as early as infancy.”
At the other end of the age cohort, the Beverly Hills Four Seasons runs a dedicated Teen Spa for guests ages 12 to 17, where LA teens can book treatments alongside hotel guests. Designed to introduce young guests to the world of relaxation and skin care, the offerings include Max Relax, a $295 hourlong treatment that includes a face and body treatment with aromatherapy, and Sweet Little Face, a $180 30-minute facial that includes cleansing and a massage.
Services aimed at teens and tweens are not just capitalizing on a vague instinct toward self-care—they often target a very specific anxiety that parents are wrestling with: the harmful effect of screens. At the Mandarin Oriental in Canouan, in St. Vincent & Grenadines, kids can sign up for a $160 “Texters Treat,” which targets muscle tension triggered by frequent phone use. The Well, a health-focused members club that’s expanding from New York to South Florida, plans to offer monthly teen programming, including yoga and wellness workshops, at its soon-to-open Bay Harbor Islands location. “The pressures on kids today are intense, in large part due to social media,” says Meg Mulholland, the Well’s senior vice president for brand and marketing. “Helping them disconnect from TikTok and reconnect with themselves—learning to slow down, breathe and feel grounded—isn’t just cute, it’s foundational.”
Maybe so, but it’s also a good sales pitch. Teens and tweens, in particular, are notoriously difficult to entice into family activities. “We are providing services for a category that has some very real generational-harmony issues,” says Gunay of the South Bank in Turks and Caicos. “More families want to vacation together but struggle to find activities that genuinely appeal across age groups. Junior wellness is becoming the solution.”
Vandana Gupta, a mom from Pennsylvania, found that out first hand. She took her three daughters, twin 13-years-olds and a 15-year-old, to the spa at Mandarin Oriental Canouan. “When I’m on vacation, I always try to plan a couple of visits to the spa, and now that my daughters are teenagers, I try to include them and take them with me,” she says. All three of her daughters got facials on their recent vacation. “They’re at that age where they’re into makeup and skin care, so they love a good facial,” Gupta said.
The Sephora Tween Effect
This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s followed the exploding interest in skin care and makeup among members of Gen Z and Gen Alpha, but experts believe that even the youngest beauty enthusiasts are searching for something more than the latest Tiktok trend. “When you look beyond the hauls and get-ready-with-me routines, what’s really happening is a return to ritual and connection,” says Erina Pindar, the chief operating officer at SmartFlyer, a full-service luxury travel agency. “These beauty practices become a way for young people to bond with siblings, parents or friends, and to explore self-expression, much like fashion once was.”
Sephora tweens may be trending, Pindar points out, but a multi-general interest in wellness is nothing new. “People have gathered in spaces like the hammam for centuries—not just for cleansing, but for community,” she says. “Today’s spa treatments for kids aren’t so different. They’re simply a modern evolution of a timeless social ritual.”
Working with kids calls for extra care, of course. Many properties require a parental presence for guests younger than 16, and children’s treatments are usually shorter than adult versions. The Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, for example, offers an “Alpha Menu” with 45-minute versions of the standard 60- to 90-minute adult treatments.
Luxury properties are also investing in specially trained staff focused on children’s safety and well-being. At the Four Seasons Punta Mita, “any therapist working with our youngest guests is specially trained in age-appropriate engagement, safety and communication,” O’Sullivan says. The spa therapists at the hotel are certified through Conocer, a professional training program in Mexico that prepares professionals to support guests at every life stage, from newborns to older adults. And the KidsWell program at the resort is led by Erika Ibarra Zepeda, who brings more than 15 years of experience in children’s wellness, along with academic training in psychology and childhood development.
Skeptics might point out that a kid-focused spa treatment, while undoubtedly relaxing, can’t replace traditional carefree play and probably won’t magically impart lifelong wellness habits or guarantee future emotional regulation. “No child ‘needs’ a spa treatment,” says Amy Larocca, author of How to Be Well, a new book about the rapacious growth of the multibillion-dollar wellness industry. “I just don’t think spa treatments are an appropriate part of childhood. I would hope that there are better ways to relax as a family than skin care and self-improvement.”
Perhaps the real question isn’t whether children deserve pampering, but whether childhood itself—messy, loud and wonderfully chaotic—is already the perfect antidote to a stressed out world.
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