Social spa-ing is the new golf

IT’S Friday night and the techno beats are bouncing around the dimly lighted room. Perfectly groomed men and gaggles of smartly dressed young women are kicking back with wine, hors d’oeuvres and some pretty intense touching. No one is complaining about the very public interactions, especially not Leonard Lanzi.

With bare feet soaking in a sudsy pedicure tub, Lanzi, an executive with Junior Achievement, is surrounded by his employees, who seemed to be having a good time making fun of the boss’s calloused feet. Lanzi, for better or worse, invited the office to Happy Hour Friday at Dtox, a new place to socialize in Atwater Village near Griffith Park. Despite the name, Dtox isn’t a bar, or a rehab joint, but a day spa that once a month throws open its treatment room doors to add a social element to massages, facials and pedicures.

Even if that element is, “Lennie, wow, you need this!”

The serene atmosphere of the spa is changing fast. With group grottoes, coed steam baths and mud rituals for parties of eight, the spa is evolving into a place where socializing and private pampering coexist amid the steam and suds.

Solidarity in sweat

HEAD to a spa today, and you may find yourself sitting in a torrid sauna surrounded by towel-wrapped men and women, or meditating with strangers swathed only in Dead Sea mud. Some of these sweaty others could even be your coworkers: Spas are becoming the new golf, the new fancy dinner, the new healthy happy hour. They’re the luxury bonding experience that’s social and, for the most part, socially acceptable.

Group spa rituals are common to those who have experienced the Russian shvitz, Turkish hammam or Korean scrub, but they’re a significant departure from Puritan America’s distaste for public displays of the personal. The new practices slid slowly into the spa, beginning with dual massages for couples.

“Suddenly, spas were realizing that if you had a couples treatment room, it became a popular kind of activity,” says Jeremy McCarthy, director of spa development for Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

Industry research revealed that many spa patrons came for the first time because they were invited to a group event. Spas responded by making their services and environs even more welcoming.

At the new Glen Ivy Day Spas in Hermosa Beach and Valencia, architect Todd S. Voelker built a social experience into the floor plan. The area, called “the grotto,” is a series of rocky-looking rooms that vary in temperature and humidity. Here, beach rules apply: Men and women in bathing suits are swabbed with a sea kelp moisturizer, then sent to the nearly 100-degree, granite-like grotto to bake with up to eight others.

Voelker says the main room’s heat and curvy shapes were intended to give you “a feeling of surrounding you, almost like being held. Yet you can still see and hear your friends. It’s kind of a funny experience.”

When they’re ready, all the hot bodies rinse off (alone, but without shower curtains) in a cave-like nook before cooling down in a misty grotto. It all sounds pretty sexy, but people tend to avoid eye contact — perhaps because most of the guys are there with their wives.

At Qua Baths and Spa at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, men and women are diving into Roman baths, then heating up in a coed room, the Laconium. Think of it as a grand group steam that glorifies the hippie hot tub experience.

With warmed benches to hold 10 and a twinkling dome ceiling, men and women can gather in the circular setting pre- or post-treatment. The Laconium’s atmosphere is set at a sensual 115-degrees with 50% humidity. The three Roman baths vary from warm to hot to cold, but are segregated by gender.

Still, the combination of rooms for warming up with steam or hot tea, and cooling down with ice and chilly air, then resting while watching sports on TV in the men’s lounge, has helped shift the usual ratio of men to women from 3 to 1, to more like 1 to 1, a radical shift, says spa director Jennifer Lynn.

Private socializing

THOUGH such “social spa-ing,” the new term for group spa treatments, sounds like forced mixing with strangers, in practice, some spas are controlling the interaction by scheduling groups at appointed hours, renting to private parties and eliminating common areas.

At the Argyle Spa in West Hollywood, there’s no locker room, just individual, ultra-luxurious suites that look like grand hotel rooms outfitted with spa equipment. Though the setup is perfect for couples, party crowds frequently hire out the five suites for private celebrations where inhibitions are left at the door.

“It’s funny because they all run around nude together,” says the spa’s owner and director, Britney Huinker. “They’re very free.”

Though day spas took the lead in socializing their treatments, hotels are hot on their heels, especially now that many resorts are finding that spas are popular settings for — yikes — corporate retreats. Yes, you may be soaking with the boss.

If the idea of fraternizing with friends, or worse, business colleagues, when you’re wet, sweaty and covered with goop horrifies you, it should, says Diane Diehl, an expert in business protocol. Diehl was horrified at the very idea.

“It really is very unprofessional, and it puts management at a disadvantage,” she says. “It brings down the necessary boundary of respect of the position. Avoid it.”

But when the boss is scheduling the shvitz, that can be hard to do. Her advice: If you can’t gracefully decline the invitation, don’t disrobe among colleagues. And change back into street clothes before meeting up in common areas.

Partly for such reasons, some spas are shifting the group experience away from treatments and toward cafes or coed lounges. Others, such as the spa under construction at Marriott’s Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert, will accommodate socializing in a private party wing away from other patrons.

Others take a different tack. “We are looking at spa concepts that would allow a more communal experience in the wet area of the spa, so it’s not always that the men go to one side and the women to the other,” says Starwood’s McCarthy. “There may be areas where you could mix and mingle and have a social experience in the spa.”

Hollywood was early on the social spa trend. When Christine Splichal, wife of chef Joachim, built the 11-treatment room Kinara day spa four years ago, she included a sunny cafe. Patrons, many of them in the entertainment industry, quickly used the airy space for awards-season spa parties.

“They can get one treatment in private, then go to the entire spa, where it’s like a cocktail party,” says Splichal.

Dtox, the eight-month-old spa in Atwater Village, is built around a tropical-feeling central lounge, where men and women flock to the monthly happy hour, pay $39 to $99 to hang out, sip wine and get mini treatments such as pedicures and massages. Together but, thankfully, clothed.

“The whole idea of the spa is to take care of my body, my mind. I like to share that with my friends,” says Lanzi, who was kicking back in jeans but wishing he were in a fluffy robe. “I’m bringing my rugby team here next.”

---

valli.herman@latimes.com

*

SIT, SCRUB, CHAT, RINSE; REPEAT

We sampled four of the latest group spa experiences. All of them are more affordable than a comparable solo service, and all were well done. But they’re not for the shy.

The Kuyam

Ojai Valley Inn & Spa, 905 Country Club Road, Ojai, (888) 772-6524; https://www.ojairesort.com .

What happens: You and up to seven other women disrobe, and if you’re shy, don a short wrap. Pick a spot on a tiled bench in the humid, sauna-like room, drop the robe and scoop up the black Dead Sea mud. Slather until you look like you’ve been dipped in the La Brea tar pits. Once coated, a taped voice guides you and your blackened partners through a meditation that helps keep your mind off the heat — and your nakedness: “Close your eyes….” You bet they’re closed.

Price: $50, $40 as an add-on.

Ahh factor: The combination of detoxifying mud, meditation and cool shower finale is supposed to be invigorating and pleasantly exhausting. And like a good run, it was. Or maybe it was the hard work of trying to scrub away the dried-on black mud crust with a loofah and nail brush. Black cuticles? Yep.

The Hammam

Argyle Salon and Spa, 8358 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 623-9000, https://www.argylela.com .

What happens: You and a friend or two gather pre- or post-treatment in the hammam, a hot but not steamy wet room. As you apply a woodsy-scented, moisturizing scrub, you can perch on a wide marble bench that’s washed with tepid waterfalls. Sit, scrub, chat, rinse with cold water from the marble sink or overhead shower, repeat.

Price: $25

Ahh factor: If you’re not close friends, you will be after this.

The Grotto

Glen Ivy Day Spa, Hermosa Pavilion, 1601 Pacific Coast Highway, Hermosa Beach.; (888) CLUB-MUD, https://www.glenivy.com .

What happens: While wearing a bathing suit, you and a pal or partner get scrubbed by an attendant using an almond paste. Rinse off in a cave-like shower. Then, try not to laugh as you’re painted green with an aloe vera and sea kelp masque — with as many as seven other men and women. Who you may not know. Alone or with your group, you’ll bake like a gecko in the grotto’s nicely muggy and warm communal room. Rinse again in a shower cave, then cool down in the cool mist of the final grotto.

Price: $50, or $30 as an add on.

Ahh factor: Like spending a summer day in Atlanta. You’ll emerge wanting sweet tea and a porch swing, and maybe solitude.

Happy hour friday

Dtox day spa, 3206 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 665-3869, https://www.dtoxdayspa.com .

What happens: You walk into a stylish lounge filled with well-dressed men and women, eating, drinking and sighing (as the week’s knots are kneaded away). Choose a 20-minute “mini” facial, pedicure, massage and more, done in a treatment room but with doors open and street clothes on. Hang out in the group room with your pals and get dual neck massages.

Price: $39 to $99, depending on the number of treatments.

Ahh factor: Now that you’re relaxed and pampered, it’s time for a night on the town — or the couch and a movie.

And here are four more to try:

The Laconium

Qua Baths and Spa, Caesars Palace, 3570 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas, (866) 782-0655, https://www.quabathandspa.com

What happens: In addition to some exotic couples treatments, such as the Kama Sutra with Shirodhara (an oil drip to the forehead), the spa also offers elaborate bath and sauna-type treatments that men and women can share, including the Laconium, a heated, round room. If that sounds too Caligula, try the Crystal Art Body Room for group applications of Swarovski crystal “tattoos.”

Price: $35 for access to the bath and steam areas

Private parties

Kinara, 656 N. Robertson, Los Angeles, (310) 657-9188, https://www.kinaraspa.com .

What happens: You and a few dozen of your closest friends can rent the entire 11-treatment room spa for three to four hours. Count on getting private, 30-minute treatments of your choice, then gathering afterward for gourmet treats and drinks.

Price: The average treatment is $150, add food and drink and it’s about $200 a head

You dream it, they deliver it

Peninsula Hotel Spa, 9882 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 551-2854, beverlyhills.peninsula.com/pbh/spa.

What happens: The hotel spa that infuses diamonds, sapphires and rubies into its massage oils has upped the ante with private parties. The latest request? Scrabble, caviar and massages, all delivered to a private suite.

Price: $70 per person for the Champagne manicure, plus $150 to $300 an ounce for osetra caviar. The Scrabble? Priceless.

Massage and martinis

LeSpa at Sofitel LA, 8555 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 228-6777, https://www.sofitella.com .

What happens: The new spa and the just-remodeled hotel emphasize customization, whether you want vino-centric treatments for your women’s wine group, or a pink party in the four-person nail salon that comes with a private patio. The spa also does business events, in case your crew needs a neck massage for meeting sales goals. And there’s the Thursday night deal: Massage and Martinis, from 5 p.m. a free cocktail comes with every spa service.

— Valli Herman