Spa at Ojai Valley Inn a ‘Well-Rounded Experience’

Thad Hyland, general manager of the Ojai Valley Inn, said spa-goers are demanding much more from their spas than they have in the past.

“They want a well-rounded experience,” Hyland said. “They no longer want to go for a week and have a carrot juice and a piece of spinach. They want to vary their activities.”

Hyland can say such things because he thinks he has just the product to satisfy the needs of those health-minded travelers--Spa Ojai, the 74-year-old inn’s new $10-million, 31,000-square-foot site scheduled to open Dec. 21.

Among the attractions at the Spanish-style “spa village,” as officials refer to it, will be an aerobics-dance studio, an art studio with an artist-in-residence program, a salon, a cafe, a retail store, a weight room, a swimming pool, a meditation labyrinth, programs for children and a 3,500-square-foot penthouse.

The spa also will have 28 treatment areas, including massage rooms with fireplaces, treatment rooms with wall fountains, whirlpools, steam rooms, saunas and sunbathing spots.

Most of the spa services--including hydrotherapy, ayurvedic treatments and massage--cost $75 or $80 for 50 minutes, with many discounted 20-minute sessions available. A limited number of spa memberships are priced at $1,800 per year for individuals and $3,100 annually for families.

Spa Ojai “is a unique concept, very much someplace you could go and spend the day and not just get a spa treatment and a facial and leave,” Hyland said. “There’s rampant growth in the spa industry, and I think people are ready to go to the next level. Mind and body fitness is very important now. People want to get in shape and still get the pampering.”

In 1996, Conde Nast’s Traveler magazine listed the Ojai Valley Inn among the top 50 resorts nationwide, adding to a solid reputation that has served the location well, helping to attract guests from throughout Southern California.

But Hyland said the goal now is to expand the client base dramatically.

“We’re targeting a national market,” Hyland said. “We’ve been a very regional property for many years and still continue to enjoy that, attracting people from a 90-mile radius. But we haven’t been highly successful in garnering a national market.”

Hyland acknowledges the potential impact the inn and spa could have on Ojai Valley tourism, but he said the facility is simply continuing the long tradition of the area.

“The Ojai Valley does not rotate around the Ojai Valley Inn,” he said. “It’s been known for health and wellness for a lot longer than our spa, with [the philosopher] Krishnamurti and the meditation aspect--The Oaks at Ojai is a very famous spa.

“We’ve got a lot of health-oriented things,” he said. “This spa will just enhance that.”

Trinka Simpach, manager of the Ojai Valley Visitors Bureau, said she is very excited about the boost the spa could give to the community.

“It’s going to be fabulous,” Simpach said. “It probably is going to attract a more elite crowd, but it looks like there will be plenty of affordable things the normal Joe can do. A bigger, nice spa is going to attract more people, and they are going to travel around Ojai.”