Staffing is the single largest cost in most spa operations, and it’s also the most unpredictable. Therapist availability, sick days, recruitment difficulty, and the time it takes to train new staff to the standard the property requires all create operational fragility that directly impacts revenue. When a therapist is unavailable, a treatment room sits empty, and the income that room should have generated is simply lost.

Touchless spa treatments offer a way to break that dependency. They generate bookable, chargeable experiences that don’t require a therapist to deliver them, which means they can run consistently regardless of staffing levels. The business case is straightforward, and the guest appetite is there. For example, the global floatation tank centre market reached USD 1.23 billion in 2024 and is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.8% through to 2033, reflecting sustained consumer demand for non-contact wellness experiences.

Touchless treatments can also be packaged to sell a wellness experience with minimal impact on staff demand and operating cost. By using this offer the margin of a package is preserved and the rate of the hotel room and spa booking within the package is higher.

What Touchless Wellness Actually Means

Touchless wellness covers a broad and growing category of treatments and technologies that deliver a meaningful therapeutic result without requiring a therapist’s hands. That distinction matters because it’s sometimes conflated with self-service or low-value experiences. Done well, touchless spa treatments can command premium pricing, deliver measurable guest outcomes, and sit comfortably within a luxury spa menu alongside traditional hands-on treatments.

The category includes floatation and dry float experiences, automated massage beds and wellness loungers, crystal and vibroacoustic therapy, infrared saunas, PEMF (pulsed electromagnetic field) beds, sensory deprivation pods, and technology-enhanced relaxation environments that use sound, light, heat, and vibration in combination.

The Revenue Model Is Different And That’s The Advantage

Traditional treatment revenue is capped by the number of therapists on shift multiplied by the hours available. A busy Saturday with eight treatment rooms and eight therapists represents the revenue ceiling for that day. Touchless spa treatments sit outside that model entirely.

A dry float bed, an automated massage lounger, or a floatation tank can generate revenue during hours when treatment rooms are quiet, during periods when the spa is understaffed, or as a standalone booking that doesn’t displace a traditional treatment. Because guests are booking access to the technology rather than a therapist’s time, the margin profile is also different: once the capital cost is recovered, the ongoing cost per use is low.

Recovery of that capital investment is typically faster than for general spa infrastructure. A well-specified piece of touchless wellness technology, positioned correctly within the treatment offering and marketed to the right guest segments, can achieve positive return on investment within a year.

Which Treatments Work Best And For Whom

The most commercially successful touchless spa treatments share a few characteristics. They deliver an outcome guests can feel and describe to others, which supports word-of-mouth and repeat booking. They accommodate the solo traveller as naturally as the couple booking together. And they offer something that guests can’t easily replicate at home, which sustains the reason to book.

Floatation experiences, including both traditional wet float tanks and newer dry float technologies that remove the need for guests to enter water, consistently perform well on all three criteria. The sensory deprivation element creates a distinctive experience, the relaxation and sleep quality benefits are well-documented, and there’s no domestic equivalent. Dry float in particular has grown rapidly as spas have looked for the guest experience of floatation without the operational complexity of managing water hygiene in a shared tank.

Automated wellness beds and loungers, including those using vibroacoustic therapy, infrared heat, or programmable massage sequences, work well as both standalone bookings and as add-ons to existing treatments. A guest who has a 60-minute massage and then spends 30 minutes in a wellness lounger has spent more, occupied the space for longer, and left feeling that they received more. The therapist’s time was used for the part that requires human skill; the technology filled the gap that would otherwise have been empty time.

Crystal and energy-based treatments occupy a different market position. They appeal to guests who are already engaged with holistic wellness and who are looking for experiences that go beyond the physical. For properties with a clientele that responds to this positioning, they can be premium-priced and have very low delivery costs.

Getting The Design Right Matters

Touchless wellness technologies need to be designed into the spa rather than added to it. A floatation pod that’s been squeezed into a converted storage room or a wellness lounger installed in a corridor alcove won’t perform at the same level as one that’s been given the right physical environment. The acoustic quality, lighting, temperature control, and spatial experience around the technology all contribute to how the guest perceives the treatment and how likely they are to rebook.

If you’re planning a new spa or reviewing your existing treatment mix, get in touch to discuss how touchless wellness can be integrated into your design.

Image Source: Envato