A new survey has revealed that while US consumers are losing their appetite for hotel restaurants and room service, they appear to be expressing a desire for spa and wellness.

According to PKF Consulting USA’s (PKFC) Trends in the Hotel Spa Industry report for the second consecutive year, hotel spa revenues and profits have increased faster than other sources of hotel revenue. Spa department revenue in hotels increased by 5 per cent, comparing favourably to the 2.3 per cent increase in food and beverage revenue, the second largest source of revenue for most hotels.

“Spa revenue initially lagged behind the growth of other revenue sources during the early stages of the recovery,” said Andrea Foster, vice president and national director of spa and wellness consulting for PKFC. “However, the 2012 increase in spa revenue is a trend we anticipated would occur. There has been a notable focus shift to wellness, specifically taking better care of ourselves for improved health and quality of life, of which spas are an important part.”

Massage, skin care, and bodywork continue to generate the most revenue at hotel spas. Combined, these services represented 72.6 per cent of total spa revenue at the properties in the survey and grew by 4.7 per cent in 2012.

A total of 125 hotels were with the report allowing hotel spa owners and operators to benchmark their revenue and expense ratios on a per-available-room, per-occupied-room, per-square-foot, and per-treatment-room basis. Day spas, destination spas and leased spa operations were not included in the survey.