Aqua Platinum luxury home spa heat treatment facility

Once confined to the realm of cars, bags, watches and palatial luxurious homes arrives a new status symbol: your own home luxury spa. At-home spas are a 2017 luxury home trend which spiked recently as luxury home owners started adding bio-saunas, iced lunge pools, experience showers, aquarium walls, and Russian-style banyas in addition to their collection of Bill Viola art  and Yayoi Kusamas installations. There are various options for those looking to create their own at-home DRY SAUNA, from traditional models for those seeking an authentic experience to infrared for those wanting the latest in leading technology.

In context, whether you love art or merely use them as status symbols for your mansion, the global art market achieved total sales of $63.8 billion in 2015; meanwhile, the global wellness industry encompassing all types of spas including the luxury spa offerings are estimated to be worth $3.7 trillion per year according to the Global Wellness Institute.

“It’s not just about having an indoor pool any more. Those who are committed to their health and wellbeing are opting for saunas, steam rooms, Jacuzzis, plunge pools, experience showers and spa pools with volcano jets and sprays for back, neck and shoulder massage. It’s about blending scientific advances in fields like sports exercise with ancient relaxation wisdom to create the ultimate bespoke vitality experience in your own home.”

New Status Symbol: Your Own Home Luxury Spa

When Scottish tennis superstar Andy Murray acquired Cromlix House, close to his hometown of Dunblane, it signalled not only a return to his roots but the chance to reinvent the glorious era of grand country house living.

Aqua platinum luxury home spa installation of hot sauna and cool bio-sauna

Following extensive refurbishment in Spring 2014, the tennis champion transformed the elegant Victorian Perthshire mansion into a luxury 15-bedroom and Gate Lodge, five-star destination where guests could experience the sort of decadent lifestyle once enjoyed by the Lairds of Cromlix. The Cromlix House hotel boasted a Chez Roux restaurant,  five suites and ten bedrooms, gate lodge accommodation, reception hall, two drawing rooms, conservatory, dining room, snooker and meeting rooms. But in Jan 2017, Murray announced expansion plans  to extend the five-star hotel and feature 30 additional bedrooms, a conference and events area, an athlete’s gym as designed by the tennis star and of course, spa treatment rooms with state of the art designer Bio-saunas, Russian banyas & aquarium walls.

Aqua Platinum indoor pool

Aqua Platinum indoor pool and wet lounging area, part of a complete luxury home spa treatment.

Aqua Platinum and 2017 Luxury home spa trends

High end swimming pool design and build company Aqua Platinum is taking a responsive approach as consumers take an ever more educated approach to their wellness, inspired by sporting idols like Murray.

“The wellness and vitality industry has boomed in recent years and as the range of products and experiences on offer has expanded, so too has consumers’ curiosity. As we become more appreciative of the value of wellness to our daily lives, consumers are educating themselves on how best they can take advantage of both ancient traditions and modern technology.” – Aqua Platinum

At Aqua Platinum, the luxury home spa takes a vintage meets modern approach where technology enhances the in-home spa experience following age-old traditions. For instance, the sauna is a centuries-old Finnish concept, ubiquitous in Finland and a long favourite of spa-goers in the United Kingdom but now an increasing number of UK luxury home owners are opting to including one as part of a suite of spa facilities including a plunge pool (maintained at 5-10°C) that they can jump into immediately afterwards, for maximum benefit; a technique similar to traditional Japanese Onsen.

Aquarium walls are all the rage now according to 2017 luxury home trends and add to complete relaxation in addition to the home spa experience.

Thus, it can be surmised that this technique of combining of treatments in order to use them is most effectively is an inter-cultural, cross-national tradition birthed from good-old “centuries of wellness experimentation”. Heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill, tennis player Andy Murray and runners Paula Radcliffe and Mo Farah are among the few elite athletes who have commented about the benefits of ice-cold water on muscles and blood flow.

That said, one doesn’t have to be constrained with the cultural inclinations of the spa process, there are multiple variations of sauna styles. The Japanese style sauna is hot and humid while the hot and dry saunas are popular with the Finnish. 2017 luxury home spa trends tend to lean towards cooler, wetter bio-saunas but there are also those seeking the Russian style banya (a high humidity room that is similar in many ways to a bio-sauna).

Aqua Platinum sauna with a view of the pool outside.

Combining the new with the old also allows for an interesting visual aesthetic, combining the simple if elegant presentation of natural materials with the sleek modernity of contemporary features. Wood and natural stone constitute their main elements while enhanced by soft lighting concealed beneath benches and backrests, while fibre optics can provide a delightful twinkly effect in the ceiling similar to what you might find in a Rolls-Royce.

One more modern design feature that is becoming increasingly popular in luxury home spas, admittedly inspired by the many hotel spas which now feature it, is an aquarium wall. According to Allan N. Schwartz, PhD, “fish tanks are a wonderful way to further reduce anxiety and stress”. Aquarium walls are the ideal example of blending ancient relaxation knowledge such as this with modern design techniques.

As the high-end home spa market expands, so too do the range of facilities and treatments that are on offer. It was once enough to have an indoor pool. But now, pursuit of a new status symbol demands that your luxury home spa now includes the latest in wellness facilities.