Wellness has become the perfect ally for rural tourism, sharing the interests of ecology and sustainability in defense of the environmental cause, which drives this booming sector with an increasingly convinced public that health, relaxation, and rest in a natural setting are the ideal option for vacations and leisure time.
Sustainable and environmentally friendly rural tourism is becoming established in society and is becoming one of the growing sectors, with an increasingly specialized, professional, and competitive offering compared to the traditional tourism sector.
Increasingly, rural tourism establishments are integrating eco-efficient solutions, seeking a mutual benefit between nature and the tourism industry that allows them to achieve energy savings. Hotels are looking for new formulas that allow them to offer a service that is respectful of the environment and to customers who love sustainable tourism. Aware of this reality, Freixanet Wellness, both in its Professional Wellness division and in its Wellness Home division, has made the necessary efforts to develop, through its technical and project departments, the necessary teams to equip these establishments with wellness areas that adapt to eco-efficient requirements and become benchmarks for sustainable tourism.
Thus, wellness areas become an added value not only when an establishment becomes a benchmark for tourism quality, but also in terms of sustainability. To achieve this, improvements are necessary both in design and construction, as well as in subsequent operation. To successfully achieve a sustainable spa, it is important to seek advice from a specialized company that includes solutions that care for the environment among its values. Freixanet Wellness meets these requirements, seeking maximum efficiency in all its products, as achieving this means indirect savings for its clients, in addition to consuming fewer natural resources.
The improvements implemented to minimize the environmental impact in a sustainable spa follow very defined guidelines, among which we can highlight the following
-Use of natural materials throughout the center's construction. For example, wood from reforested forests is used in the saunasElimination of PVC pipes, replacing it with electro-welded polypropylene.
-Use of high-performance filters for perfect pool maintenance, with minimal water turnover.
-Excellent insulation of saunas and cabins for optimal energy savings.
-Regular inspection of equipment, hygiene and cleaning standards, and the efficient use of biodegradable and renewable materials and products.
-Cabin treatments must be natural, using healthy, natural products, free of silicones and petroleum derivatives, and with biodegradable ingredients based on algae, mud, and salts.
-Maximize the use of all spaces with natural light and views, and make efficient use of sunlight, thus eliminating artificial lighting. If a space with natural light is unavailable, low-energy lighting must be used.
-The space's climate control can be controlled with geothermal pumps, and hot water can be supplied through a solar thermal energy system.
-Installation of water reuse processes used in the spa.
Among many others, these are some of the improvements that can be implemented in a spa or wellness area, achieving facilities that comply with the principle of sustainability and respect nature. In this way, spa costs are saved, benefiting the establishment as a whole. Measures focused on energy savings, if well planned, do not represent an expense but rather significant savings for the hotelier. The goal is for the overall project to include these types of eco-efficient measures in the planning, which, in the long term, will be reflected in the hotel's operating account.
All these actions also contribute to rural tourism establishments obtaining renowned certifications such as LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design). This certification recognizes buildings that have demonstrated a commitment to sustainability by meeting the most demanding eco-efficiency standards. Another way to continue meeting these standards is through the use of renewable materials, following the Cradle to Cradle principle. To achieve this, we need to think about closed-loop systems where waste equals food, as well as exploiting the greatest source of energy: the sun.
Freixanet Wellness has already implemented and applied all of these innovations in several rural tourism properties throughout Spain, such as the Cortijo Salinas Rural Hotel located between Ronda and Grazalema, on the border between the provinces of Cádiz and Málaga, in the heart of the Sierra de Grazalema.
Freixanet Wellness has designed a complete health space for relaxation and well-being for this hotel. Temperature contrasts and water effects will offer pleasant sensations to visitors, in addition to an attractive and comforting wellness circuit. All this is thanks to the brand's most modern and cutting-edge equipment, which will provide a completely restorative rest. These include hemlock wood saunas with SUBLIMA heaters; WELLPRO® steam baths with starry skies; WELLPRO® anatomical heated benches; a VITALITY POOL, a Freixanet Wellness exclusive design pool equipped with special water features for muscle relaxation; Ice fountains so that the temperature contrast activates circulation, and a complete shower temple with a wide variety of options, such as the rain shower or the tropical waterfall.
Another wellness area in a rural setting of extreme beauty is the Aguas de los Mallos Hotel & Spa, nestled in the heart of nature and surrounded by a stunning pre-Pyrenean landscape in one of the most beautiful corners of Huesca. This innovative establishment has made a clear commitment to luxury rural tourism, sustainability, and renewable energy. To achieve these objectives in its new wellness area, it has enlisted the help of the Freixanet Wellness team.
In this hotel's wellness area, guests can enjoy maximum comfort, blending into the rural landscape surrounding the hotel, while receiving personalized and effective treatment in the treatment rooms for oriental massages or innovative facial techniques. Relaxation will be complete in the hydrotherapy circuit, which tones and purifies the body through a variety of water applications, including a complete circuit of sequential, contrast, and waterfall showers, complemented by an ice fountain. Guests can continue to enjoy the benefits of dry heat in a spacious and modern professional hemlock wood sauna, or steam in the WELLPRO® steam bath with a starry sky. Before relaxing on the reclining loungers, gazing at the surrounding landscape through a fully glazed space, featuring state-of-the-art thermal insulation to prevent energy loss, hotel guests can choose between a 70-square-meter outdoor pool with a children's area, surrounded by nature, or the indoor VITALITY POOL. where the most modern water features and more than a dozen jets have been installed, to provide an immersive sensation of water throughout the body, along with the exclusive WELLPRO® spa from Freixanet Wellness.
With the installation of this equipment at the Aguas de los Mallos Hotel & Spa, Freixanet Wellness, which has also been responsible for other wellness areas at some of Spain's most prestigious and iconic rural hotels, once again demonstrates its high technical expertise, extensive experience, and market leadership in all types of facilities. It also adds the necessary technology to its equipment to ensure it is environmentally friendly and provides optimal fuel consumption, suitable for installation in sustainable spaces such as those found in rural tourism settings—in this case, a protected area declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
