Omtrips Weekly · #2 · Tuesday 1 September 2026

Omtrips Weekly #2: Marriott's thermal bathing bet, Six Senses' first women's retreat, and longevity at sea

Every kind of wellness escape, and everything happening around it: retreats, plant medicine research, new stays, and the news that moves the map. Curated weekly.

The Big Story

Marriott makes thermal bathing part of the stay: hotel packages now come with Therme spa access

Spa Business24 Aug 2026

Marriott International and Therme Group have struck a global alliance: Marriott stays will be packaged with entry to Therme's vast thermal bathing complexes, and the two will research wellness design together through Marriott's Design Lab to shape future hotel spas, gyms and guestrooms. Therme's first UK site opens in Manchester, with the aim of putting a facility within a 90-minute drive of 90% of the UK population. When the world's largest hotel company builds heat and water into the core product, wellness stops being an add-on: a tailwind for every host who sells rest as the reason to travel.

Retreats

Six Senses launches its first retreat built entirely for women

Spa Business31 Aug 2026

The Yin Way Retreat: The Way of a Woman debuts at Six Senses Kanuhura in the Maldives (October 1 to 4, from US$3,361) and Six Senses Kyoto (December 11 to 14, from ¥666,000), blending Traditional Chinese Medicine with contemporary science. Expect hormonal-health workshops, yin yoga, sound healing, lymphatic and heat therapies, plus kintsugi and Daoist meditation in Kyoto, led by reproductive-health specialist Hati S Malinova. A global wellness brand formally stepping into women's health retreats is a clear signal for every host running a women-focused program.

Longevity sets sail: Lanserhof takes its reset program aboard Four Seasons Yachts

Spa Business25 Aug 2026

The Lanserhof Reset runs as an eight-night transatlantic crossing aboard Four Seasons I from Gran Canaria to Sint Maarten, November 8 to 16, with physicians, nutritionists and holistic practitioners on board and longevity-focused cuisine for every guest. A US$5,000 personalized upgrade adds private consultations and post-voyage protocols; suites start at US$18,000. Clinical wellness is moving onto the water, and the retreat format keeps finding new rooms to live in.

Ferment, forage, feel good: a Dolomites retreat on the science of fermentation

Spa Business24 Aug 2026

South Tyrol's Naturhotel Lüsnerhof is running its Ferment Series (September 2 to 6, from €744) with Berlin fermentation educators Edible Alchemy: groups of five to ten guests learn to make wild-herb ferments, water kefir and herbal sodas from foraged Dolomites ingredients. Owner Franz Hinteregger says guests want to learn, reconnect with nature and leave with practical skills, not just relax. A neat blueprint for small, skills-led retreats that sell out on curiosity.

India's retreat scene goes clinical: diagnostics, genomics and $100 million flagships

Business Today19 Aug 2026

Business Today's deep dive tracks India's shift from spa holidays to diagnostics-led wellness retreats: the US$100 million Tulah Clinical Wellness in Kerala with genomic testing and a sound-healing dome, Ananda in the Himalayas' diabetes-management focus, Six Senses Vana, and IHCL's acquisition of Atmantan. Nightly rates run from roughly ₹38,000 to more than US$1,200. Hard numbers on one of the fastest-growing wellness markets in the world, both as a destination and as a source of travelers.

Plant Medicine & Psychedelic Research

New Mexico opens applications for medical psilocybin producers, aiming to treat patients by year's end

Source NM27 Aug 2026

New Mexico's Department of Health is now accepting producer applications under the 2025 Medical Psilocybin Act, with permitting for testing labs and clinicians to follow. The state has pulled its launch forward from a 2027 deadline and hopes to begin treating patients with treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, substance use disorders and end-of-life distress before 2026 is out. That would make it the third US state with a live psilocybin program, and the first built on a clinician-gated medical model rather than the licensed-facilitator approach of Oregon and Colorado.

Costa Rica's psychedelic retreat boom faces hard questions after a tourist death

Tico Times27 Aug 2026

Following a New York Times investigation, Tico Times examines the roughly 80 psychedelic retreat centers operating in Costa Rica largely outside government oversight, anchored by the 2024 death of a 40-year-old American after an ibogaine session at a Nicoya Peninsula retreat. The Times found fewer than half of centers employed a medical professional and only about one in ten had staff trained for emergencies; a leaked Health Ministry memo signals possible closures. A sobering reminder for travelers to vet medical screening and emergency protocols, and for hosts that safety standards are the whole game.

US federal health agency tells states: get ready for psychedelic medicine

NASCSA / SAMHSA27 Aug 2026

SAMHSA has published guidance urging state behavioral-health officials to prepare clinical, administrative and budget frameworks ahead of possible FDA approvals of psilocybin and MDMA-based treatments, covering Medicaid coverage, clinician training, facility oversight and coordination with the FDA and DEA. The document is candid that evidence remains uneven and most substances stay in Schedule I. Still, a federal agency preparing the states two weeks before the FDA's September 14 public hearing is a meaningful policy signal.

Oregon merges its psilocybin and medical cannabis programs, and proposes doubling license fees

The Marijuana Herald31 Aug 2026

From September 1, Oregon Psilocybin Services folds into a single Oregon Health Authority section alongside the medical marijuana program, a cost-cutting move driven by budget shortfalls. Public comment opens the same day (through September 21, with virtual hearings September 15 and 16) on rules that would roughly double most license fees and remove reduced fees for veterans and people with disabilities from January 2027. With only 21 service centers still operating, operators warn the hike could close half of what remains: worth watching if Oregon is on your wellness travel map.

The largest psilocybin brain-imaging study yet finds order inside the chaos

Monash University / Nature20 Aug 2026

Monash University's PsiConnect study, published in Nature, scanned 62 psychedelic-naive adults with fMRI and EEG, the largest single-site psilocybin imaging dataset to date. Rather than pure disorder, psilocybin produced a structured reorganization of brain networks, and the strength of that reorganization predicted better psychological wellbeing the next day. Context mattered too: music drove more reorganization than film, a finding that speaks directly to how guided sessions are designed.

New Stays

The Red Sea Edition opens as the first resort on Saudi Arabia's Shura Island

Sleeper28 Aug 2026

Marriott's Edition brand has opened the first resort on Shura Island within Saudi Arabia's Red Sea destination: 240 rooms including 53 suites, a Foster + Partners masterplan and Rockwell Group interiors in coral stone, rammed earth and woven textures. Wellness centers on the Recovery Dome, a dedicated space for movement, mindfulness and restoration, alongside a spa and gym, with prefabricated construction chosen to protect the island's ecosystems.

Raw luxury on Crete's wild southwest: The Revery opens near Elafonisi

Sleeper27 Aug 2026

A 24-key Leading Hotels of the World member has opened on the cliffs near Elafonisi Beach with eco-luxury tented pavilions, cliff-carved suites with private heated pools and a 285 sq m villa. Cretan architect Eirini Apostolaki and designer Sophia Vantaraki deliver what they call elevated Cretan minimalism: solar powered, naturally ventilated and finished with hydrotherapy pools. Small, rooted and design-led, the kind of stay retreat hosts dream of taking over for a week.

RESET Hotel brings cold plunges and astronomer-led stargazing to the Joshua Tree desert

Hotel Designs26 Aug 2026

The 65-room RESET Hotel, set on 180 acres of high desert in Twentynine Palms, California, has become the first new addition to Marriott Bonvoy's Outdoor Collection and the town's first ground-up hotel in more than 15 years. Guests get a saltwater pool, sauna, cold plunge and outdoor soaking tubs, rooms with fire pits and stargazing platforms, and night-sky programming led by former NASA and JPL astronomers. Desert wellness with a genuinely new hook.

Park Hyatt's first all-inclusive lands on the Riviera Maya this November

Sleeper25 Aug 2026

Park Hyatt has announced its first-ever all-inclusive resort: 148 rooms opening November 2026 in the AMAI enclave on Mexico's Riviera Maya, designed with traditional Mexican building techniques and work by Yucatan artists. An open-air spa garden and hydrotherapy suite anchor the wellness offer. Luxury all-inclusive keeps edging toward wellness, and the Riviera Maya remains one of the busiest retreat coastlines on earth.

Industry & Destinations

Minor Hotels plans a global medi-wellness ecosystem after Anantara Layan's wellness nights triple

Spa Business27 Aug 2026

Minor Hotels is building a worldwide network of retreats, urban hubs and residences around its Life by Anantara concept after wellness guest nights at flagship Anantara Layan Phuket more than tripled year on year in the first half of 2026. A Bangkok urban facility is launching, a global membership with post-retreat aftercare is planned, and Minor expects its spa arm MSpa to outgrow the parent group. Founder William Heinecke's line says it all: wellness isn't something guests discover after booking, it's the reason they book.

Thailand's 2027 tourism strategy in four words: healing is the new luxury

TTG Asia27 Aug 2026

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has unveiled a 2027 Year of Transformation plan targeting 5% revenue growth on this year's 3-trillion-baht (US$94.7 billion) goal, with wellness as a core pillar positioning the country as a global health and healing destination. The plan steers visitors toward emerging provinces including Chiang Rai, Ubon Ratchathani, Songkhla, Trat and Samut Songkhram with a 60:40 established-to-emerging split. For hosts beyond Phuket and Samui, the map is about to widen.

Spa booking consolidates: Excalibur buys SpaSeekers to sit alongside Spabreaks

Spa Business28 Aug 2026

Ecommerce group Excalibur has acquired UK spa booking platform SpaSeekers, with around 500 venue partners, ten months after buying Spabreaks.com. Both platforms keep operating independently; CEO George Oborne credits double-digit year-on-year growth at Spabreaks since that deal and plans the same playbook here. Distribution for spa and wellness travel is consolidating, which makes owning your own direct channel matter more, not less.

Bali's Potato Head picks a 1,000-year-old Japanese onsen village for its first overseas outpost

Spa Business27 Aug 2026

Desa Potato Head founder Ronald Akili has revealed plans for a creative wellness village in a 1,000-year-old hot-spring village in Nagano, two hours from Tokyo, opening in phases from late 2028 with thermal-water experiences that go beyond standard onsen bathing. Advised by former Six Senses CEO Neil Jacobs, Akili envisions five to ten culturally distinct Desa villages worldwide, each reviving an aging rural community through year-round wellness travel. Emerging destination, meet regenerative hospitality.

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