The Taj chain will have a spa in every hotel, the Park group has launched one in Chennai and Delhi will follow, the Oberoi group has spas at its premium leisure and business properties — and now ITC-Welcomgroup has jumped the bandwagon to announce its first major spa in Agra.

The recently renovated Mughal Sheraton in the city is adding a 25,000 sq ft spa — “the largest in north India”, according to ITC’s division chief executive, hotels, Nakul Anand — and this will set the standards for spas across the chain. “Spas are now a way of reality in hotels,” confirms Anand.

“Earlier, our hotels had health clubs and gyms, but today’s business traveller wants de-stressing methods, so we will have spas across all hotels in our chain.”

Unlike the other chains, ITC Welcomgroup is using an overseas spa consultant to set standards, and architect Pradeep Sachdeva to design the spaces, but will manage the spa on its own.

“We have a spa at (the Sonar Bangla Sheraton & Towers) in Kolkata that we’ve been running with great success, and don’t see why we cannot run them in our other hotels too,” Anand says.