Water is on fire. A-listers like Jennifer Aniston, Beyoncé, and Jaden Smith have their own water brands. Reusable vessels have become status symbol accessories thanks to brands like Stanley, HydroFlask, and S’well. Now, H2O is the Champagne of a growing number of five-star spas, Michelin-starred restaurants, and luxury hotels.
“Water is not just water. Water can be more in our lives,” says beverage consultant Martin Riese, one of the world’s leading authorities on hydration and a designated Mineral Water Sommelier by the prestigious German Mineral Water Trade Association. “It’s not just about hydration, it’s about our well-being. Hotels and restaurants are realizing this, that it’s not okay anymore to just serve filtered tap water. They need to really enhance it.”
Based in Los Angeles, Riese has been tapped to develop water menus for high-end venues, including Michelin-starred Gwen, a Hollywood favorite helmed by celebrity chef Curtis Stone; Petit Ermitage, a boutique luxury hotel in West Hollywood; and, most recently, the Austrian-inspired Lustig in Culver City. And in 2023, he partnered with the Aruba Tourism Board on a project to promote the island’s tap water, which is filtered by a high-tech filtration system that uses UV light to remove bacteria — and tastes “nice, crisp, creamy, and a little bit sweet,” he says.
According to Riese, there’s a huge opportunity to educate consumers about water’s critical role in gastronomy, especially among die-hard oenophiles. A number of factors in drinking water—including its minerality (or TDS, which stands for “total dissolved solids”) and carbonation—impact the wine drinking experience, particularly the mouthfeel.
“Let’s say you’re on the mailing list of this incredibly good vineyard, and you’re getting all these amazing wines, and then suddenly realizing, ‘I don’t know—something is off with this red wine,’” Riese says. “Maybe the water right next to it.”
Controlling the in-house water flavor and experience has become especially important for luxury hotels. That’s why many have ditched individual bottles for dispenser systems that also offer savings and more sustainable solutions—a win-win for management and guests. In 2020, Conrad New York Downtown, a five-star, all-suite property in Lower Manhattan, added a Rocean Zero filtration dispenser to each of its 463 suites, along with complimentary hotel-branded steel water bottles.
The in-suite systems, which feature sleek aesthetics and a minimalist design that integrates into the bar area, have become a popular amenity, general manager Chintan Dadhich says.
“Many guests appreciate the sustainability aspect and love the convenience of refilling their complimentary water bottles,” he explains.
In spring 2024, Conrad New York Downtown added another water-centric amenity to its lobby: a Kara dispensing system, which uses “desiccant technology” to source water from the air. The new instillation (which has a price tag of nearly $5,000) “also has been a hit, attracting both guests and locals who often stop by to enjoy fresh, filtered water,” Dadhich says.
According to Mariena Cantwell, business development manager for ONA Water, an Ireland-based company that specializes in supplying and installing premium drinking water solutions, hotels are also “really interested in the aesthetics of the units.” And in recent years, they’ve evolved from bulbous, bulky behemoths into chic, high-tech devices.
“They’re all electronic, they’re touch-operated—literally put your finger on the icon and it dispenses the water you want, sparking, chilled, hot,” she explains.
Another must-have feature: antimicrobial finishes. “In the aftermath of Covid, everybody is very conscious now of hygiene,” Cantwell says.
In addition to providing water in guest rooms (in recyclable aluminum bottles) the Mandarin Oriental New York has incorporated water into its guest experience in more subtle ways. It showcases its water as one of the five elements of Chinese philosophy—and the inspiration behind a section of specialty drinks on its the cocktails menu it released last fall.
“The water element embodies stillness, calmness, and reflection—qualities that are also mirrored in the water-inspired cocktails on our menu,” says director of food and beverage Victor Triebel.
Artwork throughout the property also nods to H20 with dramatic glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly resembling icicles and flowing water spouts in entrance areas, and nimbus clouds design features in guestrooms.
Elevating the water quality has provided a flood of inspiration for spas.
Hôtel Royal, the five-star property of the Evian Resort in Evian-les-Bains, recently unveiled its newly renovated Evian Spa: an 18,000-square-foot space that plays homage to the 15-year life cycle of the world-famous water.
Guests can make the rounds in the award-winning spa’s outdoor hydrotherapy circuit, take a bracing dip in the plunge pool or chill out in the snow room. Meanwhile, 16 treatments across four categories—celestial birth, mineral infiltration, precious reserves, and vitalizing spring—offer more options to literally soak up every phase of Evian as it trickles from the French Alps to several origin sources in town, acquiring minerals along the way.
Traditional treatments also are available, but spa director Amanda Deloncle says the water-centric offerings have been making a big splash among guests.
“Health and wellness is really the trend, and water ties all the way through it,” she explains.
While “taking the waters” has been a cultural norm in many European and Scandinavian countries for centuries—many spa towns are anchored by thermal baths—the concept has grown in popularity in the U.S. (thanks to ice-bath influencers and exposure from media like Kevin Hart’s YouTube show Cold As Balls).
At Mandarin Oriental New York’s spa, his-and-hers vitality pools are enriched with oxygen-concentrated water and hydrotherapy jets on the floor. The 75-foot heated pool also features complimentary water-centric wellness activities, such as aqua aerobics and a newly added floating meditation held at sunset once a month.
At the five-star Kohler Waters Spa in Wisconsin, a natural extension of its namesake’s long-standing history in bath and faucet design, H20 flows through nearly every aspect of the 25,000-square-foot spa. There are waterfalls in the relaxation area and treatment rooms, as well as seven different hydrotherapy treatments with names like H2O Inspiration, Rain Man, and Still Waters. The spa also is fresh off a year-long renovation that added a new custom sauna and steam room by KLAFS, a leading German manufacturer.
But spa director Nikki Miller says while the U.S. market has “evolved immensely” over the last 20 years around water’s myriad health benefits, it “still has a long way to go.”
“We spend a great amount of time educating the guests on the benefits of hot and cold therapy while incorporating this into our treatments as well as our amenities,” Miller says.