To lure in new guests, hotels are increasingly turning to astrology. Why not embrace the trend?
Last August , tarot reader and heedfulness tutor Effie Kalaitzidis led a chemical group of 20 client out onto a Chicago hotel bench to bask in the freshness of the summertime sunset . Each guest sat in a wooden chair and seize a crystal they ’d antecedently choose — pyrite , black onyx , peridot , etc . Kalaitzidis then taught them how to cleanse , charge , and contemplate with their chosen Oliver Stone .
When she was done , she turned her attention to the sun . They were there for the evening to recognise the new synodic month in Leo , but the main character would be that glowing source of Vitamin D. Guests were instruct to absorb the sunlight , and ante up attention to how it felt on their skin . They were instruct to set their intent , in journals they were gifted . They talked about the importance of unplugging , and taking in the outside , quick energy . “ Leo is prevail by the sunlight , ” explained Kalatzidis . “ The sun is very energizing , peculiarly in the month of August . ”
In the 1970s , they used to call this stuff New Age . Now , this unexampled church property is practically the norm .
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This kind of new moon ritual and the nomenclature surrounding it is nothing newfangled if you ’re familiar with astrology . Heck , even if you ’re not . These day , stars and satellite pass everything from novel bar openings — like the recentLittle Dipperin New York where you may set up a drink instigate by your mark — to vacation preparation , a.k.a . , “ astrocartography , ” or using the stars to dictate where you should travel . Meanwhile , “ aromastrology ” pairs stars and aroma . Zodiac sign are consideredwith food , mode , dating , task selection , finances , sexual urge positions , petsand anything else you could think of .
In the seventies , they used to call this material New Age . Now , this raw spirituality is much the norm . A 2023 Harris Poll concluded thatmore people knew their astrology augury than their blood case . So a new moonshine ritual is not strange — for most places .
But this terrace where Effie Kalaitzidis direct her mathematical group was n’t most places . While you may ask such transcendental offerings at the hotel in cities like Sedona , Arizona — where ruby rocks lure believer with the promise of reaching higher sheet — or Ojai , California , where , nestled in mountain ranges ( ojai think of “ nest , ” named by the Chumash Indians ) , a belief in mysticism is practically a prerequisite , this was held at the very tony , very urbanWaldorf Astoria Hotel Chicago . The same Waldorf Astoria with atavist Gilded Age design and rooms that be upwardly of $ 500 a night . The very one that was recently contribute a “ one fundamental ” designation ( “ a very particular stay ” ) by the fancy newMichelin hotel ranking . The same one in a neighborhood so high end , so voluptuary , so rooted in materialism , they call it the Gold Coast .
Effie Kalaitzidis leading a new moon ritual at the Waldorf Astoria Chicago.|Courtesy of Waldorf Astoria Chicago
How would the aspirational opulence of new moonshine guidance fit into the concrete luxury of it all ?
Throw a talismanthese daytime and you ’ll find hotels teeming with metaphysical offering . Tarot is on the menu at the1 Hotel West Hollywood . atmosphere cleansing isavailableat the Mining Exchange Hotel in Colorado Springs . The W Fort Lauderdale ’s “ It Was write in the whizz ” package includes zodiac - themed cocktails . Even the spa at the Waldorf Astoria Chicago was already light indoctrinated by the metre Kalaitzidis waltzed in two years ago to apply for her job as a spa attendant . They offered gem - infused water system for post - spa treatments , and sold jewelry from a designer key out Kelly Cimber that integrate crystals .
occult amenities have become so usual that administration are commence to flex . Kilolani Spa at Hawaii ’s Grand Wailea — another Waldorf Astoria property — supply an in - planetary house astrologer and revolve about spa treatments around the Hawaiian moon calendar , while last year , the Algonquin Hotel — the same one with the round tabular array and the highbrow literary pedigree — introduce a Hex and the City package , sport occupier tarot lector and health influencer Rebecca Szymczak , orCardsy B , who has an affinity for get into all black and designed her own deck inspire by ( what else?)Sex and the City .
Cookies? Or crystals? (Cookies.)|Courtesy of Good Vibes Cookie Co.
During a late stay at theKimpton Everly Hotel in Hollywood , in view of the Hollywood Sign and decent around the turning point from the Walk of Fame , I sit around on the pool deck with Jodi Mannis , a former graphic designer who now creates largecookies that resemble crystals . I was instructed to take a cakey afters based on which “ lechatelierite ” I was puff to , and then she give me a reading .
Afterwards , though , I was front with a dilemma . Should I eat on my cookie crystal ? Or keep it for succeeding guidance ? I threw it in the freezer to adjudicate later .
Though star divination and spiritual mysticism feels ubiquitousin the globe now , in the past few years the emergence has been nothing short of exponential . Millennials have made astrologypractically a 2nd language , and Gen Z is n’t far behind . In 2021 , the spheric star divination food market wasvalued at $ 12.8 billion ; by 2031 it ’s projected to reach $ 22.8 billion . Of class hotel are going to latch on ; while they pare down on comforts in some ways andboost resort fees in others , provide heedfulness and fate - severalise counsel for their guests is chintzy , easy , aspirational luxuriousness .
Those in the know point partially to the pandemic for the spurt of curiosity . “ There was so much time for everyone to research all sorts of thing that were going to wreak them peace , joy , and harmony while they were lock inside their houses , ” says Kelly Gasspari - Fleming , health club director at the Waldorf Astoria Chicago . mass merely had the time to research myriad witchy taboos . “ I think it was only natural that everyone would migrate into a wellness mankind where they might search more in terms of health spa treatments and ghostlike awakenings , ” Gasspari - Fleming bring .
But mystic amenities in hotels can be attribute to the literal setting , too . Travel space are fugitive , and out of the daily norm , making them especially ripe for name young matter . I do n’t know any other meter , for example , that I would go out of my way to adjudicate eating a cookie that was baked to front like a crystal , unless the opportunity was right in front of me .
“ traveler specially are searching for an opportunity to disconnect from whatever their realities are , ” say Gary D’Andre , a queer Black mystic , therapist , podcaster , and writer , who in May releasedTarot for You and Me , an LGBTQ+ pack of cards offer characterization and linguistic process of an underrepresented community . Spiritual oblation give them the opportunity to reconnect to a different part of themselves outdoors of whatever they may be accustomed to seeing on a daily basis .
Giving a reading at an Ace Hotel Palm Springs pool party|Joe Scarnici/Getty Images Entertainment
“ If multitude are just like , ‘ I want to have some sport , get some counselling , and do n’t necessarily have access to this in my normal reality , ’ whynotdo something a minuscule different ? ”
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It ’s thus ironic — or maybe inevitable — that it was the pandemic that launch Kalaitzidis ’s career at the Waldorf . Prior to March 2020 she worked in the beauty industriousness as a professional physical composition creative person for sword like MAC and Nars . When public - confront jobs dried up , she leaned into her love of tarot reading . “ I was practicing tarot on friends and family . I was really tapping into my own spiritual gifts and having really bragging waking up moments , really feel in tinge with signs from the universe , ” she explains .
A friend win over her toput a recital up on TikTok , and the thing survive viral . She lead off doing her own indication , and experimented with blogging and an astrology podcast . She convey the spa - attendant task at the Waldorf ab initio so she could do something mindless for money so she could focus on her passion . “ I did n’t want to be rain cats and dogs from an empty cup . I did n’t desire to be offering readings just from a place of , okay , I need to ante up bills , ” she aver .
At the watering hole , though , she gave tarot readings to coworkers , to prescribed results . It did n’t take much convincing then for them to allow her to design a new synodic month rite geared toward resort hotel business , appealing to both the jaded regulars and those who save up to splurge on themselves , the two type of visitors she picture .
It also helped that her ritual are a originative way to make sales . That was the clincher to the sales pitch — the rituals would include products sell at the spa . At that first effect in Leo last August , invitee were introduced to theBalmain Sun Protection Sprayfor their hair . “ So when you were give-up the ghost out and experiencing your Sunday ritual for the day , you were protecting your haircloth while you were enjoying the outdoors , ” explains Kalaitzidis .
It ’s heedfulness plus mysticism plus spa product sales event .
This August denounce a yearsince that first young moon in Leo , and another sun - focused ritual returns on August 4 . slate are $ 111 andsold through Eventbrite .
Since last August , the Waldorf has also been explore new metaphysical avenues . Kalaitzidis will presently start doing private tarot readings at the watering hole , and they ’ll be adding things like reasoned bathtub to spa treatment as well . But as normalized as it becomes at the Waldorf , Kalaitzidis sometimes does catch herself in an absurd situation . Like when she was planning the ritual for the new moon in Gemini , a sign rule by Mercury , the planet of communications , and take varsity letter and phrase for verse prompting . She cut them out of copies of theWall Street Journalleft behind by a billionaire spa client , who do in weekly for a nail service .
Similarly , there was the clock time a chemical group of CEOs booked a private seance . “ One of them was hosting his concern partners for a misstep , ” she allege . “ They had a batting order of meetings set up in the hotel that calendar week , and he wanted to start the merging with something a small bit out of the boxful . ”
The men wear athleisure and sat “ criss - crisscross trumpery , ” on the Pilates storey while she lead them in breathwork , had them select crystal to take home , and guided them in meditation down a path to spread out a box in their mind ’s center . When Kalaitzidis ask if they were unforced to share what they found , one propose that a box hold a photograph of his father . Another said it was a pair of his first Air Jordans .
Kalaitzidis was pleasantly surprised . “ They were extremely sensory to it , ” she tells me . “ Just to see their willingness to attempt and to open themselves up to that experience — that was really awesome for me . ”
