Canyon Ranch

Canyon Ranch Miami Beach is a luxury hotel and spa which offers guests a "total wellness experience." We caught up with them recently when they came to New York to encourage us all to come down there and relax.

The New York event included hand massages, organic french toast, and even an impromptu fitness class! We learned about their fabulous skincare line, their "Art of Eating" events where you meet with a chef, a nutritionist, and a behavioral therapist to eat and talk about eating, and more.

Click through our gallery to see what Canyon Ranch Miami Beach brought to the Big Apple, and click here to visit their website. Their introductory rates start at just $350!

Canyon Ranch has long been known as one of the top spa and wellness centers anywhere. With two locations (Tucson, Ariz., and Lenox, Mass.) already established, we've been waiting since 2005 for the Miami Beach location to be ready. It finally opened earlier this month and now is accepting reservations. The historic Carillon Hotel, with ocean views, has been restored and now is "infused with the Canyon Ranch spirit of health, fitness, and personal attention." Choose from a selection of 150 one- and two-bedroom luxury suites that range from from 720 - 1,200 sq. ft., and from $300 - $1,800. All include

• kitchenette, and washer and dryer;
• 400-thread-count linens;
• luxury limestone-tiled bath with dual-head frameless glass shower, soaking tub, and exquisite vanity niche;
• two flat screen HDTVs;
• Bose Wave radio;
• High-speed Ethernet and wireless Internet access; and
• multi-line telephones, cordless phones, DID numbers and voicemail.

Download a brochure here to read more about the spa and wellness programs, or use the easy-to-navigate lefthand tabs on the home page to get all the details.

Often at spas and resorts, instead of having customers deal with tips a gratuity is built in. Easy for the customer and a little assurance for the practitioner, right? Well not in the case of Canyon Ranch, the luxury getaway in the Berkshires. As the Boston Globe reports, the resort has agreed to pay a whopping $14.75 million to around 600 massage therapists, hair stylists, waiters and other employees that worked at Canyon Ranch between April 2004 and October 2007 after a lawsuit accused Canyon Ranch of breaking a state law that prohibits management from taking tips reserved for service workers. Canyon Ranch has denied any wrongdoing in the settlement filed in Massachusetts this week, stating that service charge was "was never intended to be a significant part of the employees' compensation plan."

The suit said that not only did workers feel like they might lose their jobs if they asked to receive the tips but that guests were discouraged from giving extra gratuities. If a client still wanted to tip extra the worker couldn't accept the money directly but had to send the client to another area of the spa to complete the transaction. This isn't the first suit of this kind but it is one of the biggest payouts around.

Canyon Ranch has eliminated the 18 percent service charge instead charging a "resort amenities fee" that does not include tips. The spa still discourages tipping. Certainly resorts have the right to set up no tipping rules but in cases where the gratuity is added in it is natural to assume that the worker has received the tip just as they would have if you pressed the cash into their hands. Personally, while I can sometimes find the process of tipping to be awkward I would much rather have the control. I also tend to enjoy tipping, it allows me to visibly demonstrate my thanks for great service.

Canyon Ranch, the company famous for their luxury spas, is making a big splash in the residential community market. Their third residential community is planned for Chicago (previously announced Canyon Ranch developments will be in Miami and Bethesda). Canyon Ranch Chicago is a $450 million project, a 67-story tower overlooking the Magnificent Mile that will be home to a 65,000-square-foot health and wellness center as well as 256 condos, a five-star hotel with 128 hotel-condominium rooms, a cafe, dining room and office space. An exercise, fitness and spa center will also be part of the center. The project will break ground next year and condos will cost between $1.2 million and $3 million for units ranging from about 1,600 to 3,000 square feet.