Travelers in China looking to experience a bit of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) can enjoy two Signature TCM spa treatments at the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts in Greater China. The treatments were created by Eu Yan Sang, a leader in the TCM industry and are inspired by the basic TCM principles of Yin and Yang - complementary opposites within a greater whole, creating a dynamic balance of all things. Eu Yan Sang created a range of pre-packed herbs selected based on the principle of Yin and Yang for relaxing and energizing which the spa then mixes with either oil or water during its treatments.

The relaxing Yin ritual includes fragrances like geranium, lotus and peppermint. A body scrub is enhanced with herbs like wolfberry bark (di gu pi), coix seed (yi yi ren), ampelopsis (bai lian) and sea salt (hai yan). The oil for the relaxing massage includes geranium, lavender, marjoram, rosemary, sweet almond and grape seed (Mi Die Xiang / Xun Yi Cao / Tian Xing Ren You /Ma Yu Lan / Pu Tao Zi You). A body wrap of lotus leaves and pearl powder helps release water retention and a relaxing tea caps off the experience.

The Yang ritual is designed for energy. It starts with an exfoliation with energizing herbs like garden balsam stem (tou gu cao), mulberry twig (sang zhi), acorus rhizome (shi chang pu) and clove (ding xiang). The body wrap uses salvia root (dan shen), atractylodes rhizome (cang zhu), sappan wood (su mu) and tangerine peel (chen pi) to boost circulation and improve the flow of energy. The massage oil for this ritual is full of invigorating herbs such as black pepper, lemongrass, rosemary, lemon, sweet almond and grape seed (Mi Die Xiang/ Ning Meng/ Hei Hu Jiao/ Tian Xing Ren you/ Ning Meng Xiang Cao/ Pu Tao Zi You). To complete the experience a tea that includes red ginseng root (hong shen xu), licorice root (gan cao) and dried ginger (gan jiang) and patchouli (huo xiang) powers up the system.

Both treatments can be found at a variety of Intercontinental Hotels in China.

Hotels all around the world are pushing hard to go green and tell their customers all about it. The InterContinental Hotels Group has created a whole website devoted to the project. The solar powered 'Innovation Hotel' will include a variety of green features including the forwarding of all unused non-perishable food to charities or food banks, solar panels on the roof to heat water, a rainwater harvesting system to supply water to toilets, a roof garden rich in shrubbery to provide extra insulation, windpower to generate electricity for the hotel, recycled glass windows, furniture and fittings made entirely from recycled materials and household waste to provide heat and power. The plan is to use the virtual property if the Innovation Hotel to gradually roll out to all HG brands within the next few years.

Th Innovation Hotel has a green roof planted with low-maintenance plants which helps keep it cool in warm weather and insulate it in winter. Also on the roof there will be solar panels. Natural lava stone signage at the entrance and on the lawns replaces traditional plastic and metal signs. The decor is low emission paint, all the artwork produced by local artists to ensure a low carbon-footprint and there are recycling bins for guests to use. Left over food scraps are composted to create a fertilizer for use on hotel plants and lawns. Bathrooms feature low-flow showerheads and dual flush toilets. The hotel is more of a prototype of what green could be rather than the design for any specific hotel but it is an intriguing look at the variety of green options available for hotels.

More and more hotels are creating members only clubs. The Club Bar in the InterContinental Sydney in Sydney, Australia offers a striking view across the harbor for their members. Club Bar was just opened this week and enjoys and enviable location on the rooftop of the InterContinental Sydney. Members will have unlimited nightly access and be able to entertain their guests on the wraparound terrace. Services include top shelf alcohol, a members only reserve wine list, 24 hour personal concierge service and use of a private function room. There is also a stocked humidor and a late night supper menu. Club Bar memberships are by invitation only.

The best hotels in Nashville, Tennessee tend to be on the classic side. That's set to change when the InterContinental Nashville is completed. The new luxury hotel will be located on  West End Avenue and there will also be an office tower, condos and retail space. The $250 million project will begin in June and the hotel is set to open in late 2008 or early 2009. The entire project will be two towers, one 23 stories tall and another 25 stories tall. The hotel will be at the bottom of the shorter tower with 70 condos above. Both towers will share a ground floor building with shops and restaurants.

A while back I mentioned the St. Regis in Bora Bora which was supposed to open this month but now is opening in late June. Another idyllic getaway in this remote location will be the InterContinental Resort and Thalasso-Spa Bora Bora. The $70 million resort should open in May. It has a great feature, an eco-friendly air-conditioning system which uses a 7,874 foot pipe (the deepest ocean pipe in the world) to pump deep sea water through a titanium heat exchanger, which transfers the cold from the sea water into the fresh water circuit that powers the air conditioning throughout the hotel. The water is then returned to the ocean (rerouted to avoid hurting the ocean ecosystem). The resort has 80 over water bungalows. The resort’s Thalassotherapy Deep Ocean Spa which will open in September will use mineral-rich deep seawater extracted from 2,500 feet below sea level in its treatments. It will also have what may be one of the most romantic settings for a wedding, an over water chapel with a glass bottom floor.

One of the trends that I have been watching is the integration of luxury resorts with health care and the rise of high-end medical tourism. As the wealthy age, this is becoming a bigger and bigger market. InterContinental Hotels Group which runs the hotel at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic has now announced that they will be opening the InterContinental Resort & Spa in Krems, Austria. The 119 room hotel will be next to a healthcare clinic, the Austrian Heart Center, which will have five operating theaters and will specialize in heart diseases. The resort is designed for recovering patients and families and will have a spa with an indoor pool, restaurant and bar. The location, in the scenic Wachau Valley near the city of Krems on the Danube River is a place of restful beauty sure to charm medical tourists. The hotel and clinic are set to open in Autumn 2008.

The InterContinental hotel chain has announced a massive new project for Orlando, Florida. The Palazzo del Lago will be an $800 million project in the Lake Buena Vista area on Lake Bryan and will be the largest InterContinental project. The project includes both a 1,260-room hotel and a 994-unit villa condo project. There will be meeting space, a spa, a beachside swimming area and five restaurants in the complex. Prices for the condo units will start in the $300,000s and the project will open in 2009.