Hotels rolling out the yoga mat

Like Wi-Fi, on-demand movies and fitness centers, yoga is becoming an amenity many hotels and resorts just can’t do without.

Long popular at spas and retreat centers, yoga classes have been spreading to mainstream hotels, resorts and tour operators over the last several years. As the ancient stretching and meditation practice gained popularity, the travel industry began seeing dollar signs in sun salutations. Soon, yoga classes were showing up on the on-demand channels in Hyatts and Marriotts, and at the Kimpton hotel chain mats and straps were available to guests who asked. Spas and resorts began to tweak their yoga programs by hosting weeklong retreats with yoga masters like Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman, who attracted a cultlike following.

Now, with yoga becoming so mainstream, properties from chain hotels to bed-and-breakfasts are looking for new ways to incorporate it into their programs to pique guests’ interest and reach their wallets.

“Yoga is becoming a must-have amenity,” on the order of Internet access, said Chekitan S. Dev, a professor of marketing at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. “Guests want to be able to stress out and go on the Internet and check e-mail, and then take five minutes and do yoga. It’s the yin and the yang of travel.”

Fairmont Hotels and Resorts is hiring a yogi to work with the brand to develop signature classes for its Willow Stream Spas. The Parker Palm Springs in California built an open-air yoga studio as part of its recently renovated spa, adding to other spaces used for yoga classes throughout the property. The Savannah House in Himrod, N.Y., in the Finger Lakes region started Wine and Yoga Getaway weekends in October that include visits to wineries, and yoga classes.

Dave Romanelli, co-owner of a chain of Arizona yoga studios, who is known for his popular yoga-and-chocolate and yoga-and-wine retreats, is introducing Yoga for Foodies. After an hour of flowing yoga poses, he said, a chef guides participants through a tasting, reminding them that “life is short and we best slow down and savor it.”

The InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz., which contracted Mr. Romanelli’s company to teach daily classes at the resort in September, is hosting a four-day Chocolate Sabbatical this month.

There’s also something to be said for novelty. “We’re a short-attention-span society,” said Kristen Ulmer, founder of Ski to Live, which focuses on the mind-body connection of snow sports, including daily yoga. “Just the yoga isn’t enough to keep us entertained or maybe not even enough of a draw in and of itself.” Her program is offered at several ski resorts, including Alta Ski Area in Utah April 1 to 4.

Customers say such retreats are appealing because they combine a familiar routine with something new. Barb Harwell, who owns part of a small manufacturing company in Littleton, Colo., already practices yoga but wanted to improve her skiing this year. So when she heard the Osprey at Beaver Creek was offering a ReTreat Yourself getaway — combining yoga, skiing and life coaching sessions — she signed up. “If it was just yoga, I might have thought, ‘That’s interesting,’ but might not have signed up for the whole package,” she said.