Back in the days before the sharing economy, if you wanted to be pampered or primped you slipped on terry cloth slippers and shuffled off to the hotel spa.

Today, home swapping is commonplace, and vacation rentals are a $24 billion market in the United States alone, according to Phocuswright, a market research company. One can still pop into a hotel or local spa for a massage or manicure. But the rise of on-demand beauty and wellness apps and websites doesn’t mean you have to forgo the convenience of on-site beauty and fitness treatments if you’re staying in a vacation rental. Rather, the spray tanner and the Zumba instructor will come to you.

Such services aren’t widespread yet. But if you’re vacationing in a major city like New York or Los Angeles, or any of the others mentioned below, you can lounge around your Airbnb rental and order a pedicure as fast as an Uber.

Take, for instance, Priv, an app for iOS and Android users in New York, Los Angeles, Austin and London. With a few taps of its lavender interface a New Yorker can book massages ($150 for an hour session with a table provided by the therapist), spray tans ($60), makeup applications (starting at $75), even mink lash extensions and makeup lessons, manicures ($35), women’s haircuts ($100, including a blow dry), blowouts ($50), men’s grooming ($50 for haircuts; $35 for beard trims and styling), and personal training (starting at $80 an hour) including yoga, Pilates, kickboxing, Zumba, and beach body boot camp. In some cases you can book a service for multiple people (“manicure for 3” or “custom airbrush tan for 2”).

After choosing a service, users can then see photos of the professionals, read about them and check out their star ratings from other clients, as well as their next available appointment time. The app includes tax and tip so you know exactly what you’re spending; a plus for those on a tight budget. There’s no charge if you cancel within the five-minute grace period after receiving your appointment confirmation, or if you cancel more than an hour before your appointment. If you cancel within less than an hour of your appointment, you pay 50 percent of the fee. That’s one of the more generous cancellation policies of such sites.

If all you want is a massage, Soothe, an app and a website, offers Swedish, deep tissue, sports, prenatal and couples massages from licensed therapists practically around the clock: seven days a week from 8 a.m. to midnight, including holidays. The pricing is simple: $129 for an hour, $179 for 90 minutes, $219 for two hours. Gratuity is included.

You can’t choose your therapist, though if you like someone you’ve used before, you can request him or her again. And you can cancel or reschedule up to an hour before the appointment with no penalty. If a therapist has been assigned to you and you cancel with less than an hour’s notice, it’s $50; if you cancel with less than 30 minutes before the appointment, you pay in full (fees are lower for rescheduling). Soothe is not only available in popular destinations like Miami and New York, but also in places other wellness apps have yet to reach like Atlanta, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, Seattle, and Vancouver, B.C.

Zeel, a massage-on-demand competitor with an app and a delightfully minimalist website, offers appointments from licensed therapists every day of the year (holidays, too) in more than a dozen cities, including New York (and on Long Island and in Westchester County), Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and Washington. Clients can choose from Swedish, deep tissue, prenatal and sports massages, as well as couples massages and back-to-back massages (massages for two or more people, one after the other).

A recent search found an hourlong deep tissue massage in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago for $99 plus 18 percent tip for a total of $116.82. Tip and sales tax are shown and added to the bill so, again, you know precisely how much you’re spending. There’s a 10-minute grace period for cancellations after booking. If you cancel a confirmed massage between four hours and 24 hours from your appointment time, you pay $50; if you cancel less than four hours from your appointment, you pay in full.

Glamsquad, an app that offers makeup, nail and hair services, is not as far-reaching. It’s only for iPhone users (if you don’t have an iPhone you can request an appointment online) in New York City (where one can also get manicures and pedicures), Los Angeles and Miami. Appointments are available on demand or up to 30 days in advance, a boon for planners. In New York, blowouts are $50; makeup applications are $75; manicures are $35; and pedicures are $50. A 20 percent tip and a service tax are added to those fees. Unlike Priv, however, you can’t read about or choose your stylist. The cancellation policy is also tougher: If you cancel within an hour of your appointment time, you’re charged in full for whatever you reserved. If you can cancel within four hours of your appointment but at least an hour before your appointment, you’re charged 50 percent of the price.

A similar service called StyleBee is also an app for iPhone, with offerings such as makeup application ($85), blowouts ($50) and hair styling ($85 for updos) from licensed professionals in a handful of major cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. If you don’t have an iPhone you can request an appointment through the company’s website. As with other beauty on-demand companies, gratuity is included (20 percent), but unlike the other sites, StyleBee notes, “additional tips are appreciated.” That could add up if you feel obligated. You cannot choose or read about your stylist. The grace time for cancellations is within 10 minutes after booking, though if you cancel within four hours from the appointment time, you’re charged in full.
Some colleagues and I were looking forward to trying a service known as Manicube, which offers 15-minute manicures, pedicures and barbering services from licensed professionals at your office in cities including New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. It sounded like just the thing for business travelers short on time.

Alas, Manicube offers only standing appointments arranged through your company’s human resources manager. We hardly have time to broker that. But it serves as a reminder that sites like Priv and StyleBee will come not only to your rental, but also to your office and hotel room. After all, it might be more affordable to bring a masseuse to your hotel than to use the hotel’s masseuse, especially if you were to pay for an in-room massage.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/travel/airbnb-spas-hotels.html?_r=0