Spa industry news: Budget rates relief, no VAT cut, Crazy Bear closes (31 October 2026)
The Budget on 28 October widened business rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure properties in England but gave the spa and beauty sector nothing on VAT. In the same week the Crazy Bear hotels in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire went into administration, Liverpool got a date for its largest sauna park, and the Blue Lagoon moved towards a stock market listing.
Budget 2026: more salons out of business rates, but VAT stays at 20%
The Budget on 28 October raises the Small Business Rate Relief thresholds for retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties in England from 1 April 2027: 100% relief now applies up to a rateable value of £18,000 (from £12,000), and tapered relief up to £21,000 (from £15,000). The Treasury says around 70,000 more businesses will pay no rates, including 1,700 hairdressers and beauty salons. Other qualifying RHL properties get a real-terms freeze on bills for 2027-28 and 2028-29, and the Supporting Small Business scheme is extended for a year for about 37,000 ratepayers, worth an average of £3,000.
There was no VAT change for treatments. The UK Spa Association had backed the One Voice campaign asking the Chancellor to cut VAT on hair, beauty, spa and aesthetics services from 20% to 10%; the Budget document contains no such measure and keeps the headline VAT rates unchanged.
Sources: HM Treasury, Budget 2026 document, 28 October 2026, Spa Business, 28 September 2026.
Crazy Bear hotels in administration: spa bookings cancelled, gift vouchers void
BDO was appointed administrator to the companies behind the Crazy Bear hotels at Stadhampton, Oxfordshire, and Beaconsfield on 27 October. All events, room bookings, spa treatments and restaurant reservations have been cancelled, and gift vouchers bought from the hotels or through third parties can no longer be used. Some event deposits sat in a ring-fenced account and will be returned by the administrators.
On 30 October BDO said the freehold properties had been sold to a buyer that plans a refurbishment, but the hotel operations could not be saved. The business employed around 130 people and most have been made redundant. Joint administrator Kiri Holland blamed "challenging market conditions and a quieter than expected summer trading period".
Sources: Oxford Mail, 28 October 2026, Oxford Mail, 30 October 2026.
The Urban Sauna opens in Anfield on 14 November with £999 memberships
Seven Group's The Urban Sauna, billed as Liverpool's largest sauna park, opens on Saturday 14 November with a public viewing from midday to 4pm, on former derelict land at Cherry Lane in Anfield. It has two wood-fired Scandinavian saunas for up to 16 people each, two 10-person hot tubs, a six-person ice bath and two single ice baths, and will open seven days a week from 7am to 9pm.
Annual unlimited membership is £999, or £497 for the first 100 applicants, with single sessions, blocks and private hire also offered. The site is expected to create 20 jobs. More than £2.5 million has gone into the wider 24,000 sq ft Cherry Lane hub, with a further £6 million planned, including a golf simulator, swimming pool and gym.
Sources: Liverpool Confidential, 29 October 2026, Hospitality & Catering News, 30 October 2026.
Blue Lagoon shareholders approve a Nasdaq Iceland listing in November
Shareholders in Bláa Lónið hf., the company behind Iceland's Blue Lagoon, have approved a public share offering and an application to list on the Main Market of Nasdaq Iceland. The company is aiming to complete the offering and listing in November; Nasdaq Iceland still has to approve the application.
About 700 permanent employees would be eligible for a five-year share-option scheme, buying up to ISK 1.5 million of shares a year from 2028 to 2032, subject to tax-authority approval. The flagship site beside Svartsengi has faced repeated disruption from the Reykjanes eruptions; lava covered its original car park in November 2024.
Source: Iceland Review, 31 October 2026.
Gwinganna taken off the market, AU$12m upgrade planned instead
Tony de Leede has withdrawn Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat in Queensland's Tallebudgera Valley from sale; in June 2025 he had announced plans to sell it for AU$70 million to AU$80 million. He will now invest up to AU$12 million (about £6.4 million): a contrast therapy area with mineral and magnesium hot pools, two cold plunges and more infrared barrel saunas, a recovery room in the old spin studio, and personal infrared saunas, massage chairs and LED panels in 80% of bedrooms.
Most work is due by the end of 2026, with the full programme finished by mid-2027. The Gwinganna Longevity Project, adding health testing and personalised supplements, launches in 2027. A separate AU$6 million to AU$8 million day-visitor attraction, Project Canopy, could open in late 2027 or early 2028.
Source: Spa Business, 29 October 2026.
The First Cortina opens in December with a 1,200 sq m Revivo Spa
The Pavilions Hotels and Resorts will open The First Cortina, a five-star conversion of the former Hotel Splendid Venezia in Cortina d'Ampezzo, in early December 2026. The 76-room hotel has a 1,200 sq m spa on two levels run under its Bali wellness brand Revivo, with six treatment rooms, an indoor pool opening to the outdoors, a sauna, a hammam and a Starpool Zerobody dry float bed.
Source: Spa Business, 26 October 2026.
What this means for spa and retreat operators
If you run a day spa or salon in England with a rateable value under £21,000, check whether your property counts as retail, hospitality or leisure for relief; the new thresholds apply from April 2027. VAT on treatments stays at 20%, so price plans should not assume a cut. The Crazy Bear closure is a reminder for guests: vouchers bought through third parties fall with the business, and anyone holding one should contact the administrators or their card issuer.