Back in 2021, when the world was baking sourdough bread and hoarding toilet paper, Movara was riding a pandemic high. The fitness and weight-loss resort in the red rocks of Ivins, Utah, was packed, sold out for 18 weeks straight. It wasn’t alone. Hilton Head Health, another such resort in South Carolina, similarly had a six- to eight-week waitlist. So did Skyterra Wellness Retreat in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina. The dog days of lockdowns, it turns out, were a boom time for many destination spas.
Not long after life returned to normal(ish) for most people, things got weird for detox retreats. People got vaccinated, shed their masks and started heading to Italy en masse for indulgences such as seaside spritzes. On the other hand international guests, already skittish about US travel, hesitated further. Then, before business could rebound, a new disruptor entered the scene: the GLP-1.


