Anxious New Yorkers Book Spa Treatments on Election Day

Business is apparently booming at Wthn, the acupuncture chain and “omni-channel brand for holistic healing” with locations in the Flatiron District, the Upper West Side, and Williamsburg. There’s been an uptick in new clients reporting stress and anxiety as their reason for coming in and a similar rise among existing clients, says founder and CEO Michelle Larivee. Tuesday will be especially busy, she adds: “Some clients have time off work and need an outlet and safe space to manage stress.” Rachel Beider, who owns the massage mini-chain Press, is seeing the same thing. “It’s nuts. Last week was the busiest week we’ve ever had,” she says. “In massage, when you start working through areas of adhesions and knots, people will tell you, ‘Oh, this is why.’ Lately, people have been talking about all their fears and concerns around the election.” Election Day is basically here, and New Yorkers with cash to spare seem to be coping in the spa.

And really, who can blame them? A recent survey by the American Psychological Association found that 69 percent of Americans are stressed out by the 2024 race, which is slightly higher than the percentage who voted in the last presidential election (66.8 percent, according to the U.S. Census). There are only so many times a person can refresh the 538 election dashboard and read, once again, that Trump and Harris “have about an even chance to win” on Tuesday. Why not try reiki?

It’s been busy at Inness, too. According to the person I spoke to at the luxe Hudson Valley resort — where guests can stay in quiet, Post Company–designed cabins, dip in the indoor tranquility pool (or hot and cold plunges, if they prefer), and wander the 220 “pastoral acres” to clear their heads — “November, specifically, is a busy month this year.” The Hudson Valley’s Wildflower Farms (stress-relieving activities include tennis, feeding chickens, reiki, and evolutionary astrology readings) was bracing for the same when I talked to staff there, although it’s also “a super-busy time of year to begin with.” At Hemlock Neversink, spa director Ryan Shulman says that while city people haven’t necessarily been flocking upstate, there have been “a lot more locals booking for Election Day than you’d normally see on a Tuesday.” (The day pass for locals includes lunch at the restaurant, a massage, yoga, and a goat hike.)

At the QC Spa on Governors Island, bookings were “significantly busier around this time of year than last year,” according to the front desk, though, as at Inness and Wildflower, it’s not entirely clear if that’s election-related (since people don’t spill to online-bookings platforms like they do massage therapists). Bodhi Spa in Hudson said there hadn’t been an uptick yet, but “our regulars have been coming in saying they’ll be booking once the election is over.”

Miraval Resorts & Spas, which offers tech-free retreats in the Berkshires, Austin, and Arizona, says that it’s actually seen the biggest spike in election bookings at its Tucson resort, with bookings up 20 percent year over year through November 9 and “an overwhelming 80 percent year over year growth in the resort’s stress-management workshop.” Arizona is a swing state, after all.

“I think people are saying, For an hour, an hour and a half, I’m going to put my phone in a locker and it’s just going to be me and my body,” says Jason Goodman, the co-founder of Bathhouse, a plant-bedecked sauna, plunge pool, and general hang-out spot with locations in Williamsburg and the Flatiron District. “Checking Nate Silver’s polling model over and over again is not going to help you.” Last Friday, every day pass at Bathhouse had sold out, and the weekend’s bookings were “bananas.” Monday is “off the charts,” with hundreds more guests than usual. “It’s been like four days of people sweating,” says Goodman. As for Tuesday, he plans to head to the sauna, too. Everyone is going to be sweating anyway.