Spa town Spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. The word "spa" is derived from the name of Spa, a town in Belgium. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. He became interested in the curative properties of the hot mineral waters there and in 1676 wrote "A discourse of Bathe, and the hot waters there. Also, Some Enquiries into the Nature of the water". This brought the purported health-giving properties
Miami Beach Resort and Spa It was first purchased from the original family in the early 1990s by a French company and renamed the Doral Ocean Beach Resort. The French OBR company then sold it to Interstate Hotels in 1997 and it became a Westin, The Westin Resort Miami Beach. In September 1998 the hotel was purchased by Wyndham and renamed the Wyndham Miami Beach Resort. In 2006 the Blackstone Group, a large conglomerate, purchased the Wyndham hotel chain. Some of the Wyndham hotels were merged into LXR, another chain owned by Blackstone. Today, the hotel is known as the Miami Beach Resort and Spa,