Spas are to be included in the UK's common standards - the new quality grading system covering all overnight accommodation in the UK.
Tourist body VisitBritain has embarked on a programme of trial assessments that will pave the way for the UK's first quality standards for spas.
Anonymous assessors will visit about 25 spas across eight proposed categories between now and September to refine the criteria developed by VisitBritain, the Spa Business Association and the British International Spa Association.
A final accreditation scheme to identify and compare genuine spas will be launched at the Professional Spa show at ExCel, London, in March 2007.
"We want to distinguish the men from the boys," said Alison Barham, quality manager at VisitBritain. "There is a difference between a true spa and a couple of treatment rooms tagged on to a leisure centre that was built in a hotel in the 1980s."
The standards are based on the consumer experience and will not use the star ratings for the new hotel grading schemes. Categories are still being developed.
Instead, spas will need to satisfy a set of core accreditation criteria and quality standards based on the overall feel-good factor.
Hotels account for half the pilot participants and include Ragdale Hall hotel in Leicestershire and village holiday operator Center Parcs.
It is hoped that the scheme, currently being developed for England, will be adopted in Scotland and Wales.
The Common Standards - the new star-based grading system for all UK hotels, guesthouses and budget hotels, was introduced in January.
It is the first harmonised system for assessing and rating accommodation to be adopted in the UK.
Working definitions for spa categories
Hotel Spa: A spa within the boundaries of a property where the primary business is a hotel
Natural Spa: A spa offering a naturally-occurring on-site source of mineral, thermal or sea water, or peat and mud and other natural materials utilised for treatments
Day Spa: A stand-alone spa, offering individual treatments on day and half-day packages
Sport & Fitness Spa: A spa within a facility whose primary purpose is fitness
Resort Spa: A spa whose sole purpose is to provide guests with lifestyle improvement and health enhancement through professionally-adminstered spa services, physical fitness, education and nutritional awareness on a residential basis
Medi-Spa: A spa where prescribed treatments are administered by qualified medical staff
Salon: Normally in an urban environment offering individual pampering and beauty treatments
Destination Spa: A late entry with no agreed definition - hotels such as Ragdale Hall have argued for this category because their guests are as likely to visit for the spa as for the hotel.
By Angela Frewin