Journey acquires the Good Spa Guide

The revenue platform has invested in the business, reimagined the brand and relaunched the Good Spa Guide website

By Wendy Golledge

02 November 2026

goodspaguide.co.uk/

Journey, the revenue platform for luxury hospitality, has acquired the Good Spa Guide. Journey has worked with the UK’s independent spa guide to introduce a new brand and visual identity plus a clearer, more transparent rating system.

Journey has also relaunched the Good Spa Guide website to include direct booking, vouchers and reviews, allowing consumers to find, compare and book assessed spas directly.

Consumers can search by location and read the Spa Spies’ assessments before booking spas or purchasing vouchers.

“Spa is now one of the main reasons people choose a hotel, but a spa day is rarely just an ordinary day. It’s a birthday or a way to spend precious annual leave, so getting it wrong costs more than money. Knowing our Good Spa Guide experts have already been and checked a property, guests can relax, stop searching and book with confidence.”

Lesley Bacon

Spa and wellness director, the Good Spa Guide

Peace, Practice, People, Place and Promise

Founded in 2006, the Good Spa Guide rates spas through independent expert assessments, resulting in a Bubble rating. The relaunched platform now publishes the Good Spa Guide’s assessment method for the first time.

Every assessment scores a spa on five criteria: Peace, Practice, People, Place and Promise. The criteria are made public and every spa’s profile shows when it was last assessed.

Membership pays for the assessment and ratings are set by assessment alone, with no paid placement.

“Our Spa Spies have always done a rigorous assessment, now we’re telling consumers exactly what we check as well as making it simple to book,” adds Bacon. “Membership pays for the assessment, but it has never paid for the outcome.”

The Spa at the Manor House Hotel in Alsager has a 5 Bubble Luxury rating by the Good Spa Guide

The Good Spa Guide Awards 2026

The Good Spa Guide will operate as a standalone brand within Journey, led by managing director Gregor Ritchie.

Founder and CEO of Journey, Simon Bullingham, says: “Journey has always had one mission: to drive direct business for hotels. The Good Spa Guide shares that purpose. For more than 20 years it has supported the spa industry and earned the trust of spa-goers.

“We’ve invested to make that judgement count at the moment of decision, with a clearer rating, a published method and a direct way to book.

And because members pay a fraction of typical online travel agent commission, more of every booking stays with the spa.”

The relaunch comes two weeks before the Good Spa Guide Awards 2026, taking place on November 16 at Sopwell House in St Albans.

This year’s awards attracted 361 entries across 20 categories and more than 260,000 consumer votes.

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