Canyon Country

Premier pampering palace Canyon Ranch taps Houston for newest urban resort

Canyon Ranch is strolling into Houston.

Photo courtesy of Canyon Ranch

An inspiring wellness destination brand is cozying up to Houston: Canyon Ranch is coming to the Bayou City in 2024.

This comes on the heels of announcements for a Fort Worth club (projected for late 2023) and an Austin-area/Hill Country resort (2025).

With current locations in Tucson (Arizona), Lenox (Massachusetts), Woodside (California), and Las Vegas (Nevada), the resort-spa brand is in the process of introducing "urban-based clubs," such as those planned for Houston and Fort Worth, and "a digital app," in addition to the new Hill Country resort location, according to a release.

Canyon Ranch partnered with VICI Properties Inc. to secure up to $200 million in capital to develop the Austin-area resort, with construction set to start in 2023 for a projected 2025 opening.

“First and foremost, we exist to help people live better, longer. Expanding access to our resorts with the Austin location is just one part of a broader Canyon Ranch strategy to engage with our guests on a lifetime journey of wellbeing,” said Jeff Kuster, CEO of Canyon Ranch, in the release.

“Guests will soon be able to begin or continue their wellness experience at our new Canyon Ranch Clubs and be supported by our digital app. The Canyon Ranch ecosystem will surround you with insights, skills and the motivation needed to achieve true transformation. By meeting our guests where they are, Canyon Ranch can seamlessly support them no matter how or where they want to engage with us.”

The immersive, all-inclusive wellness destination brand takes a unique approach to wellbeing by prioritizing longterm solutions. Priori to a Canyon Ranch visit, guests consult with a dedicated Wellness Guide to discuss goals and intentions. The Wellness Guide then selects a personalized team of world-class advisors across a range of disciplines to introduce the guest to new practices and behaviors during their stay, all while enjoying the benefits of state-of-the-art fitness and spa facilities.

For more information on Canyon Ranch and to stay up to date for the new Houston location, head to the Houston-specific Canyon Ranch site.

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holiday travel news

Houston's IAH flops in new ranking of least stressful U.S. airports

George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston

Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash

Flight delays and cancellations at George Bush Intercontinental Airport can be a stress-inducing experience for some travelers this holiday season.

Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) has some work to do to improve its stress-inducing environment during the peak holiday travel season, a new study has revealed.

European tour company Travel by Luxe compared 30 major airports across several stress-inducing flight factors, such as security wait times, flight delays, cancellation rates, passenger traffic, and average airfare prices to determine the least stressful departure points. The airports were then ranked based on which were the "best equipped to keep travelers calm rather than frazzled."

The No. 1 most stress-free U.S. airport to travel over the holidays is Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona, the report said.

George Bush Intercontinental was dubbed the 27th "least stressful" American airport with longer security wait times and more flight cancellations than most other major U.S. airports.

According to passenger traffic data from December 2024, more than 2.1 million travelers flew through IAH for the holidays last year. Nearly a quarter of all flights were delayed, and IAH had the fourth-highest rate of cancelled flights (1.18 percent) out of all 30 airports analyzed during the same period.

Average flight costs at IAH came out to $419.19 in the final quarter of 2024, which the report determined was the 11th most expensive airfare out of all 30 U.S. airports analyzed. However, the report states flight fares are not "the biggest drivers of airport stress," but flight delays and security wait times are.

Travelers heading out of Houston should always plan extra time to get through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lines during peak travel times, as the report found travelers waited about 22 minutes on average to get through IAH security lines in December 2023 (where the latest data was available). That's the fourth-highest wait time nationwide.

The report's author says the 2025 holiday travel season is expected to be one of the busiest on record, and stresses that "choosing the right airport could make or break" a traveler's trip. Nearly 4.6 million travelers are expected to fly through IAH during the final two months of the year.

"Holiday travel is supposed to be joyful. [T]hink of all the twinkling lights, family reunions and much-needed downtime," the author wrote. "But anyone who has battled chaotic airport lines, last-minute cancellations or a departure board full of red delay warnings knows how quickly that festive spirit can evaporate."

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport was ranked the 9th most stress-free airport in the U.S. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport was deemed the worst of the airports studied; it ranked at the bottom of the list at No. 30.

The top 10 U.S. airports with the smoothest travel during the 2025 holiday season are:

No. 1 – Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
No. 2 – Salt Lake City International Airport
No. 3 – Washington Dulles International Airport
No. 4 – Tampa International Airport
No. 5 – Harry Reid International Airport
No. 6 – Chicago Midway International Airport
No. 7 – Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
No. 8 – Philadelphia International Airport
No. 9 – Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
No. 10 – LaGuardia Airport

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