This deal has expired, but be sure to check out our Top 25 deals of the week for savings on trips to destinations around the globe.

A debutante in the health and beauty industry, Joy of Spa coins itself as a gift-certificate directory with a heart, featuring helpful articles on creative gift-giving, customer reviews, and a wish list option – for those of us who don’t like to be surprised. Marketwire refers to it as an “information resource and archive,” and according to the Joy of Spa website, it is also a celebration “of the spa experience.” 

Until now, the gift-of-spa venture has played a crucial yet incognito role in the lifelines of the salons they represent, referring customers to businesses’ individual websites for spa-specific gift-certificate purchases. On April 21, however, the company launched their national spa gift certificate at Prosecco and Pampering – a celebratory press  event for the year-old startup. Procurable online for e-mail (long-distance gift-giving) or print distribution, the new, universal certificate is redeemable at any of the 3,000 health and wellness establishments in their network.

Joy of Spa is the manicured progeny of Stephany Toman and Kathleen Gardenswartz of SpaBoom (an online, client-oriented, national marketing firm), and Janell Loving, marketing director of Betty's Bath and Day Spa, N.M. Gaining an edge over niche competitors like SpaFinder, Joy of Spa promotes local, independent businesses, empowering them first with SpaBoom’s growth tools, and then inviting these longtime devotees to be a part of the Joy of Spa family. The commission-based payment plan only charges spas, salons, and masseuses a nine percent fee for every certificate purchased and/or redeemed, which allows these small businesses to retain a large margin of their profits – a steep discount from SpaFinder’s 18 percent, in addition to a monthly fee.  

Visit www.joyofspa.com to research wellness retreats in your area (or someone else’s) and give the joy of spa this Mother’s Day.