The popularity of CBD has skyrocketed over the past two decades, and luxury hotels across the country are now looking to cash in on this expanding industry by offering drinks, edibles, and meals infused with the popular cannabinoid. In recent years, scientists and patients alike have been discovering that CBD can effectively treat ailments ranging from anxiety to epilepsy to eczema, and a majority of U.S. states have legalized its use in some form. The DEA maintains that all of these extracts are fully illegal, but the 2014 Farm Bill legalized the production of hemp-derived CBD under certain guidelines, and Congress is currently considering legislation that would fully legalize the popular supplement.
This legal grey area surrounding CBD has encouraged online retailers and brick-and-mortar shops to make the substance available throughout the country, even in states that still prohibit all forms of cannabis. Sales of CBD products are growing every year, and it has been predicted that the CBD industry alone will top $2.1 billion by 2020. The explosion of this trend has convinced many hotel and restaurant owners to get in on the game, and luxury establishments in major cities are now beginning to offer an array of CBD-infused products.
“We’re always researching new ways to help our guests relax,” James La Russo, a manager at the James Nomad hotel in New York City, told Moneyish. “CBD extract is proven to have calming effects, easing anxiety and stress.” The hotel is now offering a new menu of snacks and comfort food, all infused with between 10 to 20 mg of CBD per serving. Several other hotels around the country, including the Standard Hotel, the Hollywood Roosevelt, and the Petit Ermitage, have also unveiled a number of CBD-boosted meals, drinks, and edibles.
CBD is also effective when directly applied to the skin, and many hotels and spas are taking advantage of this by offering a variety of cannabis-infused topical products. The James Nomad hotel is now offering clients CBD-laden beauty products, including lip balm and facial lotions, while a growing number of hotel spas are adding the cannabis extract to massage oils, facials, body scrubs, and full-body wraps. “Since marijuana became legal in Colorado, I’ve had clients ask if we could give treatments with CBD because they had heard about the wellness benefits, and now, I can say yes,” Nadene Moccia, a massage therapist at the St. Julien Hotel & Spa in Boulder, told the New York Times.
The hotel industry's sudden acceptance of CBD marks an about-face from the industry's traditional anti-cannabis policies. All canna-legal states prohibit consumption of cannabis products in public or in vehicles, and most major hotel chains have exacerbated the problem by prohibiting the use of cannabis on their grounds. As a result, tourists hoping to try out their newly-purchased legal weed are struggling to find a place to do so legally. But thanks to this new explosion of cannabis-infused products in hotels and spas, travelers will at least be able to experience the healing powers of CBD in the comfort of their hotel room.
