Spavia names former CorePower COO to scale recovery concept Sway

Spavia’s decision to bring in Heather Holland as chief operating officer is the clearest sign yet that sauna and cold-plunge recovery is being run like a scalable business, not a boutique experiment. Holland, who founded Upswell and previously helped expand CorePower Yoga from 89 studios to 225 across 20 markets, was tapped on June 2, 2026 to oversee operations across Spavia’s national footprint, with a focus on franchise support, execution and guest experience.

The move matters because Spavia is not treating Sway as a side project. The company and its recovery concept are targeting 200 combined locations, and the operating model is already taking shape in real estate and membership terms. Upswell’s transition note said sauna, cold plunge and revive would fold into the Sway Remedy Lounge, while member passes were honored if they had not been redeemed before June 1. During the transition, Upswell also offered a $99 Unlimited Remedy Lounge Membership, a price point that signals how hard brands are working to make recovery feel repeatable, not one-off.

Spavia has been building toward this for months. The company said it reached 60 open locations in 2025, signed six new franchise agreements in the first half of that year and later signed its first Sway by Spavia franchise agreement in Dallas, Texas, in July 2025. It also set an initial growth focus on Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina, which shows this is being planned as a regional rollout, not a one-city test. On March 2, 2026, Spavia also launched its Sculpt & Lift Microcurrent Facial nationwide, another signal that the brand is leaning into treatment-driven offerings alongside its spa core.

Holland’s own path explains why Spavia wants her in the room. In January 2026, she said Upswell had paused because the business was not supported by the revenue model, then reopened on a limited three-days-a-week basis after strong member response. Upswell owns three Denver locations, in Central Park, South Broadway and RiNo, and its return was framed around outdoor movement, rest and play. That kind of operational reset is exactly what Spavia appears to be buying with this hire.

The broader cold-plunge market is already moving fast enough to force that discipline. SweatHouz said in December 2025 it would open two new studios each week through the end of the year, while Perspire Sauna Studio said in September 2025 it was nearing 100 open studios and had more than 200 in development. Against that backdrop, Holland’s hire is less about a single executive move than about a category maturing: the sauna and ice-bath lane is becoming a managed line item, with rollout speed, staff training and retention now central to the business.