At-Home IV Drips Are the Latest Luxury Building Amenity
About two weeks after Marcell Leon Viragh moved into the Park Santa Monica, a Los Angeles building where residents can sweat in a Himalayan salt sauna or gaze at the Pacific Ocean from the expansive roof deck, he took the elevator down to the spa, where a registered nurse slid a needle into a vein in his arm, sending a liter of saline, vitamins and electrolytes coursing through his bloodstream.
“I barely felt the needle,” said Mr. Viragh, 28, a student at the Los Angeles Film School. “I hate needles, so this was a huge plus.”
This was not Mr. Viragh’s first experiment with intravenous drip therapy, marketed as a hangover cure and an immune system booster. He started getting the treatments two years ago at a wellness and longevity club near his previous apartment in Hollywood. Mr. Viragh now gets them monthly; he said the infusions help stave off jet lag after flights home to Budapest, where he owns a small film production company, and to promote healing from the procedures he’s been getting to remove his 10 tattoos.
So he was thrilled to get the service without leaving home, after he moved into the Park in January. Mr. Viragh pays around $6,200 a month for a one-bedroom in the building, where three-bedrooms fetch as much as $38,000 a month.
IV drip therapy was first popularized about a decade ago as a novelty reserved for vacations and bachelorette parties, but it has since become embedded in the wellness sphere. The 30-to-45-minute treatments cost anywhere from $100 to $1,000, depending on the concoction and provider, and have been embraced by the Hollywood elite — Gwyneth Paltrow, Chrissy Teigen and Harry Styles have all partaken. Today, IV drip therapy is a staple at medical spas, resort hotels and strip malls. Some companies even make house calls.
