FIRST-PERSON
Banyan Tree Al Wadi was in a stunning setting and had an amazing hydrothermal offering, but the overall experience was disappointing
Banyan Tree Al Wadi, Ras Al Khaimah
3
Driving between resorts was a challenge as there seemed to be little relationship between road signs and directions once off the main road. But my expectations began to rise as I got closer to my tented villa – one of 101 – at Banyan Tree Al Wadi, which has also since been acquired by the Ras Al Khaimah Hotels and Tourism Development Authority (in June). The resort and spa were in a stunning
setting – with a backdrop of sculpted sand dunes and grazing desert animals – but the layout and design was poor. Many of the buildings, including the spa, were closed off from the beautiful views and while the ani- mals were free to roam, guests were not. In stark contrast to Six Senses, electric buggies whisked you around the site for breakfast, lunch and dinner, to the spa and even if you tried to go for an aſt ernoon ‘walk’. But when I did get to walk from the spa reception to the treatment room, the path was at least 50m long and although it wasn’t overly hot when I visited, I could imagine that guests in the summer – when temperatures reach up to 50˚C – could get seriously dehydrated before or aſt er treatments. Having read about the top notch service at
Banyan Tree in Spa Business (see sb11/2 p26), I was surprised at the disparity of staff . T ere were lots of impeccable American-trained staff at the hotel, but unfortunately this didn’t
WHAT’S THE SCORE? Ease of booking
Facilities
Cleanliness Staff
Experience/treatment Value for money Overall experience
8
10 10
7
6 5 5
translate to the spa, where there was lack of communication and a language barrier. T e Asian-inspired, 10-treatment room
pavilion spa was certainly the biggest facility on my tour – it covered 42,625sq ſt (4,000sq m) – and off ered an indulgent array of thera- pies including a 90-minute, aed420 (us$114, €84, £73) Essence of Earth massage. Yet aſt er my treatment, I was leſt refl ecting on the the- atre of the process as the Chinese therapists
– who were very good at pouring the herbal refreshments – were bad at communicating as the sadly spoke very little English. It didn’t inspire me to book another session. If I’d known about the Rainforest Experience
– the most incredible and biggest hydrothermal facility I’ve ever seen at a resort – I would have saved on the expensive spa treatment and gone straight to that with its 16 various heat and wet experiences. I had no idea what I was going to encounter when I tried it, but I certainly didn’t expect to be the only guest there, overlooked by workmen running repairs! I also wondered
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why they’d put a hydrothermal facility of this size, with only 13 male and female lockers, in the desert? I was unsure if there was even a business plan behind it, as the basic 60-minute hydrothermal circuit for aed150 (us$41, €30, £26) was free to hotel guests. It was diffi cult to tell if the resort was busy
as it was so big and spread out. Also, the resort was ‘locked down’ overnight for a high-profi le conference the next day. When speaker Con- doleezza Rice moved into the villa next door
– complete with security guards and CCTV – I knew it was time to move on. Out of all of the resorts I visited, I had
the greatest expectations for Banyan Tree. I thought it would be the star and I certainly paid far more (at least double) to stay there for just one night. Maybe I felt disappointed because my expectations were not met, or maybe it was because I really didn’t have a very enjoyable experience.
RIGHT TO REPLY
Ravi Chandran, senior vice-president and MD of spa operations, Banyan Tree
We thank the writer for his honest feedback. Service is of paramount importance to us as we strive to upkeep high standards. We would like to contact Mr Minton to discuss his experience in greater detail.
SPA BUSINESS 4 2011 ©Cybertrek 2011
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