Spa & wellness
Above: A wellness journey built for two at the St Regis spa.
Below: Enjoying the rejuvenating mountain air at the QC Termemontebianco spa.
Opening page: With unique lighting and fi xtures, One&Only Cape Town invites immersive experiences.
and holistic health.” As spa director at St Regis, Sanchez asserts that the demand and popularity of this evolution comes as a response to the increase in social media awareness on the importance of health and well- being. And immersive wellness experiences offering a potential answer to this demand.
Frontiers of reflection An immersive spa is more than just your standard treatment package or influencer photo opportunity, and it comes in many shapes and sizes. From experience rooms offering different landscapes and weather, sounds baths and meditation, all the way to VR experiences such as Relax VR, and even hyperbaric Oxygen therapy and cryotherapy machines. For example, The Lowry Hotel in Manchester, UK, has recently updated their spa treatments to offer a cryotherapy chamber, meditation pod, flotation tank (sensory deprivation) and a VR experience so guests can transport themselves to a new environment while accompanied by uniquely crafted pure essential-oil blends. At One&Only Cape Town in South Africa, the hotel is also going beyond basic treatments: “Merely offering a facial, while always appreciated, is no longer sufficient.
Guests now seek deeper experiences and connections,” says Scott. “In response, we have embraced new techniques such as sound baths and sound meditation, which allow us to intertwine different experiences and provide our guests with a more holistic approach to relaxation.” A sound bath – a full-body meditative experience where guests are bathed in relaxing sound waves – is all part of One&Only’s immersive focus, which incorporates multisensory experiences that “encompass the mind, body and soul”, as Scott puts it. Curzio agrees, which is no surprise if you have seen the TikTok videos making the rounds of QC Termemilano’s Cinema pool. “Our purpose is to immerse our guests in a pleasant environment that is made of beauty and wonder that guest can discover,” he explains. “There should be a rhythm in the experience, and that’s why we provide so many facilities because it’s needed to disconnect and immerse, and to keep the guest engaged in this discovery.” Offering on average 30 different facilities in each of QC Terme’s spa centres, from the Water and Salt room, the Cinema pool to Monte Tabor relax – an enchanted world of aromatic and visual suggestions of multisensory treatments – the choice is up to the guest. “All of us feel different,” Curzio continues, “and maybe sometimes we need to breather better and that’s why we’d go to a salt room or we need to detoxify and that’s why we choose a sauna or a steam bath, or if we need to relax we prefer the whirlpool, and if we prefer to disconnect we lay down in a Japanese bath with underwater music. It’s up to us to decide.” At St Regis, the hotel spa prioritises personalisation for their guest as well, transporting them to a carefully crafted experience: “We want to encourage a sense of capturing a moment, embracing the natural elements of our spa, takes the guest out of everyday life, and encourage them to languish in a moment from a truly extraordinary history,” says Sanchez. At St Regis Spas, “every guest is given a journey of choice where they can enjoy the spa on their own terms, select product textures and aromas based on their own preferences and enjoy the experience of the spa precisely as they like”. In surroundings that indulge the mind, body and spirit, guests can select a treatment from the Caroline Collection, Wellness Collection, Body, Massage, or Facials, all featuring products from the world’s best- known spa and beauty brands, including Sothy’s, Omorovicza, and Intraceuticals. One treatment that exemplifies Caroline Astor’s lavishness – mother of the hotel founder John Jacob Astor IV and the inspiration behind many of St Regis’ cherished rituals – is the 24K Gold Wrap exclusive to The St. Regis Bal Harbour Spa, which consists of “a 90-minute bespoke journey designed to relax and reconnect the mind and body while leaving the skin hydrated and luminous”.
44 Hotel Management International /
www.hmi-online.com
QC Terme spa and resorts; St Regis
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