Wellness facilities are increasingly make-or-break additions to luxury hotels. From treatments based on Ancient Greek techniques to gentlemen’s grooming parlours, the seven shortlisted facilities for Hotel Spa of the Year at this year’s Jacuzzi-sponsored European Hospitality Awards demonstrate the lengths to which operators will go to entice this most lucrative guest demographic.
Villa Spa, Villa Kennedy, Frankfurt, Germany
The list kicks off with Frankfurt’s Villa Spa. Described by the Daily Telegraph as "impeccably preserved, but with contemporary touches", the hotel on the south bank of the River Main is merely a stone’s throw away from some of Frankfurt’s most popular restaurants and museums. Named for the US President John F Kennedy, who stayed here briefly stop here after his historic "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in 1963, the property is set in a former family home built in 1904.
Its spa is as glamorous as the hotel’s namesake, spanning four floors and offering its customers an incredible 120 different treatments.
One of its staples is the Surrender massage, a 90-minute, deep-tissue experience based on traditional Swedish techniques that incorporates a rigorous ‘whole-in-one’ body rub and an East-West-fusion aromatherapy experience. Also on offer are Thai massages and traditional ayurvedic body treatments.
Organic products abound at the Villa Spa, which offers products by The Organic Pharmacy and Sepai, both of which are renowned for their preservative and allergen-free herbal cosmetics.
The Villa is by no means adults only: it offers child-friendly treatments, such as pedicures, manicures, or chocolate and fruit-flavoured face masks.
Radisson Blue Resort, Split, Croatia
Croatia’s tourism industry is booming, and the Radisson Blue Resort is located in one of the country’s most popular resorts: the picturesque and historic Split, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic sea. Situated only 3km from the city centre, the Radisson Blue Resort aims to combine a "tranquil, natural location with the amenities of a contemporary, upscale hotel" and, covering an area larger than 2,000m2, is Split’s largest spa.
The spa features 12 private treatment rooms, a swimming pool, traditional Finnish saunas and a Japanese Onsoon hot tub, as well as a high-tech fitness centre featuring state-of-the-art Technogym equipment. The resort’s treatments are offered by ESPA-trained therapists, a programme widely recognised as one of the best in the industry. After treatment, guests can retire to the 25m indoor swimming pool, or a relaxation zone, both surrounded by palm trees and close to the Adriatic beaches, which are also available to the guests for post-massage relaxation.
Royal Spa, Corinthia Hotel, Budapest, Hungary
Situated in the Corinthia Hotel Budapest and built in the late 19th century for the elite of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Royal Spa has been a fixture of the hotel since its inception. Designed by the famed architect Vilmos Freund, the spa was closed amid the destruction of the Second World War. It narrowly avoided demolition in the 1980s and was finally restored to its former glory in 2003 under the supervision of the Corinthia Group to offer Europe’s "premier pampering facilities".
The spa draws inspiration from Budapest’s reputation as the ‘city of healing waters’ – an appellation dating back to Ancient Rome – and features saunas, a steam bath, Jacuzzis, a fitness room and six single treatment rooms, one of which is designed specially for couples.
Artfully blending the historic and the modern, the spa combines features built in the 1880s – the 15m swimming pool, for example – with the 21st century’s most high-tech spa treatments, from ‘results-driven facials’ with age-defying technologies to full body massages.
Like many of the other spas on the list, the Royal Spa at Corinthia collaborates with leading spa supplier ESPA, and recently worked with it to launch a new range of treatment products.
Anazoe Spa, Costa Navarino, Messinia, Greece
Basing its treatments on the works of the father of modern Western medicine, Hippocrates, and other Ancient Greek medical pioneers, the Anazoe Spa in Messinia is steeped in history.
In fact, the spa claims that many of its treatments are derived from ancient local practices inscribed on the Ancient Greek tablets found by archaeologists at the Palace of Nestor, roughly 7km north of the resort, in 1939.
A pioneer of oleo therapy – the use of olive oil-infused cosmetic products and therapeutic olive oil treatments – signature treatments of the spa include the Messinian salt and honey scrub, a healing massage remedy by Hippocrates and a traditional olive nourishing facial.
The spa places an emphasis on an authentic, traditional Greek experience; visits are tailored to guests’ needs and visitors are serenaded by music based on Ancient Greek melodies, and many of the ingredients used in treatments come exclusively from the region.
Also available are thalassotherapy (the use of seawater in therapy), kinisiotherapy (physical exercise tailored to the physically disabled), and floating pools.
St Brides Spa Hotel, Saundersfoot, UK
Set amid the picturesque countryside of west Wales, with its distinctive clifftop location on the Pembrokeshire coastline, guests at St Brides enjoy panoramic sea views from the whole hotel.
The spa is particularly proud of its year-round ‘infinity-edged’ heated pool, which is and filled with what the resort describes as "sustainably sourced, sun-dried sea-salt water".
Critics have been suitably impressed: the infinity pool was listed in the Daily Telegraph’s ‘Britain’s best hotels with outdoor pools’ in 2013, and was described as bringing "a touch of style to the classic Pembrokeshire escape".
The wellness facilities also include four single treatment rooms, one dual-bedded room for couples or friends to share, a manicure and a pedicure station and two relaxation rooms.
Business is certainly booming at the moment. Despite the recession, the spa has seen a 75% increase in revenue, and, due to its rapid growth, has been able to upgrade to add a fourth single treatment room.
Lanserhof Tegernsee, Germany
The Lanserhof Tegernsee, in the heart of the Bavarian Alps, is another spa that strives to combine the old and the new.
Built on the shore of Lake Tegernsee in Germany, the building design drew inspiration from traditional monasteries – with its "central cloister providing a secluded space for contemplation" – and the beautiful Bavarian countryside.
Created by famed German architect Christoph Ingehoven and Swiss landscape specialist Enzo Enea, the Lanserhof Tegernsee opened in January 2014, making it the newest property on the list, and seeks to blend natural healing processes, psychology and modern medical high technology. Each of the spa’s 70 rooms features a private terrace overlooking the Alpine countryside, and the separate bathhouse offers use of a sauna, a fireplace lounge, and an innovative fitness centre with a yoga and gym room.
The spa also features heated outdoor terraces, including one on the roof, and a private, 18-hole golf course, as well as a year-round outdoor saltwater swimming pool in which guests can enjoy underwater music and views of the surrounding landscape.
Frankfurter Spa, Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof, Germany
Another Teutonic addition to the list, the Frankfurter Spa places a special emphasis on its ‘made in Germany’ approach. Its services reflect the country’s traditions of results, precision and exceptional delivery, as well as a rigorous attention to detail and tending to customers’ individual needs.
Developed and run by GOCO Hospitality, the spa aims to attract a discerning clientele who appreciate the spa’s focus on quality and sophistication.
It also features a service unique to the list: a private, European-style gentlemen’s grooming parlour, with all the trimmings that entails, offering the use of individual flatscreen TVs and iPads, an espresso and wine menu, and shoeshine and jacket-pressing services.
That’s not the only unique feature at the spa: its Speed Beauty service provides time-pressed female customers with rapid treatments including hairstyling, makeup and nail polish in under an hour.
Guests can also receive a "facial for your hair", which includes analysis of the hair and scalp, customised peelings, masks and tonics, as well as scalp and temple massages.
The spa also hopes to reinvent the traditional Turkish hamman experience by combining modern spa elements with the old-fashioned exfoliation techniques, warm-water showers and soothing massages that have been used for centuries in bathing houses.
