Perhaps it’s the pre-dawn trek to the airport, the crush at the gate, the cramped economy seat, the indignities of immigration or the interminable wait for baggage. Or maybe it’s getting lost on the rail shuttle into town, being ripped off by a taxi driver and then sneered at by hotel reception staff for imperfectly speaking a foreign language. Whatever the reason, these days I find I need little justification to book a spa treatment. Somehow, I feel I deserve it.
I can’t be the only one. Hotels are falling over themselves to open spas, and it’s not just in resort destinations or those specialising in conferences, events and incentives. The new Bliss spa at the W Hotel Lexington Avenue in New York, for example, is very much an urban retreat, yet you have to book early to be sure of securing the therapist of your choice.
Where has this demand come from? It could be a result of our desperate need to switch off. The line between work and play has become blurred as more of us take work on holiday with us and find it increasingly hard to wind down in our time off. It’s also true that it’s no longer unmasculine to be interested in your health and wellbeing, and male business travellers have become more comfortable with the idea of visiting spas. We don’t need encouragement to book a massage, and this demand has now been met by a supply. Just a few years ago, a business traveller who went out looking for a massage might have got far more than they bargained (or hoped) for, in the form of a pricey bottle of champagne, a chat with a blonde in a basement bar and three large men demanding cash with menaces. That’s all changed. Now you don’t even have to leave your hotel room for an honest, highly respectable and ultra-efficient member of the hotel staff to provide a bona fide treatment.
But are they any good? And do they do you any good? In the interests of research, and also because I seem to have had an awful lot of spare time on my hands over the last 10 years, I have become a bit of an aficionado of spas. I have been smeared in goat’s milk, wrapped in muslin and submerged in a hot water bath in the French Alps (not bad). I have had the treatment repeated a year later in the Austrian Alps with the milk substituted for chardonnay grape skins (very itchy). I have been Swedish-massaged to within an inch of my life by a wild-haired granny of gypsy extraction (her description) in a private member’s retreat in the Scottish Highlands. Throw in an encounter in Singapore with a petite girl hanging from a ceiling ladder while walking up and down my back, water applied via a high pressure hose by a German in a Sardinian thalassotherapy suite and hot stones placed in odd places by a French man in the Arizona desert, and I believe I am in a suitably supine position to speak with some authority about this new craze.
Lest this should be seen as boasting, not all these experiences have been pleasant. I have also stood naked in a Balinese shower room while a man smeared me in yoghurt, and had a huge Hungarian fling me around on a hard bench in the basement of a Budapest baths. My dedication to the subject has not all been easy exfoliation and green teas.
What have I learned? Well, whether you have a good treatment depends on two things: first the therapist and, unless you’re a regular, you have no control over that, and second, the set up of the spa. Here you do have control, because they all have different styles and approaches, as you’ll see from our reviews.
Each spa claims to be unique and to have discovered a new combination of mind and body that will help to heal your wounded spirit, but in reality many are very similar. They are not the places to go for relief from injuries; day and hotel spas don’t have access to your medical records, don’t have time to make a proper assessment, and any pain relief they do achieve is more likely to be short-term. That said, they can provide effective relief from stress, if only because it’s nice to be made a fuss of. Whether you’ll get away with putting it on expenses is another matter.
The Halo Urban Day Spa
Halo is special for a number of reasons. Independently run and owned, it is half spa, half yoga and pilates studio, and very much a retreat from the extremely trendy but very urban streets of Farringdon. Open from 6.30am on weekdays and 9.30am at weekends, it has dozens of classes and workshops, with visitors paying either on an individual basis or for a course. Natural health is big here, with Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture, naturopathy and Western herbal medicine, and Ayurveda. Advice on nutrition is available as well as osteopathy, chiropractic and cranio-sacral therapy, Alexander Technique, specialised massage (including sports massage), Thai yoga and hot stones, counselling, life coaching and hypnotherapy.
Anxious to try a new experience, I went the whole nine yards and opted for the “Far Infra Red Sauna”. After a brief but succinct explanation, I was left alone to enjoy the sauna, which delivers heat three times deeper into the body at an air temperature of 35°C. The temperature is controlled by a dial and you can open the door if you suddenly find the heat too much. In fact, I found the opposite, and happily stayed for 30 minutes, playing with the light above so that I could try the calming effects of having the interior bathed first in blue, then white, green and plain sunlight, just in case I was suffering from SAD (seasonal affective disorder). Then it was on for a massage and facial, before floating out past lunchtime yoga classes. All in all, a fabulous way to spend a morning (though there are much shorter treatments).
Where? 8 Eagle Court, tel +44 (0)207 253 0400,www.halocity.com.
Treatments Massages and facials from 30 minutes to two hours. Also a grooming service and add-on treatments for £15.
Signature therapy Far Infra Red sauna.
Luxury treatment The Renewal Ritual, a two-hour treatment with facial, massage, salt scrub and hydrotherapy wrap.
Prices Treatments cost from £35 for 30 minutes to £100 for two hours. Half and full day spa packages can be arranged to suit your needs, with one-to-one yoga sessions and breathing and meditation, massages and facials ranging from £100–£600.
Tom Otley
Urban Retreat at Harrods
The 2,320sqm Urban Retreat on the 5th floor of Harrods has been gradually renovated over the last two years and offers a range of treatments from hydrothermal massage and Aromazone (for tired, heavy legs) to paraffin wax bath and seaweed mud. I opted for the two-hour Kiradjee (which means “healer” in Aborigine) massage pioneered by masseur John Odel, who has incorporated Aboriginal healing techniques into a unique treatment using deep-tissue massage with aromatherapy oils, meditation, Reiki and pressure points to induce a state of relaxation and “euphoria”.
Reading up beforehand, I discover that my therapist will perform an initial 20-minute head and back massage, enter a “dreamlike” state and use this to convey energy waves that will bring me into a deep state of relaxation, under which even the most stubborn knots in my back will give up without a whimper. Apparently “clients are often delirious” before the first 20 minutes are over. Being new to massage, I feel the prospect of a delirium-inducing massage is something of a baptism by fire: would I lose control of my faculties? Forget my own name? Dance in my underwear round the room?
Fortunately none of these. I was guided through a cool corridor with muted lighting and rose petals scattered on the floor into a small reception room with dark, gunmetal grey walls and comfy chairs with brightly coloured cushions. John himself was my therapist and he greeted me enthusiastically before leading me into a small room with a massage table, also covered in petals, and a sound system which played soft background music that flowed through my head without my registering it. John served me a cup of “bush tea”, a wonderfully refreshing icy cold glass of water containing a third apple juice and a little crushed lemon.
If John entered his own meditative state when we began I was blissfully unaware of it – in fact, within about 15 minutes, I was no longer aware of anything much. John was pressing on bits of my back and head that I didn’t know existed, and which had been crying out to be pressed on if only I had known they were there. The massage involves the whole body and my limbs were stretched and rotated in what felt like a kind of slow-moving semaphore. Once the full body part was done I rolled over for a rigorous back massage and then it was all over – and the whole thing felt like it lasted just five minutes. I felt super-charged but heavy as if I had run a marathon then had a nice long bath. I wouldn’t say I’d experienced delirium – but that’s probably just as well.
Where? Harrods, Knightsbridge, tel +44 (0)20 7893 8333, kiradjee.com.au.
Treatments A full range of health and beauty, including hair, nails, perfumery, make-up, electrolysis, hot wax, foot health, plus facials, Aromazone, massage, paraffin bath wax treatment and seaweed mud treatment.
Signature therapy The Kiradjee massage and Crème de La Mer facial.
Luxury treatment A Bentley Beauty day (£450) involves a manicure, pedicure, massage, facial, blow-dry and make-up, plus a champagne lunch and chauffeur-driven collection in a classic Bentley. You can upgrade to two people with use of the double suite thrown in, for £800.
Prices A two-hour Kiradjee massage is £160, one hour costs £85; hydrotherm massage costs £120 for 90 minutes.
Sarah Maxwell
Calmia
Calmia Inner Beauty Day Spa is set in a swish glass-fronted building on Marylebone High Street. Inspired by Bali, it offers treatments based on “Eastern wisdom” which encourage the flow of “prana”, the vital energy that runs through all our bodies, but which gets blocked by toxins and tension.
From therapeutic massage and holistic skin care (facials and foot massages) to spa body rituals (body wraps and polishes), clients are encouraged to mix and match to suit their own needs, which sounded perfect as this was my first spa treatment and I was unsure of what to expect. First impressions were reassuring. A friendly receptionist led me down a peaceful pink and purple corridor with piped music, to the locker room and explained that, once changed (underwear and pink robe only), I should wait in the calm candle-lit meditation room for my therapist. After a few minutes of sipping green tea my therapist, Yasuko, greeted me and led me to the treatment room. We sat and chatted about where I held my tension, aches and pains. She showed me the sandalwood oil she was going to use and held up a large towel while I slipped out of my robe and onto the table.
I had the Well Being Essential Harmony Massage with sandalwood oil (£70 for 60 minutes). This is a full body massage combining acupressure (Yasuko got this spot on), Swedish massage (really gets those knots) and a foot and Indian head massage. Yasuko is trained in Chinese massage technique and acupressure, this last being quite a shock at first because the tension seemed to be
bursting to escape like a valve on an airbed being squeezed.
Afterwards, even though I was covered in oil I was not offered a shower and was too shy to ask. I found out later there are showers in every treatment room. Instead I was taken to the shop where I was shown which holistic treatments I should use. For spa regulars Calmia has all the treatments and facilities you will need but as a spa virgin I felt a little lost and found it hard to relax with a stranger touching me – perhaps that takes a little getting used to. Having said that, I think I will get my “prana” flowing more often with a few more foot massages.
Where? 52–54 Marylebone High Street, tel +44 (0)20 722 4 3585.
Treatments Facials and deep tissue neck, shoulder and aromatherapy de-stress massage. Also, therapeutic massages with ginger, lemon and jasmine, exfoliation and holistic foot and back massages, and body wraps.
Signature therapy Balinese Blossom Ritual with aromatic blossom as used in Asian prayer rituals, including a petal foot soak, reflex foot massage and a full body massage with coconut and vanilla polish. Finally, you get a jasmine and shea butter massage balm.
It costs £150 for 120 minutes.
Luxury treatment The Fresh Japanese Sake Ritual includes a hot sake peach foot soak and reflexology, a brown sugar body polish, a peach body cocoon, shower, and Shiatsu facial. It costs £160 for 120 minutes.
Prices Massages of one hour £60–£70, 90 minutes £110. Spa body rituals cost up to £160 for two hours. Visit www.calmia.com.
Felicity Cousins
Gentlemen’s Tonic
Located on a cobbled mews just off Berkeley Square in Mayfair, Gentlemen’s Tonic is aimed at men who like being pampered but reject any notion of being “in touch with their feminine side”. Everything is reassuringly masculine without creating an atmosphere reminiscent of old-style men’s baths full of
city businessmen such as Ironmonger Row Baths in the city.
Gentlemen’s Tonic is excellent but suffers slightly from service problems. Compared with the highly trained and professional staff at hotel spas, the staff here seemed a little confused and unable to prioritise (on three separate occasions I watched as customers were kept waiting for unnecessarily long periods of time, or the receptionist struggled to find change for someone who was trying to pay for a treatment). The therapists are excellent however; I had “The Traveller”, which my therapist was honest enough to admit was a fairly straightforward massage but would make me feel a lot better after the red eye flight I’d just taken back from New York – and she was right, it did.
Where? 31a Bruton Place, Mayfair, tel +44 (0)20 7297 4343,www.gentlemenstonic.co.uk.
Treatments Massage options include Swedish, Thai and Indian (head), sports, aromatherapy, deep tissue and “express”. Also available are osteopathy (good for repetitive strain injury) reflexology, Reiki and Shiatsu.
Signature therapy “The Traveller”, a head to foot treatment for those who are always on the move, costing £72 for 75 minutes.
Luxury treatment A qualified nutritionist looks at your individual needs and treats allergies, headaches, stress and insomnia with a full dietary report and eating plan (£60).
You can also have an image consultation for personal styling including colour management and personal shopping (from £250). Help with the heart is also offered by a leading London consultant cardiologist, who will give you a risk profile and advice on heart problems, with preventative measures to help you stay fit and healthy (£150).
Prices £30–£40 for half an hour and £50–£70 for an hour.
Tom Otley
Spa Illuminata
Tucked among the well-heeled homes of Mayfair, Spa Illuminata’s exquisite-smelling cloisters lead you through a shop selling Decleor and Carita products into the spa, which resembles a small, deserted Roman palace with cream columns, trickling water, classical busts and mosaic tiles. After a very brief discussion about my skin and a change into robe and slippers, I was led to the Tactile Sound Therapy Table room with its vibrating bed, the first of its kind in the UK. Illuminata describes this treatment – which I can only liken to lying on a warm and comfortable giant speaker with the bass on heavy – as working through “tactile sound technology where the musical bed allows you to feel the music rise and fall through your body”.
The room was lit only by tiny twinkling spots in the ceiling, like a starlit sky, and was filled with ocean sounds, helping me to bliss out quite peacefully as my head and scalp massage got under way. Afterwards, I was left alone, tucked under a duvet with giant earphones placed on my head and the bed gently pulsing the sound of seagulls and waves. It sounds a bit mumbo-jumbo-ish, but I really could visualise those seagulls and felt as if I was lying peacefully on a warm beach somewhere. Rather specifically, Illuminata’s brochure assures that the treatment “can reduce tension, anxiety, depression, fatigue and nausea by an average of 53.58 per cent”, with which I don’t feel I can quibble.
Feeling spaced out, I was then led to a treatment room where the therapist administered a soothing Decleor facial and a back massage which, I was told, was carried out to “read” my skincare needs. After an hour or so of total cleansing, toning and moisturising (including a hot wheatgerm poultice that smelt like my mother’s porridge), I felt my face smarting with health.
Where? 63 South Audley Street, tel +44 (0)20 7499 7777,www.spailluminata.com.
Treatments Facials and massages using Decleor and Carita products. Warm stone therapy, detoxing, relaxing, toning and energising therapies, perfect legs, contour and bust therapies, inner calm treatments with two therapists, manicures, pedicures and treatments just for men. Also to be recommended are the steam rooms, one scented deliciously with jasmine.
Signature therapy The Tactile Sound Therapy (£38), Sumptuous Mother To Be Treatment (£90) and the Essentially Yours Aromatic Facial (£72).
Luxury treatment The Revitalising Warm Stone Therapy (£130), the Inner Calm Treatment with two therapists at £160.
Prices From £35 for a Crystal Glow Salt Purifying Steam to £130 for the Revitalising Warm Stone Therapy.
Dinah Hatch
Espa
With bases all over the world, mostly in five-star hotels, the Espa brand will be familiar to many high-end travellers. In the UK, the best known are those in the Mandarin Oriental, The Grove in Hertfordshire and this one at the Renaissance Chancery Court London.
Espa offers a range of treatments combining aromatherapy, hydrotherapy, thalassotherapy (with sea water) and phytotherapy (using herbs), and the spa’s simple style attracts plenty of men who might otherwise think of spas as women-only territory. In this discreet Holborn basement, 44 per cent of customers are male and many are regulars.
The signature treatments at Espa are the two hour Rituals, top-to-toe therapies which start with a footbath and are then adapted depending on what you choose. Feeling a bit lethargic, I opted for the energiser which would, according to the brochure, invigorate my mind and body.
Once in the spa, the receptionist gave me some rubber slippers and led me down into the changing rooms. I was told to take everything off (paper knickers are available if you want to keep your private parts private) and put on one of the heavy towelling robes. Customers are advised to arrive early for their treatment in order to wind down first in the relaxation room. This circular room is softly lit and plays the customary soft spa music.
My therapist came to get me promptly and we walked through shadowy corridors lined with pebbles and water features to one of the pleasingly dark treatment rooms. Once inside, I was asked to put my feet into a bowl of warm water filled with smooth stones and was given a cup of cinnamon and liquorice tea (the blend depends on which Ritual you have chosen). After a friendly chat about chakras, allergies and which scents I preferred, I was disrobed and asked to lie face down on the bed. The first part of my treatment involved being covered in a salt and oil scrub to exfoliate my skin and prepare it for the oils and algae to come. Although you are covered with towels, these Rituals are not for the meek as every part of you in turn is exposed, smothered in products and rubbed. Being naked makes sense, though, as the products are messy and showers are necessary between applications.
After my first rinse in the en-suite shower room, I hopped back on the bed for the next instalment. This was the part I was most looking forward to. With my skin tingling pleasantly from the scrub, my therapist massaged my entire body (one side at a time) with oil and hot stones. The stones gave a firm but pleasant stroke that warmed and soothed my muscles. This was so relaxing, I found myself dribbling onto the floor through the face-ring in the bed.
After the massage I was wiped down with a flannel and covered in a detoxing algae. Again, the application was very thorough. To help this soak into my skin, I was then wrapped in plastic and had a heavy blanket put over me to keep the warmth in. The final phase of the Ritual was a pressure point facial and a head massage with mineral-rich clay.
After my final shower, I was taken back to the changing rooms where there would have been a chance to enjoy the sauna, steam shower or relaxation room for the rest of the day – if only I’d had time. Despite my glowing face and shiny hair, I’m not sure I felt energised but after being told later that I looked “15 years younger”, it certainly put a spring in my step.
Where? Renaissance Chancery Court London, 252 High Holborn, tel +44 (0)207 829 7058,www.marriott.com.
Treatments Body wraps and scrubs, facials, foot baths, massage, manicures/pedicures, waxing, fitness counselling, steam rooms
and paraffin hand treatments.
Signature therapy Aromatherapy.
Luxury Treatment Detox, Energiser, Resistance and Nourishing Rituals.
Prices A 110-minute Ritual costs £140.
Lauren Custance
…and one in New York
If you find yourself in New York and in need of a spa treatment, there are plenty of options. Bliss Spas originated in New York and the latest is in the W Hotel, owned by Starwood. The latter bought Bliss from luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, and regulars at Ws will recognise the name Bliss from the in-room amenities introduced at the hotels nationwide in October last year.
There are now four Bliss Spas worldwide: Bliss Soho, Bliss57 and the new Bliss49 in New York City; and BlissLondon, with new ones opening in San Francisco, LA and Chicago (Bliss spas are now exclusive to W Hotels).
Bliss49 is in the W New York on Lexington Avenue and 49th Street in Manhattan and, at 2,137sqm, is the company’s biggest outpost. The ground floor has a boutique and hi-tech manicure/pedicure lounge, and each nail station is equipped with its own flat-screen TV, DVD player and earphones as well as a conveyor belt transporting sterilised nail tools. On the 4th floor, the main spa facilities house 17 treatment rooms, four manicure/pedicure stations, a women’s locker room and lounge, a men’s locker room and lounge, a grooming studio, a shop, gym and a full menu of facial, massage, body treatment, waxing
and nail services. There’s also a hammam, digital lockers and grass-tiled steam showers.
For such a large place the design is comforting, and you are welcomed by the staff, who all wear tight green T-shirts and walk you through to the locker room, show you how everything works, then take you to a rest area to wait for your therapist.
There’s a cleanliness and fresh minimalism to the place, and after undressing and slipping into a robe, I sipped green tea in a comfortable lounge chair and read magazines until Linda, my therapist, came for me.
A true pro, Linda effortlessly negotiated the potential embarrassment of my getting out of the robe and onto the bench without having to be completely naked before her, and within minutes of the massage commencing, had discovered that my shoulders were so stiff I often have trouble feeding myself.
She showed me some exercises to increase flexibility, and I left, much happier, despite having passed on the signature treatments such as the Triple Oxygen Treatment facial. Maybe next time.
Where? 541 Lexington Avenue at 49th street, tel +1 212 219 8970,www.blissworld.com.
Treatments Facials, massages, carrot and sesame body buff, high thighs, ginger rub.
Signature therapy Triple oxygen treatment, for $150/£82.
Luxury Treatment Homme improvement, costing £98.
Prices from £14 upwards.
Tom Otley
