Spa Canada Magazine

Under The Banyan Tree

It starts with the winding staircase from the reception area, down into a cave-like darkened room, where a transparent acrylic bamboo forest shimmers in the darkness – and goes on from there.

Banyan Tree’s Spa in Bangkok is full of surprises – not entirely unexpected for a company that sees itself as a pioneer and innovator, constantly taking its treatments and concepts to a new level.

Take, for example, its spectacular roof-perched Vertigo Restaurant; or its signature Rain mist treatment that combines body treatments with steam and the warm feel of tropical rain on the skin; or its tropical garden concept, launched in 1994, with its Eastern therapies and holistic focus on spiritual, mental and physical harmony; or its master therapist program.

Then there’s the Banyan Tree Gallery, the inspiration of Claire Chaing, a prominent Singapore businesswoman and one of the owners of Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts. The Gallery offers Banyan Tree’s signature spa products and accessories, travel mementos, resort-style home furnishings, apparel and more.

The Gallery is also the marketing channel for traditional village crafts hand made in various areas of Asia like Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and China.

The bamboo forest is a common feature of Banyan Tree Spas, notes Joyce Ong, a public relations executive at Banyan Tree’s Bangkok Spa. It’s part of the ritual that helps guests make the transition from the outside world and prepare them for their spa journey. It’s hinted in the large circular maze-like motif over the reception area and echoed again on the floor corridors inside the spa.

The journey starts much earlier, in fact, as soon as guests arrive at the spa, where they are met by one of the Banyan Tree’s spa hosts and taken to a relaxation area for tea.

Here they are able to review Banyan Tree’s menu of treatments and discuss their preferences and special requirements with a therapist before any treatments are recommended.

Once they select their treatment, guests are taken down the winding staircase, past the bamboo forest and to a rest area, where they have their shoes changed and are given a foot bath and foot massage. The footbath uses cloves and lemongrass, blended and wrapped in a small pouch and soaked in warm water with rose petals. The ingredients have effective cleansing and anti-bacterial properties.

In the treatment room, guests are then asked to choose from an assortment of incenses with different scents and therapeutic benefits for use during their treatment. Guests are also asked if there are any specific areas they would like the therapist to focus on and their preferred level of pressure for massages before treatments begun. Treatments are usually followed by a shower and a relaxing period over tea.

Many of its 16 treatment rooms, located on the 19th and 20th floors of the hotel have panoramic floor-to-ceiling views of Bangkok. Treatment suites include three Grand Spa suites – Rain mist, steam, Jacuzzi and shower facilities and a double treatment room; four deluxe spa suites – double treatment rooms featuring steam, Jacuzzi and shower facilities; three double treatment rooms that include double treatment rooms and steam, Jacuzzi and shower facilities; and six single spa suites – single treatment rooms with shower facilities.

The spa also includes a beauty salon and covers 1,100 square metres on two floors. The Banyan Tree Hotel is located in the heart of Bangkok’s business district. The spa takes its name from the banyan tree – a tropical Indian fig tree considered sacred in some parts of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

In Bangkok, Banyan Tree sees itself as an ideal escape for day spa seekers. “All guests who visit a city spa or a destination spa have similar objectives – to retreat, relax and pamper themselves,” says Joyce.

“The difference lies in the type of spa treatments spa guests select … city spa visitors tend to have less time – so they go for shorter treatments,” she added, noting that some of its most popular treatments are 90 and 120-minute massages and two and three-hour packages.

Its signature Rain mist experience, a recent Banyan Tree innovation, is carried out in one of the Rain mist rooms, where guests experienced the tingling sensation of rain falling on their backs, while being given body treatments, body scrubs and body wraps.

“A brilliant treatment that takes the Vichy Shower experience to a new level,” says Joyce, “that combines a body treatment with a steam and rain shower without having to leave your bed. The Rain mist, combined with water and steam in an enclosed room, produces a temperature that’s perfect for most people.”

This is followed by an orange and yoghurt scrub and then a honey and milk conditioner, leaving the skin soft and smooth, and a period of relaxation and refreshments.  The treatment takes 2.5 hours and costs around US$195.

The Rain mist package helps the body to relax much more than a normal massage, she adds. That’s because the Rain mist attunes your body – so that it’s already relaxed before you go into a deeper level of massage.

“It’s also a great antidote for jet lag … from the Rain mist treatment you go straight into a treatment room, where a master therapist analyzes your body and goes through a number of questions with you – what you did the day before, for example, your job, how much you travel – and then touches your body to find out where the tense muscles are before customizing a treatment for you.

“Maybe you have a certain problem, in which a hand massage would be inappropriate. A master therapist would immediately be able to adapt a treatment that would eliminate the pain. They know what to use,” says Joyce.

Other signature treatments include the Revitalizer, which combines a choice of a full body massage and a complementary facial for a head-to-tow revitalizing treatment. The two-hour rejuvenation treatment, like all other signature treatments, begins with a body scrub.

The Royal Banyan, a five-hour signature therapy, draws on the massage traditions used for centuries in Royal Thai palaces. It begins with an oil-free Thai acupuncture massage to improve blood circulation and relieve muscle tension.

Banyan herbal pouches, filled with lemongrass and coriander, are used to apply warm sesame oil while the Banyan massage, combining the best of the East and West massage techniques, is performed to balance the mind, body and soul. This is followed by a therapeutic herbal bath and refreshments and relaxation.

All three Banyan Tree Spa’s Rejuvenation packages combine a full body massage and a complementary facial. Like all Banyan Tree treatments, they begin with a footbath and a choice of facial or massage.

Guests are able to choose from five different types of massages – Asian Blend, Balinese, Island Dew, Lomi Lomi, and Swedish; and three types of facials – Banyan cleansing ritual, purifying facial and revitalizing facial.

The Rejuvenation package also offers a choice of body scrub or body conditioner and a choice of one of five massages. Body scrubs include apples and green tea polisher, Kieffer lime refresher, romance salt scrub, scented dill purifier, tropical fruit scrub and turmeric and honey cleanser. Body conditioners include aloe and lavender, herbal enhancer, tropical fruit and Kieffer lime mask.

Then there’s the seven-hour Banyan Day experience, where guests can choose either a Pampering Day or a Perfect Day package. The Pampering Day begins with a series of stimulating body treatments that include a body scrub, a body conditioner and a massage.

After lunch, the afternoon begins with a facial and either a Banyan hand or foot essential treatment. In foot essentials, the feet are given a foot scrub with milk, honey and sea salt to slough off dead skin and then given a relaxing massage.

The Perfect Day program focuses on rejuvenation and begins with a full body massage and a balancing facial followed by a spa lunch. The afternoon features a top-to-toe series of treatments that start with a conditioning hand and foot care treatment and end with a luxurious hair shampoo and style at the spa’s in-house beauty salon.

Recruiting is a special challenge for most spas, says Joyce, noting that Banyan Tree places a lot of emphasis on attitude and the enthusiasm to be in the industry.

“Once we identify the right person, we train them from scratch to become successful therapists. Once they graduate, we offer a wide range of opportunities to keep them motivated and interested.

“For those who stand out, we have a fast-track program, whereby therapists who excel in their work and training, there are opportunities to step up to become a superviser or manager.”

Turnover rate is exceptionally low. In her tenure at Bangkok, there have been no resignations but a lot of new faces as staffs are rotated from spa to spa or deployed to positions at other Banyan Tree properties.

“They bring back that experience back to Bangkok. Nut just differences in treatments but a greater understanding and appreciation of the differences and sensitivities of other cultures.”

Keeping staff up to date is a matter of training and retraining. “We never stop. We do our own in-house training, which is why we are able to specialize and do what we do consistently.”

Banyan Tree, she notes, is a pioneer of the garden spa concept “as a haven for physical and spiritual renewal that celebrates human touch”, using natural herbs and spices and aromatic oils with ancient healing powers.

Banyan Tree describes it as a “sanctuary for the senses and a sense of serenity” that draws on Asian traditions dating back centuries. Banyan Tree journeys include a 30-minute calm time.

This philosophy is communicated to all therapists who undergo 300 hours of rigorous theoretical and practical training at one of the Banyan Tree Spa Academies in Phuket, Bangkok, Thailand; and in China and Indonesia. The company’s academy is accredited by Thailand.

The program encompasses all areas of spa therapy that includes human anatomy, key pressure points, modern and traditional massage techniques, body weight variations, knowledge of skin epidermis, facial applications, properties of herbs and spices, preparation of spa ingredients, even standard greeting procedures.

All therapists are handpicked from Thai provinces. Special emphasis is placed on service. “Attention to detail and instinctive sensitivity to guests’ needs are what set us apart.”

Most therapists are gifted, he adds, and able to qualify as master therapists, an elite group of therapists, who undergo a further 200 hours of intensive training. To qualify as master therapists, they must be skilled in a repertoire of signature massage techniques and be able to adapt these techniques to each individual.

“Above all, they must be special.”