Spa Canada Magazine

 

And it ‘s working, bringing in clients from all over the world, even in the depths of the recession when it welcomed guests for the first time. Of course, having a name like Ritz-Carlton doesn’t hurt either, or the fact that it’s situated in Palm Springs with a clientele that likes what it has to offer.

 

In developing the concept, the people behind the creation of Eau Spa visited spas all over the world and discovered that most spas were essentially the same – very quiet, dimly lit, health oriented and all about getting a treatment and perhaps a steam bath or a sauna.

 

 

 

“We came back with a very clear idea of what we wanted – the next generation spa – and above all, a spa experience that was all about me, and set about to create a one-of-a-kind spa,” said Aylet Rahav, Eau Spa’s creative director.

 

The whole spa, in fact, is all about me as a guest, and creating an environment where guests can have fun, laugh and really enjoy themselves. That environment includes invigorating music, chocolate cup cakes and even alcohol. “We don’t tell people what to do. We just want them to have a good time.”

 

 

Adds Simon Lewis, Eau Spa’s owner: “We began to realize that people don’t want to spend the day whispering and tip-toeing around a spa and they don’t want to be told how to live or how to eat. Guests just want to have a great time getting away from it all, letting time stand still for a while and leave feeling good.”

 

Much depends on location. “In our case, we’re located in Palm Beach. No one comes to Palm Beach or the Ritz-Carlton to have their blood pressure checked” says Aylet. “Our well-being is feeling good, for guests to be themselves, socialize, relax, feel pampered and rejuvenated … you get the same results as you would at a traditional spa – but in a different way.”

 

 

Me time can be with the guest’s partner or just being by themselves. Everyone needs their own me time and Eau Spa makes a point of letting each guest decide how they want to spend their me time.

 

Eau Spa, which was built from scratch, occupies 42,000 square feet on the ground floor. In fact, the hotel’s tennis court was torn down to make room for it.

 

The spa is located near the hotel’s lobby and filled with light – “exquisite for a spa and rare in hotel spas,” adds Ellen Sackoff, a principal of Cornelia of New York. The spa opens up to a garden, “like a dream fulfilled when I first saw it”. The garden has reflecting pools and birdcage style hanging chairs with white cushions. The chairs twirl over the ankle-deep pool and allow you to drag your feet through the water.

 

 

Water plays a big role at Eau Spa, especially the fun part. Its huge bath lounge, features a big Jacuzzi with rubber ducks and private villas with outdoor bathtubs and showers. On the men’s side, the ducks are replaced by water pistols.

 

“It’s all about being young again. But there’s also a healing element to all this, even though we don’t emphasize that,” says Ellen. “In so many spas, you get rabbit food or none at all.”

 

The spa journey actually starts outside the spa door, in the transitional entranceway. Here are colors are more subdued and there is a bronze statue of Hygieia, the goddess of spirituality and wellness, to welcome guests.

 

The entranceway sets the stage for what’s to come – a clock, for example, that runs backwards. It’s projected on the floor to encourage guests to forget about time and set a tone of suspended time. Then add a copper wishing well where guests are encouraged to make a wish and set a candle afloat. Together, they create an Alice in Wonderland kind of atmosphere designed to make you pause and transport you into a different state of mind.

 

 

Aylet first experienced the wishing well ceremony at an Ayurvedic spa in India, where it was done in a more serious, ritualistic way. At Eau Spa, it’s designed to make you stop and take a moment, just for yourself and figure out why you’re at the spa and what you hope to achieve.

 

“A moment for you to recap, to take a moment for yourself. It sets the stage for what’s to come.”

 

It’s only a few steps from the wishing well to the spa’s garden. The garden makes great use of water and wind chimes and an array of plants and foliage designed to attract butterflies – all to create a serene, tranquil atmosphere. “It’s a social spot that draws guests naturally, especially in the evening.”

 

There are surprises at every turn – a magnificent chandelier; a waterfall massage, where water from an overhead shower circle cascades over the guest’s shoulders and back; and color-changing lights in the shaft of light from the shower circle that work on the senses to create another dimension of relaxation. And in the steam and sauna area, a disco ball casts sparklers of light through the steam.

 

The chandelier was created from 300 vintage and contemporary wine glasses. There is only a handful in the world and Eau Spa has two – one in the women’s Eau Zone Relaxation lounge and the other, in the men’s lounge.

 

The spa’s outdoor Self-Centered Garden was envisioned by Lewis as a reminiscent of the Garden of Eden. Modern features include a mirror mosaic that uses the sun’s reflection to sparkle. A sail-shaped sundial, masquerading as a piece of sculpture, points to projected thoughts such as “dream” and “believe” rather than hours and minutes.

 

On entering the spa, you are conscious of a subtle scent carried on the air. It’s Eau Spa’s signature scent (green tea and lemon grass), which is present all across the spa.

 

The music, also designed specially for the spa, is a kind of lounge music that changes to club music at night. “We designed the music so that when you enter the spa, it has a strong, energetic beat and slows down at each step of your journey. It takes a while before you really notice,” observes Aylet.

 

The lighting changes color again in the treatment rooms, where guests are invited to choose their own music and their preferred scent from an array of scents designed by Cornelia – a combination of musk, sandalwood and citrus – designed to be gender neutral, fresh and mysterious.

 

“It fits very well with the mystic and more provocative nature of the spa … as you go through the spa, you hear people talking and giggling. We don’t ask people to be quiet.”

 

The treatments are all about serious, efficacious results. “We believe in using equipment but only the right equipment … we’re always on the lookout for what’s new, what’s next, what’s really best.”

 

At the same time, Eau Spa believes touch is everything and trains its estheticians and massage therapists “in a touch that can be best described as how you would touch a loved one”, said Ellen.

 

“That touch is critical – so that the pressure and flow are always just right and there’s never a moment where the flow stops and the guest feels uncomfortable or an awkward moment.

 

“We make sure our therapists are truly masters – so that they can take our protocol, which is very specific, but bring their own expertise and creativity to the treatment, in keeping with our heritage in skin care.”

 

The spa doesn’t chocolate facials or faddish treatments. For Eau Spa, serious skin care means a perfect touch, excellent products and treatments performed by an experienced and seasoned therapist – a therapist who knows how to look at the skin, how to analyze and determine what it needs, even what kind of booster it requires for each individual’s skin.

 

The skin is the largest organ of the body, changing all the time, depending on your state of mind, activity level, what you’ve been eating, even whether you’ve been traveling, etc.

 

Each esthetician conducts a private consultation, analyzing each guest’s needs before designing a treatment based on that person’s unique skin condition.

 

“And we keep track of each guest’s history,” says Ellen, “so that if you come in one week and do a particular optimizing facial or massage, and come in six weeks later, you may get a slightly different treatment because your skin needed a different treatment.”

 

Not to be missed is Eau Spa’s scrub and polish bar, which takes its reference from the ancient spice markets of the Middle East, says Aylet.

 

Most spas offer scrub treatments. “Everything we do,” she adds, “is to engage the guest. We want to create the ultimate.” At Eau Spa, that means inviting guests to create their own scrub from an array of raw ingredients like vanilla, sea salts, essential oils, sugars, herbs like eucalyptus, lemon grass and jasmine, as well as in-house mixologies. The therapist then explains the health and beauty effects of each.

 

After the scrub, guests discover the spa’s first wet zone inside the bath lounge. The lounge is modeled after an ancient Lammam, a communal gathering spot for conversing. The rotunda-shaped bath lounge includes a Jacuzzi with a column of falling water, heated loungers, steam showers and a large damask mosaic.

 

Its 19 treatment rooms are called spa villas. Twelve of the 19 treatment rooms have their own private outdoor gardens. The we element is very much in evidence. Here color therapy, using LED lighting, defines wall colors and evokes specific moods – blue tones to help guests relax; red, for those interested in play; and gold, for guests seeking balance.

 

Eau Spa’s most popular treatment is its Cornelia Signature facial with two boosters. It is an anti-aging treatment that’s deeply nourishing and infused with vitamins and anti-oxidants that create instant firmness, hydration and diminished fine lines.

 

In this treatment, the skin is cleansed and carefully analyzed under the lamp before the esthetician determines the level of capillaries seen on the skin. She then decides the kinds of moisturizers to use, which types of serums and optimizing boosters are needed. There are five different boosters that address different skin conditions – caviar peel-off mask, oxygen, collagen, eye soother and a pumpkin papaya mask.

 

Optimizing, a way of customizing the facial to a particular client, is proprietary to the Cornelia treatment program, specifically to its skin care treatments.

 

Other facials include the Cornelia Signature restorative facial; anti-aging, advanced lifting; and its popular four-handed facial. Its Bejeweled Collection features the Cornelia Lumina facial; the Champagne Shimmer, in which Champagne is poured over the feet’ and the Pearl in the palm of your hand manicure.

 

Its Signature massage, where the therapist and guest decide together what the massage should consist of, is also its most popular massage. “You don’t come here to get a Swedish massage,” says Ellen, “but a massage that works. Perhaps it’s a combination Swedish-Shiatsu and a little acupuncture. No two bodies are alike.”

 

Other massages: Precious Stone; Eau So Swift; Couples Signature; Prenatal Care; Thai; and Reflexology. Then there’s the Cornelian Body Raptures, a collection of body treatments ranging from a honey citrus body polish and a champagne body luster to slimming silk infusion and a cooling body swathe.

 

Eau Spa uses Cornelia skin and body products in its treatments. Its retail line, called Essential, for skin care and bath and body, is sold in the spa and its Cornelia products, on the spa’s website. “Our products are a mix of natural, organic and wild-crafted.” Body boosters elevate the experience.

 

To all this, the spa adds its own special touch – a Butler Service, referred to as Masters of Ceremonies – which complements its vision of five-star treatments and service. The role of these MCs, as they call them, is to help the guest through their journey, “to be at their elbow and discreetly assist the guest’s wishes, whether for a cold drink, a glass of champagne or whatever”, adds Ellen.

 

Service is one of the hallmarks of Ritz-Carlton and it extends to the spa. At Ritz-Carlton, she notes, guests expect great service and that often means anticipating their needs.

 

“All our staff is trained in our menu of treatments and in the products we use. Our estheticians and massage therapists are seasoned and highly experienced. We believe that our therapists are artists … have mastery of their skills and a belief system that reflects their passion for excellence,” said Ellen.

 

It’s not easy to find this level of expertise, she admits, but feels Eau Spa has been able to retain some of the best estheticians in the profession. They come from all over the world “because they want to be here … to work in an environment where they know their craft is taken seriously and have some room for creativity in what they’re doing”.

 

Training, even for seasoned professionals, is critical and focuses on Eau Spa’s menu and protocols – because every spa does things differently and has their own touch point.

 

“Cornelia also has its own,” says Ellen. “Everyone is trained in the Cornelian touch so that they learn how to use the entire hand, not just their fingertips, and how to make their movements flow and feel choreographed. We train probably twice as much as most spas and do refreshers constantly and we listen to our therapists of what works and what doesn’t.

 

“Everything, including our treatments, is customized,” said Ellen. “The core philosophy behind the Cornelia treatment is giving a unique experience. It’s what makes us stand out.”