Group Effort: Four Seasons
May 1, 2005
Four Seasons
Just as you can rely on 24-hour room service
and
deliriously
luxurious beds in every Four Seasons hotel, you
can
expect the same level of
personalized service and quality
of
materials
in its spas. “The biggest
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a relaxation area in a Parisian spa. (Click image to enlarge)
mistake other places make is ignoring the arrival,” says Wolf Hengst, Four Seasons’ president of worldwide hotel operations. “Your experience begins from the moment you walk in. It continues with the way you relate to the design, how the spaces are arranged, how much privacy you have. The environment has to be comforting.” For the Four Seasons—which has recently opened spas in Whistler, Provence and Budapest—comfort begins with the softest textiles (often Frette linens), and the opportunity to experience the location through the treatments (Lomi Lomi massages in Hawaii and rainforest mud masks in Costa Rica, for example).
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A villa spa suite in Langkawi. (Click image to enlarge)
Men now account for approximately 50 percent of the hotel’s spa business, so Hengst favors both communal and separate waiting rooms for men and women. Fragrances are not imposed, and linens are also kept fragrance-free, laundered in-house throughout all properties. “When I look at the evolution of our spas, I see how we’ve created a team—it’s a bit like jazz in the way that everyone works together,” says Hengst. “Each therapist has his own style and technique, but there are very specific consistencies in the way they are told to fold towels and treat the guests.”
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The entrance to a spa in Punta Mita. (Click image to enlarge)
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, 800.819.5053, www.fourseasons.com
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