Group Effort: Orient-Express
05/01/2005
Orient-ExpressWhether they are designed to look like an ancient Mayan temple in Mexico or nestled within a banyan tree, Orient-Express develops spas that blend into the indigenous landscape and borrow from the local culture to inspire their treatments. “Nothing about us is cookie-cutter,” says Annette Sandford-Lopez, spa director and consultant for Orient-Express. “It is very important to us that each hotel and spa of ours you visit is unique unto itself—otherwise you lose the personality of the destination.”
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The Sea Creation Room, (right) and the
Casanova Gardens in Venice. (Click image to enlarge)Famed for its luxurious service and effective treatments, the spa at the Charleston Place Hotel features woven sea-grass baskets and trompe l’oeil ceilings painted with blue skies and local birds. Guests are offered cashmere blankets to wrap themselves in. “Cashmere may not be indigenous to South Carolina, but it emulates the kind of southern hospitality and warmth that you do find there. That wouldn’t be right, though, in a place like the Maroma Resort and Spa; there we chose locally made linens with Mexican embroidery, which are better suited to the climate and culture.” Handcrafted by Mayan masons, the design of each treatment room at Maroma is dictated by the stars, following the Mayan beliefs in astrological alignment.
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The Maru Spa in Bora Bora (Left), and the Bora Bora Lagoon
Resort. (Click image to enlarge)Great thought is given to every sensory detail. The Maru Spa in Bora Bora was built next to a lagoon, so guests would be able to hear the water padding against the rocks during a massage. Treatments employ local ingredients. “A lot of people come here and get sunburns because they forget to apply sunblock, so we tapped into the wisdom of the older people on the island and created a remedy treatment that takes soothing crushed Tamanu nuts along with oils and herbs—all found in the area—to help heal the skin,” says Sandford-Lopez. A spa at a very different kind of island hotel, Casanova Spa at Venice’s Hotel Cipriani, takes a more modern approach to relaxation. An aquatic-themed Sea Creation treatment room includes an in-room shower and a plasma screen television, which emits oceanic scenes and sounds. A clear glass floor with sand beneath it completes the motif. Orient-Express Hotels, 800.237.1236, www.orient-express.com