SPA HOTSPOT

The doors to Brisbane’s new, cool kid on the block are open with W Hotel welcoming guests to its first Australian location since June this year. The iconic hotel includes the chain’s own AWAY Spa ready to pamper travellers and locals alike. NADINE DILONG shares her experience.

When you check in to your hotel and throw your sightseeing plans overboard just to stay in your room, you know you’ve chosen the right accommodation. Brisbane’s newly opened W Hotel is so much more than just a place to sleep, offering everything a guest could want from top-notch restaurants to a funky rooftop pool and bar, a pillow menu, eclectic art at every corner, and of course, a fivestar spa with so many points of difference, it’s hard to decide where to begin.

Located on level five with breathtaking views of Brisbane’s Southbank thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows, AWAY Spa can be divided into three areas: Renowned celebrity hair stylist Edwards And Co facilitates guests with hair services on one side, while the beautiful treatment rooms make up the other side, adjacent to the spa amenities open to all hotel guests. These include vitality pools, relaxation pods, rain showers, his-and-hers salt inhalation chambers and aromatherapy steam rooms – enough to fill an entire afternoon even if you haven’t booked a treatment.

When I arrive at the spa’s reception, the beautiful waiting area with indirect lighting, vibrant tropical artwork, and a drink station offering VitaJuwel crystal infused water immediately makes me feel relaxed. I’m booked in for a body treatment using Skeyndor products, but before we start, I am offered a beverage from their spa menu, which includes curated drinks with added health benefits, such as a probiotic, lactose-free matcha latte or a gut health tea.

After filling out the client card, I am taken to my treatment room, a large, light-filled space with a stateof-the-art heated treatment bed, a curved sofa and a foot bath waiting for me to step into. My wonderful therapist Helena explains the ‘Sapphire Rewire Wrap’ treatment to me and shows me the electric blue scrub she’s going to use all over my body, as well as a selection of different crystals she will incorporate into my massage. The crystals help reenergise my body to

help with fatigue and stress, she explains, as I get more and more excited to enter into a state of pure bliss.

Helena starts with my legs and works her way up to my shoulders, and after about 45 minutes of scrubbing and massaging oil deep into my skin, it’s time for a shower. The treatment room includes a full bathroom equipped with a rain shower perfect to rinse off the Sapphire scrub, but this isn’t where the treatment ends. Once I’m clean and back on the warm, soft treatment bed, Helena starts the gemstone massage. One after the other, the stones are placed on different spots on my body, such as my abdomen, my back, and my forehead. Helena then gently massages my body, stones in hand, which feels surprisingly good as the polished crystals are smooth and round, moulded perfectly to every curve of the body.

After about an hour, my treatment is over, but the spa experience isn’t. This is what differentiates a good spa from a fantastic spa, as the time before and after a treatment is just as important as the treatment itself, framing the overall experience and making it a day to remember. Helena guides me to the post-treatment lounge area, where relaxation pods (white, ergonomically shaped beds) invite guests to keep on relaxing while sipping on a drink of your choice (a naughty tasting but apparently healthy chocolate tea in my case) and gazing out the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the iconic Wheel of Brisbane.

Helena suggests staying away from water for a few hours to let the luxurious Skeyndor products nourish my skin, so I wait until night time to go back to AWAY Spa to make use of the steam room, sauna, and pool. W Hotel has of course thought of everything guests may need; I find the changing room area stocked with small bottles of shampoo, conditioner, face wash, body wash, and body lotion as well as combs and vanity kits. The staff are incredibly thoughtful and professional throughout my entire stay, and I find myself not wanting to leave AWAY Spa wishing I had more time to enjoy all the amenities.

It’s really not surprising the W Hotel group has gone from humble beginnings in New York in 1998 to near world domination in less than 20 years. With currently 78 hotels worldwide, the hotel chain has garnered somewhat of a cult-following with guests everywhere assured they get the iconic Whatever/Whenever service when staying at W. And as of now, they have one more fan looking forward to her next W Hotel and AWAY Spa experience.