SPA HOTSPOT: DRIFTING AWAY

Drifting AWAY

Sydney’s new AWAY Spa at the W Hotel knows how to impress, writes NADINE DILONG

If you know me, you know I love W Hotels. I have been lucky to stay at quite a few of them and experience their AWAY Spas, so I was very excited when it was announced that, after Brisbane and Melbourne, it was finally Sydney’s turn to get one. Cue Covid and a few other challenges that made the opening date get pushed back again and again, late last year, W Sydney finally opened its quirky doors.

The AWAY Spa sits on level 2 of the hotel and is an interior design dream. The W brand is known for its eclectic, colourful, and sometimes almost over the top design, but AWAY Spa Sydney got the balance between quirky and elegance right. Next to the reception desk you can find the most beautiful terracotta coloured mani/pedi booths that make the perfect location for a friend get-together or a bridal party.

After I enjoy a delicious welcome drink and fill out my consultation form (5 stars for including a question about what size robe you would prefer!), I get a quick tour of the facilities. The waiting area is moody and dark in hues of blue and purple, the post-treatment area includes a variety of drinks and snacks and comfortable pods to relax in, and then there is also a steam room, sauna, and experience showers, which are not for the faint-hearted as the push of a button releases cold water from the top, akin to an ice bucket challenge (not today for me, thank you).

I relax and enjoy my treats for a while, before checking out the pool on the 29th floor, which is only accessible to hotel guests and spa guests who have booked a 60-minute or longer treatment.

My beautiful therapist Dorcas guides me to the very generous treatment room with my own bathroom, and explains the Quench treatment to me which I am about to have. A pregnancy-safe (I am 17 weeks at the time of writing this) body scrub, massage, and mini facial using Comfort Zone products. Everything at this spa is lush – the bedding, the robe, the bed itself, it’s all very comfortable and so I enjoy 90 minutes of bliss.

Dorcas applies the scrub to my back, arms, legs, and décolletage, and explains that it has soft grains for a manual exfoliation, but also works as a chemical exfoliation, so we leave the product on while Dorcas continues with my facial. After a thorough cleanse, she uses two ice cold globes to give a cryo facial, which stimulates blood circulation and feels very refreshing. This is followed by a deeply nourishing moisturiser, and face and scalp massage.

Dorcas prepares the shower for me with a set of fresh towels and robe, and guides me to the bathroom to shower off the scrub. When I return to the treatment bed, everything’s cleaned as if I had never been there – the spa magic! I lay on my side and receive a back and neck massage using the Comfort Zone Tranquility Oil, a blend containing amaranth oil, grape oil, rose and vanilla oils and vitamin E. I love that its smell is quite subtle and not overpowering. My treatment ends with another quick facial massage.

Dorcas leads me to the relaxation pods where the most thoughtful variety of post-treatment treats awaits me. Non-alcoholic champagne, herbal tea, and vegan chocolates and mint coconut bars made by a Sydney-based baker, Dorcas tells me. They’ve also included a Beysis nail polish for me to take home, which has the exact same shade of mint as the mint coconut bar – not sure if intentional or not, but I love it.

I relax and enjoy my treats for a while, before checking out the pool on the 29th floor, which is only accessible to hotel guests and spa guests who have booked a 60-minute or longer treatment. The view over Sydney is stunning. I will be back, no doubt.