But in a purpose-built spa room, what else would you expect? This isn’t a dingy little cabin made from flimsy wooden partitions, it’s what the Park Hyatt Dubai calls a Residential Spa room, and is a hotel room that is focused around the spa experience, complete with steam room. Like the In-room Hamam Ritual that dominated our stay.
But first the view: the hotel is located on the north bank of Dubai Creek, part of the Creek Golf and Yacht club complex, and is quite simply, stunning. Park Hyatt properties, I’m told, are much about the perfect location, and what this one does, even for a Dubai-dweller like me, is manage to provide the feeling of being away from it all, away from the construction, the traffic, the heat and dust and humidity. This one proves wrong anyone tells you Dubai’s a construction site.
With the spa rooms situated on the ground floor, you can literally step out onto the creek and walk down the pier – perfect at night with a bottle of wine and that special someone.
And so to the Hamam ritual. A phone call from the spa instructs me to sit in the steam room for ten minutes – which is when I figure out that with three showerheads each on two of the walls and a saucer-sized one in the ceiling, having a shower is quite fun and you certainly don’t want a bathtub! Soon, I’m being scrubbed all over with a therapeutic Moroccan mix and left to cook a little longer before being massaged for more than an hour, any longer and I’d be ready to sign away all my earthly possessions to the masseur.
Like all good massages, I’m ready for bed by this point, but head out, instead to tour the onsite Amara spa, which has been very beautifully done, with eight spacious luxury suites, each with its own private outdoor terrace, lounge area, indoor and quite delightful outdoor rain showers. Amara also boasts a stunning 25m swimming-pool with a series of palm islands built with-in. At Amara, privacy is of the essence. The spa has its own enclosed private entrance, which can be accessed without going through the hotel.
I promptly succumb to a pedicure and a hair treatment, run by French chain Carita (which also provides all the inroom guest amenities) – and when I emerge, hours later, it’s time for dinner. So we head to the hotel’s Thai Kitchen, where everything is served in tiny, bite-sized (and priced!) portions, with each person encouraged to order three or four little dishes to sample a wide variety. At Dh505 including drinks and coffee for three, it’s a sweet deal.
Next morning, after a king-sized bed where sleep comes easy, we breakfast in the Café Arabesque, which does a mean Turkish omelette. The coffee, though, could certainly be improved.
TTN tried-and-tested verdict: Certainly one worth booking your clients into. We’ve already talked about it to the world and we’d do it again in a trice!
TTN is the most established trade publication in the Middle East distributed on a controlled circulation basis to members of the travel and tourism industry.
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