Where’s Anne? China!

I’m in an airplane on my way home from a trip to China (Beijing and Kunshan), Jakarta in Indonesia and Singapore, all in one week.

China was cool and damp. Jakarta and Singapore are hot and sticky all year so packing for the trip was a challenge.

Beijing was especially exciting this trip because we’re opening a new Fairmont Hotel with a Willow Stream spa early next year. It is a truly beautiful property and the Willow Stream will be in an unusual place, on a bridge between two towers, 19 floors up, overlooking the city! One of the towers is our hotel and the other is for offices.

Since they’re still building on the site, I had to wear a hard hat to take a look around. The spa is on three levels with the fitness centre and pool on the lowest one and the treatment rooms on the top. It is going to be great to work out looking over Beijing then move upstairs for a uniquely local experience in one of our lovely new treatment suites.

My mission this trip was to start hiring the most qualified therapists and estheticians. I found a great training company that will work with us to teach staff our spa philosophy and treatments for three months before we introduce any of them to you.

Then on to Kunshan which is about 90 minutes from Shanghai. It’s a large and fast growing city with a lot of high tech businesses. Just outside town is Yangshang Lake, famous for Hairy Crabs, a difficult to eat delicacy. The lake is closely protected – no boats allowed. We are building a new resort right on the lake with, of course, a spa. I was really impressed with this property. The spa is on the main floor and all the windows have full views of the lake and the surrounding forest. We were at the stage I love in a new spa, working on final details such as selecting steam equipment, tubs, tables, design materials, too, like carpets, marble, fabrics etc. The overall spa design inspires ideas for treatments and services and the design itself is inspired by the nature around the spa. For example, furniture has elements of corn, garlic, bamboo and the patterns they create look like flowers. Much as I enjoyed seeing our new spa come to life, it was time to head to Indonesia.

In Jakarta, I made a presentation to an ownership group for a hotel and spa development in Southeast Asia which is still a secret. Jakarta is busy, loud and the people are amazing. For instance, you see tiny motorcycles with two adults and three children on the same bike.

On to Singapore.

We have a regional office in Singapore and three hotels: our famous Raffles Hotel, a Fairmont Hotel and a Swissotel and they are all at the same intersection and connected to a very large mall.

Singapore is clean, very beautiful and the people all speak English as well as several other languages. They pride themselves on being the connection between east and west.

My room at the Fairmont was on the 25th floor overlooking the central city and the harbor where there were so many large ships, 100 or more, that it looked like an invasion.

A large Willow Stream spa and club with 30+ treatment rooms and a large fitness facility connects the Swissotel and the Fairmont. Our new spa director, Trevor Studd, has just arrived there and he is very busy working on new ideas. He and I met with the therapists in an open session and boy did they have questions! Where are we opening new hotels? Can they help train the staff? Which Willow Stream has the best therapists? What’s my personal favorite spa treatment?

My new favorite just might be an experience I enjoyed at the hands of a therapist named Yudi who comes from Ubud Bali, a truly beautiful place. She and I created a treatment by combining parts of existing treatments: the wrap part of the Body Quench treatment featuring a Willow Stream Energy spa product made from the nut of the avocado, and a stress relief massage. After a lot of airplane travel the massage is wonderful because is focuses on our most-stressed parts: back, shoulders, neck and feet. Yudi has great touch, very, very strong with a caring approach.

We can always make up a treatment that suits your specific needs, too. I had asked our Singapore team to recommend something for 90 minutes that would be good for deep moisturizing and also stiffness from sitting. The new combination was perfect.