Tara Hanrahan, group director of spa operations for Centara Hotels and Resorts, has revealed details of three spas set to join the group’s portfolio in the coming years under the Spa Cenvaree brand in China, Vietnam and Qatar.

Speaking exclusively to Spa Opportunities, Hanrahan outlined the Spa Cenvaree facilities at Centara Resort Zhaoqing, the first property in China to be operated by Thai hospitality group.

Centara Resort Zhaoqing

Slated to open in Q4 of 2017, the four-star family-friendly resort located in Zhaoqing city in Guangdong Province, which is owned by Zhaoqing Yuhao Properties Development, will offer a Spa Cenvaree, complete with a mixture of single and couples’ therapy rooms.

“There will be a strong focus on communal and social therapies at this spa; three separate zones for communal foot massage are planned,” said Hanrahan. “Anyone who has worked on spas in China will know the importance of ensuring social space for spa guests. Each of these three massage zones will have a different ambience. For example, one will incorporate TV and snacks for social interaction, another will be a quiet zone with dimmed lighting and the third zone will provide an opportunity for guests to interact with each other.

“The foot massage menu will be quite extensive – a mini spa menu in itself,” added Hanrahan. “I suppose the important thing to note about this spa is that it isn’t a quiet zone – it will be more of a relaxation-through-social-interaction zone. As such, this will be reflected in lighting and layout.”

This Chinese resort will host 250 bedrooms, a waterpark, swimming pools, a number of food and beverage options, a fitness centre, kids club and an 800sq m (8,611sq ft) ballroom.

Centara Beach Resort Phu Quoc

The four-star Centara Beach Resort Phu Quoc on the main coast of Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam’s Kien Giang Province is the second Centara property on the island and has been described by Centara’s VP of sales and marketing, Chris Bailey, as “a highly desirable acquisition as it has a different style and product focus than our other properties in the region – and so we can expand our appeal to a wider cross-section of the market.”

The 143-key resort, which is expected to open in Q3 2015, will house a Spa Cenvaree with seven therapy rooms. “These will be a mixture of single and couples’ treatment rooms spread over two floors,” said Hanrahan.

“A kids’ spa, with fun therapies, will form part of the Kid’s Club and a dedicated communal foot massage zone is planned – along with standard wet facilities including steamrooms and saunas,” added Hanrahan.

“The resort itself is family-oriented, hence the kids’ spa therapies,” said Hanrahan. “We’re finding that guests want the spa to ‘come to them’, so to speak, so we’ll also offer therapies poolside during the day and at the property’s club lounge. Therapies will feature our traditional Thai treatments and incorporate other southeast Asian influences.”

Centara Grand West Bay Hotel

Having already provided Spa Opportunities with exclusive information on the 264-key Centara Grand West Bay Hotel – which is set to open in Doha, Qatar in 2016 – Hanrahan detailed unique features of this 18-treatment room Spa Cenvaree as a follow-up.

“There are several reasons this Spa Cenvaree will be so unique. For example, it takes up an entire guest floor, so the breadth of the experience and spa journey for guests is extensive. Our Thai therapists will also be performing treatments in the Middle Eastern location, incorporating the softness and innate nurturing that has made Thailand and Thai therapists so famous throughout the world.

“The treatment room furnishings are quite sparse so that the mood and tone is focused inward and there are no distracting elements,” added Hanrahan.

“The wet relaxation facilities will be very extensive and we expect guests to linger both before and after. No expense has been spared at this site – there’s also a VIP suite and several couples’ rooms, which is still considered quite new for the region.”