Photo: Champalimaud Design The design draws from the understated elegance of Old Naples and the ease of Florida’s Gulf Coast lifestyle – Ed Bakos, CEO and partner at Champalimaud Design

Naples Beach Club, a Four Seasons Resort, has opened a 2,800sq m spa called The Sanctuary, with the design and concept inspired by the Native American people that populated Florida’s Southwest coast – the Calusa.

The spa, which is set across three levels, was created by Champalimaud Design and uses a layered palette of natural materials, soft textures and luminous light to echo Naples’ shoreline. The reception features a hand-painted tile mural created in collaboration with an artisan workshop in Guadalajara, Mexico, called Cerámica Suro. The concept is said to honour the Calusa’s philosophies, cultivating strength, balance and vitality through every stage of existence.

Ed Bakos, CEO and partner at Champalimaud Design, told Spa Business: "The spa at Naples Beach Club, A Four Seasons Resort, was envisioned as a true sanctuary within the larger resort, a place designed for slowing down, restoring, and reconnecting. 

“The design draws from the understated elegance of Old Naples and the ease of Florida’s Gulf Coast lifestyle,” added Bakos. “Light woods, handcrafted tile, layered textures and relaxed yet refined furnishings create spaces that feel warm, airy and deeply connected to their surroundings. Consultancy WTS collaborated on the programming and development of the overall spa experience.”

The facilities

There are 13 treatment rooms, including three VIP suites. 

The hydrothermal circuit measures 300sq m and is home to aromatherapy steamrooms, a Finnish sauna, ice room, vitality pool, heated and cooled marble benches, a cold plunge and experience showers. There are gender-specific zones and communal areas too. 

Guests can find their own way through the circuit at their own pace or select a ritual on the treatment menu to guide themselves.

Four Seasons has also installed its first Ammortal Chamber at The Sanctuary, offering guests therapies that blend light, sound and oxygen to reduce stress and boost recovery.

There is also a 23-metre rooftop lap pool and fitness centre (409sq m) designed in collaboration with celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak. Frame Pilates provides reformer classes and expands the resort's movement programming.

A nail spa and hair salon will open shortly.

Treatments

Treatments are structured around five elemental pillars that would once have been important to the Calusa’s mastery of the coast: ocean, sky, plant, air and heat. This means treatments incorporate sea salt in exfoliations, wraps use mineral-rich seaweed and there are oxygen-infused facials on the menu. 

The spa uses Margy’s Monte Carlo Luxury Skin Care for treatments, which are Swiss-made formulas that focus on age-supportive benefits.

LPG Endermologie is also a treatment partner, offering non-invasive body contouring and lymphatic drainage therapies.

The spa offers restorative body rituals such as a 50-minute Golden Body Exfoliation – a full-body golden sugar scrub followed by a calming massage using fragrant, gold-enriched oil. 

Personalised recovery programmes are also on offer, with LED light masks, full-body and targeted cryotherapy facilities, IV infusions and lymphatic compression devices.

The resort

The resort opened in November last year on the side of the former historic 1946 Naples Beach Hotel. The property is a collaboration between investment platform BDT and MSD, hospitality development company The Athens Group and Four Seasons.

With architecture by Hart Howerton and interiors by Champalimaud Design, the property has 220 units of guest accommodation, five restaurants, a racquet sports facility and it will soon debut a Tom Fazio-designed 18-hole golf course – developed in partnership with developer Discovery Land Company.

The 125-acre property, which has a 300-metre beach, is also introducing 58 beachfront and 95 golf side residences.