Interior designer Inge Moore has called on hospitality designers to incorporate fun, interactivity and individuality into spa and gym design. Moore is launching bespoke hospitality design studio Muse after leaving Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA), who will invest in the new company. During her time with HBA, Moore designed a host of hospitality projects, including the renovation of London’s Grosvenor House for JW Marriott, a luxury sleeper train for Belmond in Ireland and the Belmond Eagle Island Safari Lodge in Botswana.
With the new studio, Moore, co-founder Nathan Hutchins, and their team of 15 are working on a spa resort in Goa, a new hotel in Ibiza and another luxury train for Belmond. Individuality is the feature that unifies these projects, says Moore. The interior designer says that the whole way we’re thinking about travel experiences is changing.
“These days, when we stay at a nice place, we expect there to be a great spa, gym, fitness facilities and yoga,” she says. “The better you can deliver those spaces, the more special you make people’s experience. They should be super-fun areas to socialise and learn.
“It’s so, so important to stand out,” she says. “Everywhere you go, there are three or four good hotels and countless Airbnbs, so yours needs to be special. People choose to stay at the more interesting spaces, especially now the world’s become much more visual, with social media, and everyone sending selfies immediately. That creates a huge opportunity for designers to make beautiful spaces that also make people feel good and have a ‘wow factor.’”
But Moore says a truly great spa design has to do more than just look good. “For me, space has to make you feel,” she says. “If you don’t feel something about the space, you’re not going to remember the space. Feel and look are intertwined. You can’t take one away and just have the other, because it won’t be remembered at all if you do that – it’ll just be another pretty space.”
Moore says the key to success is delivering a story, as well as allowing guests to have a fun experience. “People increasingly want to learn about health and wellbeing through spaces where you do interactive things together,” she says. “Our idea is you go to a hotel and you learn something or experience something new while you’re there. By presenting these experiences in a fun, interactive way that appeals to people across the age spectrum, you can create really interesting, memorable experiences.”
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
Interview: Jeremy McCarthy
Mandarin Oriental’s group director
of spa and wellness discusses mental
wellness, spas and technology
Promotional feature: Beautyworld Middle East
Set to take place May 14-16, 2017 in Dubai, Beautyworld Middle East is billed as “three days to rediscover wellness and shake up the industry.”
Promotional feature: ESPA
ESPA has been a leader in the field of therapeutic skincare and luxury spa design and management for 25 years. Founder Susan Harmsworth explains how the company’s recent brand evolution will make ESPA even more relevant to the future of wellness
Promotional feature: Riceforce
Rice Force is set to make further inroads into the spa market in 2017 with the
launch of its new aromatic oils and treatment protocol
Promotional feature: Oakworks
Oakworks’ new Masters’ Collection range, which will consist of over 15 models by the end of 2017, has been designed to offer spa operators the ultimate in modern styling, with solutions and functionality that address each spa’s practical needs
Interior designer Inge Moore has called on hospitality designers to incorporate fun, interactivity and individuality into spa and gym design. Moore is launching bespoke hospitality design studio Muse after leaving Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA), who will invest in the new company. During her time with HBA, Moore designed a host of hospitality projects, including the renovation of London’s Grosvenor House for JW Marriott, a luxury sleeper train for Belmond in Ireland and the Belmond Eagle Island Safari Lodge in Botswana.
With the new studio, Moore, co-founder Nathan Hutchins, and their team of 15 are working on a spa resort in Goa, a new hotel in Ibiza and another luxury train for Belmond. Individuality is the feature that unifies these projects, says Moore. The interior designer says that the whole way we’re thinking about travel experiences is changing.
“These days, when we stay at a nice place, we expect there to be a great spa, gym, fitness facilities and yoga,” she says. “The better you can deliver those spaces, the more special you make people’s experience. They should be super-fun areas to socialise and learn.
“It’s so, so important to stand out,” she says. “Everywhere you go, there are three or four good hotels and countless Airbnbs, so yours needs to be special. People choose to stay at the more interesting spaces, especially now the world’s become much more visual, with social media, and everyone sending selfies immediately. That creates a huge opportunity for designers to make beautiful spaces that also make people feel good and have a ‘wow factor.’”
But Moore says a truly great spa design has to do more than just look good. “For me, space has to make you feel,” she says. “If you don’t feel something about the space, you’re not going to remember the space. Feel and look are intertwined. You can’t take one away and just have the other, because it won’t be remembered at all if you do that – it’ll just be another pretty space.”
Moore says the key to success is delivering a story, as well as allowing guests to have a fun experience. “People increasingly want to learn about health and wellbeing through spaces where you do interactive things together,” she says. “Our idea is you go to a hotel and you learn something or experience something new while you’re there. By presenting these experiences in a fun, interactive way that appeals to people across the age spectrum, you can create really interesting, memorable experiences.”
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
Interview: Jeremy McCarthy
Mandarin Oriental’s group director
of spa and wellness discusses mental
wellness, spas and technology
Promotional feature: Beautyworld Middle East
Set to take place May 14-16, 2017 in Dubai, Beautyworld Middle East is billed as “three days to rediscover wellness and shake up the industry.”
Promotional feature: ESPA
ESPA has been a leader in the field of therapeutic skincare and luxury spa design and management for 25 years. Founder Susan Harmsworth explains how the company’s recent brand evolution will make ESPA even more relevant to the future of wellness
Promotional feature: Riceforce
Rice Force is set to make further inroads into the spa market in 2017 with the
launch of its new aromatic oils and treatment protocol
Promotional feature: Oakworks
Oakworks’ new Masters’ Collection range, which will consist of over 15 models by the end of 2017, has been designed to offer spa operators the ultimate in modern styling, with solutions and functionality that address each spa’s practical needs
Atmantan Wellness Centre, an integrative wellness destination in Mulshi, near Pune in India, is
expanding its portfolio by adding a new centre in Hyderabad that will launch between 2028 and
2029.
A recent survey by the UK Spa Association (UKSA) into the industry’s approach to cancer care
has revealed that almost half of participating respondents (46 per cent) are unaware that
cancer is a disability and guests with a cancer diagnosis must be given
Mexican operator, Solmar Hotels and Resorts, is hosting a series of events in celebration of
Global Wellness Day, including a Temazcal ceremony at its Playa Grande Resort and Spa in Los
Cabos.
Mandarin Oriental has announced a standalone residence brand, Mansions, which will debut at
Emirates Palace, Mandarin Oriental Mansions, Abu Dhabi, in 2029.
Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai in Hoi An, Vietnam, has put together a Global Wellness Day
(GWD) agenda with activations rooted in nature and shaped by four pillars of Joy – in
alignment with the day’s theme #JoyMagenta.
The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) will celebrate its 20th anniversary at the 2026 event in
Phuket, Thailand, later this year with the theme: The Science, Art and Soul of Wellness.
Auko, an all-inclusive development, is opening in Phong Nha in Vietnam in Q3 2026, with a
series of 30 tented eco-lodges and wellness hospitality operations by Lumina Wellbeing.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
