The newly opened UR SPA, at Beijing’s PuXuan Hotel, is offering spa guests gender-neutral treatments.

Urban Resort Concepts’ (URC) CEO Markus Engel told Spa Business: “We believe wellness has moved in a direction where it has become more approachable and accessible for men and is no longer exclusively reserved for women."

The spa and hotel – developed by URC – are owned by the Guardian Culture Group and located within the Guardian Arts Centre, which was designed by German architect Ole Scheeren.

“Statistics suggest 45 per cent of spa customers are now male,” Engel added. “We’re also finding people have less time for treatments, especially in an urban environment."

URC partnered with Adria Lake, from spa consultancy firm AW Lake, to develop the concept. Engel said: “I admire her radical thinking about wellness; its a significant departure from the conventional.

“Our approach is to offer express treatments that target problematic areas in 30-45 minutes to accommodate the growing number of male and time-poor customers in an environment that’s less female-centric.”

The spa covers two floors with nine treatment rooms, including two express rooms, two scrub rooms, a couple’s suite, and a foot-therapy lounge.

UR SPA blends east and west through combining ancient Chinese healing therapies with traditional European spa treatments.

UR SPA offers tea-themed treatments using CHA LING L’Espirit du Thé products, an eco-conscious skincare brand developed in France by LVMH Research.

CHA LING was co-founded by Laurent Boillot, the CEO of Guerlain.

All products include Pu’Er tea ferments, harvested from the 3,000-year-old Yunnan forests in China, which have antioxidant, anti-pollutant, and anti-ageing properties.

UR SPA is retailing these products to guests.

The PuXuan also uses Comfort Zone in treatments. URC uses the brand across all its spas in its core treatments.

Signature Face Rituals and Signature Body Rituals are based on Traditional Chinese Medicine and are tailored to the time of the day to adapt to the body’s biological rhythm to harmonise energy flows.

They also feature the traditional Chinese gua sha method, an alternative instrument-therapy where therapists scrape and apply pressure to the skin to stimulate blood flow.

UR SPA Menu

Signature Face and Body Ritual
Duration: 90 minutes
Cost: 1,450 Yuan (£164, $204)
Description: Includes 30-minute face-massage using gua sha and a 60-minute muscle and energy-boosting massage.

Signature Face Rituals
Duration: 60 minutes
Cost: 950 Yuan (£108, $133)
Description: Combines traditional Chinese medicine with French massage methods to provide and an energising boost.

Signature Body Rituals
Duration: 90 minutes
Cost: 1280 Yuan (£145, $180)
Description: Tailored to the time of day, following the energy rhythms of the body to awaken and tone in the morning, boost energy in the afternoon and as an anti-stress treatment in the evening. Therapists will use their hands and gua sha to work muscles and to stimulate the body’s energy points