NEW YORK—The final piece of a multimillion-dollar renovation at the Trump International Hotel & Tower New York recently fell into place with the opening of the hotel’s concourse level, which is now home to the 6,000-sq.-ft Trump Spa, a TechnoGym fitness center, fully equipped meeting room and business center.
The $8 million revamp is the last step in a major renovation at the Central Park West property, said general manager Suzie Mills. The hotel completed a $30 million renovation of its 176 luxury guestrooms and suites in late 2010.
According to Mills, it was key that the spa be brought up to the new renovation level.
“When we opened the hotel 15 years ago it was really about the gym experience; hotels weren’t building spas. We really wanted to do a spa experience to go with the hotel after we did the renovation; this was the final piece of the puzzle. It’s been five long months and the transformation of the space is absolutely night and day compared to what was there before: it was a gym experience with a treatment room; now it’s a spa with a gym. I feel like I have a brand-new hotel,” said Mills.
Ivanka Trump, EVP/development of acquisitions of The Trump Organization, who oversaw the renovation and designed the new spa with her team, told Hotel Business in terms of revenue generation from the spa, “The opportunities now are far greater for us because we’ve fully revamped. The spa had been the same spa since we opened in 1997, so it was really time for us. We built additional treatment rooms, obviously upgrading all
the facilities to match with our newly renovated suite product. It’s going to be a tremendous asset for us,” she said.
The spa features three treatment rooms, including a couple’s treatment room. The reception area combines walnut with Palissandro marble from Italy and hallway walls leading to the treatment rooms feature stone inlaid in a serpentine pattern, while stones set in a scalloped pattern are found in other areas of the spa. The manicure/pedicure room has a hand-painted and embroidered cherry blossom wallcovering.
Men’s and women’s locker rooms each have full-length lockers, a steam room and sauna and backlighted mirrors. The walls are tiled in shades of gray and blue, with stone floors. The women’s locker room also has a vanity area for hair and makeup.
“One of the things we really wanted to be reflected in this whole space was just an intimacy. I personally have grown a little bit tired of these mega-spas that are sort of giant and you can get lost in and you don’t really feel cozy when you enter. So we wanted to create all of the spaces to have unique carve-outs and hideaways and private areas,” said Trump.
As with the spa at the Trump SoHo in downtown Manhattan [See Hotel Business, May 7, 2011], Mills said Trump was “very, very involved with this from the first moment of us being approved for the renovation by the board. She was very involved with the vision and how we wanted it to look and feel. And also that it would really translate well from the guestrooms, so it didn’t feel like the rooms were looking one way and the spa would look very, very different. I think it’s important to have a good feel and a good flow through all the property.”
One of the signature aspects of the spa is a 55-foot, heated lap pool. “I think having a pool in New York is a real point of differentiation; very few hotels have one,” said Trump.
Also helping set the spa apart is that the pool has been enhanced using “Salt Pure” technology, utilizing 100% natural chlorine made from salt, making the water 50% clearer than that of an ordinary chlorine pool, thus helping reduce red eye, according to Trump. It also provides a reduced chemical footprint, making it more sustainable. “We’ve always had a great pool but now it’s even better,” she said.
The all-suites Trump International attracts a large number of families and the pool “is a huge draw,” said Mills. “It’s great to be able to entertain the kids, especially when it’s a hundred degrees outside and they’re not too keen on walking around the city.”
To create additional interest for adults, Trump Spa created new treatments to complement its menu of spa classics. These include the Hammam-inspired Moroccan Ritual that combines a full-body, dry-brush exfoliation, Intense Hydrating Treatment with warm oil and hot stone massage, body buff exfoliation for feet and hands and scalp treatment and hydrating mask.
There’s also a Harmonizing Gemstone Treatment, a therapy that contains crushed gemstones like amethyst, diamond, ruby and sapphire, as well as a Revitalizing Pearl Treatment that is designed to help oxygenate and detoxify the body using crushed pearls and other ingredients.
“The treatments are very fun. We took some inspiration from the spa menu that’s been so popular at Trump SoHo and brought a lot of the Turkish, Moroccan statements here,” said Trump.
The fitness facility features TechnoGym strength and conditioning equipment, Precor cardio-theater, free weights, a stretching area and the pool. The facility also caters to children, offering swim lessons, kick boxing and a “Keep Fit” program where children can have a mini-training session with one of the center’s trainers. A Wii box may also be set up in the guestroom for a training session. One-on-one training is also available for adults, as are yoga sessions.
“I think the quality of our treatments and obviously those people who provide them is key because as beautiful as the facilities are, if you’re not getting a great treatment and you don’t have great therapists, you don’t go back. So very important for us is to find treatments that are different from those being offered and find the greatest therapists to perform them. That’s what we wanted here,” said Trump.
The Trump Spa also carries a sophisticated line of skin-care treatments by Sonya Dakar, aromatherapy oils by Essence of Vali, wellness remedies by Sprayology, candles by Oculatum, nail lacquers by Deborah Lippmann and skin-softening body treatments by Nikali and Fleur. Spa-goers may purchase products and other items at the Trump Spa front desk. “We decided not to display them because, again, we wanted everything to feel like an escape: very calm, very serene. We didn’t really want to focus on the retail component,” said Trump.
Similarly, there’s no spa cuisine menu, although guests may order from room service.
Another distinguishing aspect is the Trump Attachés, who help spagoers with items such as slipper size, type of treatment and type of pressure used in a massage. “We keep a full dossier on everyone, including the drinks they like before the massage, the drinks they like after the message, or facial or whatever treatment they may be having,” said Trump. “Once you’ve stayed with us once, we have a very good level of understanding of what your expectations are, what you’re preferences are; we can tailor future treatments without having to bother you with asking,” said Trump.
The Trump Spa, which is managed by Plus One, is open only to registered hotel guests and residence owners in the Tower, who use separate elevators to access the facilities.