NEW YORK—As one might expect—and guests do—The Spa at Trump at the Trump SoHo here is designed to meet the needs of a sophisticated clientele, be they international visitors or local residents. It then pushes the envelope just a bit more to deliver an unexpected luxury experience.
Where else, for example, can spa-goers indulge in hammans that recall traditional Turkish and Moroccan baths? Nowhere else at the moment in the Big Apple, as the 391-room Trump SoHo is the only hotel to offer the concept at the luxury level, complete with authentic services available for men, women and couples.
Similarly, the two-level spa offers signature treatments using oils infused with flower and herbal essences and real gemstones—diamonds, emeralds, rubies or sapphires—that are supposed to help balance, purify, revitalize or calm, respectively.
And to ensure the spa journey is navigated at a personal level, a Spa Attaché is available to guide and assist visitors across all aspects, from selecting a locker, beverage and robe to the procedures in the hamman. Similar to butler service, the Attaché also can customize music selections for each guest’s treatment, arrange for a shoeshine, one-hour pressing and any other special requests, and then assists the spa-goer in choosing the Trump Personal Intention that will serve as the foundation of his or her spa experience. These intentions include: Calm, Balance, Purify, Heal or Revitalize, and determine the essential oils, colors, music, snacks such as Halvah, olives and dates, amount of water that will be incorporated or which Mighty Leaf tea will be imbibed, as well as other details to complete the experience.
At Trump SoHo, which is a joint venture among The Sapir Organization, Bayrock Group LLC, and an affiliate of the Trump Organization, The Spa at Trump (as at other hotel locations) features an exclusive arrangement with celebrity skin-health expert Kate Somerville and her products, as well as signature products by Shiffa, Germaine du Cappucinni, Hommage, organic herbal products by Jamu, Tara aromatherapy and others.
Separate men’s and women’s locker rooms have high-tech features and are automated. Attendants or Attachés explain the technology.
The spa also features an outdoor deck where guests may lounge and take in views of downtown Manhattan.
While the spa offers traditional services and treatments such as a Scandinavian sauna, steam bath, rain shower and a variety of massages including Ayurvedic, facials and salon services, the hamman experiences have become a focal point.
According to Leigh Smith, spa director at the Trump SoHo, the hamman dates back thousands of years. “Hamman actually means in Arabic: to heat. It’s really a room that societies and cities were built around. It was as integral to a city as a train station or a town hall would be because without it the hammam people wouldn’t come [to a central point]…it’s a little bit more raw and rough around the edges than what we do; we’ve kind of taken it and polished it. But we’ve tried to keep it as authentic as the Turkish and Middle East modalities, putting more of a customer-service-driven spin on it.”
The women’s hamman is a domed, heated room lined in mosaic tile, and features a 45-minute Turkish treatment that incorporates a white, oil-based Castile soap that produces a wealth of bubbles with the therapist utilizing a traditional kessa mitt to scrub and exfoliate the body from head to toe while the spa-goer lies on a heated 120-degree belly stone of Calacatta marble.
Similarly, the men’s hamman features a 75-minute traditional Moroccan treatment that utilizes black soap made from olive oil, eucalyptus and crushed olives and the same mitt exfoliation. An application of warm ghassoul clay is used to help with detoxification, and is followed by a full body rinse and scalp massage.
There also are a steam room and shower and an additional “wet” room for hydromassages.
The Turkish and Moroccan treatments are available in either hamman.
According to the company, the incorporation of the hammans stemmed from Trump Hotel Collections’ Ivanka Trump’s travels in Istanbul. Additionally, said Smith, it’s an area “that’s been untapped in the spa industry. We’ve seen touches of it with threading and henna use, but it’s not really part of our society.”
To encourage spa-goers who may not have discovered the hamman, Smith said the spa offers a 30-minute “sampler” with every 60-minute facial purchased.
The 11,000-square-foot spa, designed by Di Guiseppe Architects, offers nine treatment rooms and the two hammans. The Middle Eastern design details include woven-mesh chandeliers of nickel and crystal, an entry fashioned after a Moroccan courtyard with a fountain carved from Calacatta gold marble.
Three Spa Suites, designed by Rockwell Group, offer private, connecting couples-size treatment rooms. Two of the rooms share private access to a wet- and dry-treatment room featuring hydrotherapy tubs. The spa also has a fitness center outfitted with equipment from Technogym.
For those craving even more water, there’s a long, outside lap pool that runs along a good portion of the building, which is located at 246 Spring St.
