Travel To Wellness Inc.

SPA REVIEW:

SPA AT THE RITZ-CARLTON
HOTEL TORONTO

by Anne Dimon

I first visited The Ritz-Carlton Spa last December before the hotel opened. The spa was just beginning to take shape but as I walked through the space and spoke with spa director Kim Cadra there was every indication - that this was going to be Toronto's new "top spa."

The 267-room, downtown hotel and spa opened in February and when I finally had the chance to visit (in early August) I wasn’t disappointed. With 13,000 square feet of space, The Ritz-Carlton Spa is one of Toronto’s largest spas and certainly its most luxurious.

To start the day, it’s a toss-up between taking one of the daily YogaGurl classes (NOT included in the room rate), working out in the large, state-of-the-art gym and going for a run, but I opted to put the hotel’s unofficial “running concierge” through his paces. Marathoner and hotel front-of-house manager Luiz Abdo, says he gets two or three requests a week from guests needing a running buddy and he is always happy to don his running gear and head down to the city’s lakefront boardwalk just a few blocks south of The Ritz-Carlton. On our return the doorman is waiting with bottled water and hand towels.

The hotel’s 5th floor is where you’ll find the spa, gym, the indoor lap pool (available to all hotel guests) and yoga studio. A subtle and spicy scent wafts by as you open the elevator doors. I’m surprised to learn that this signature blend is called Patchouli, a scent associated with the "hippie" movement of the 1960s.  The name seems an odd choice for this sophisticated spa but operations manager Maria Haggo explains that the signature blend including sage, citrus, cinnamon and “a few other secret ingredients” - was tested (along with several others) in pre-opening by a team of “noses” and it was the one most appealing to both men and women.

Personally, I was never a fan of the overwhelming Patchouli scent of the ‘60s, but this blend, by Canadian Marina Featherstone who cultivates her own herbs and flowers at her parents’ Ontario farm, is light, a bit spicy and quite lovely.

In keeping with the rest of the hotel, the spa's décor is classic, classy and understated Canadian – elements such as wood furnishings and trim, textures and colours borrowed from nature, works by Ontario artist and subtle maple leaf motifs, the signature symbol of the hotel, strew as if by the wind, here and there. On the treatment beds, a real leaf dipped in silver is placed as a welcoming note. Hold it up to the light and you can see the leaf’s delicate network of veins.

The showpiece of the spa is the large co-ed space (pictured above) with a collection of seating arrangements, stunning ceiling sculpture allowing natural light to spill into the room, and a walkout to a deck overlooking Roy Thomson Hall.

Nearby, the ladies’ lounge has six reclining day beds partially separated with embroidered sheers. I like that there is no music playing in this room. The stillness creates an ideal environment for relaxation, reading, napping under a lush throw or just “being.” There’s a small buffet where guest can help themselves to tea and snacks of fruit and nuts. Men, too, have their own private lounge.

There is no designated spa dining area but dishes from the Spa Fare menu (created by Chef Tom Brody from TOCA the hotel’s main dining room) can be served in any of the the lounge areas. The menu also includes champagne and wine and a special non-alcoholic cocktail.

The spa’s 16 treatment rooms are a good size with uniquely crafted lighting fixtures. A crystal chandelier creates a romantic ambience in the larger of the two couples’ treatment rooms.

The wet area that adjoins the ladies’ lounge (there’s also one on the men’s side) is not overly large but it includes a whirlpool with two submerged and tiled lounge chairs, a cedar-lined dry sauna, an aroma steam room and two experiential showers large enough, it seems, for a small party. Of course, the generously-sized and very pretty mani/pedi area, set off from the rest of the spa by glass doors, would be a much better place to meet up with a group of friends.

Everywhere, attention to detail impresses. Fresh fruit flavoured water and lavender-infused iced towels, small bottles of dried tea blends allowing guests to select by the aroma, an inhalation bowl set below a treatment bed’s face cradle, lavender scented eye pillows, luxury linens on the treatment beds, each bed with the silver-dipped maple leaf to create a sense of place, to name a few.

The focus on Canadian is carried from the décor to the spa product lines. Marina Featherstone for aromatherapy oils and body products, and for skin care, the scientifically-driven, Toronto-based Euoko. The spa menu offers all the basics you’d expect with prices in keeping with comparable luxury hotels. (For instance, 60-minute massages and facials begin at $150 plus tax.)

So, the spa is beautiful and luxurious and the treatments (based on the one Personalized Massage I tried) are as good as you’ll find anywhere but what’s the one main point of distinction? I posed that question to Haggo. “Staff,” she replied. Ritz-Carlton Toronto staff, she says are from Asia, South America, Europe, Canada and the U.S. and all are trained to have a “yes” mind-set. “Ladies and gentlemen, serving ladies and gentlemen.”

When one travels to luxury hotels and resorts around the world as often as I do – one hotel room is pretty much the same as the next. What really stands out in the end is the staff. And, the staff here – not just in the spa but throughout the hotel - is on the exceptional side.

Overall, The Ritz-Carlton Spa in Toronto is a first class experience that definitely adds a luxury component to the Toronto spa scene.

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Congrats to our winners who will each receive one of FIVE 15ml bottles of Patchoule Body Oil from The Ritz Carlton Spa. It's a lovely scent and the perfect size for travel. 

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