This would be nice to do to get away from the freezing Shanghai, and I imagine, even more freezing Beijing weather. It’s a spa escape package at Hilton Sanya Resort & Spa on Hainan Island. Prices start from RMB 2,190/person/night and spa highlights include:

- One wellbeing consultation
- Two aromatherapy massages/person (during which you may be able to hold someone’s hand like the couple above)
- Two yoga classes/person

Prices applicable till the end of 2008, a minimum three-night stay is required.

Jesper Bach Larsen, the hotel’s Director of Business Development, describes the combination of yoga and spa treatments as ‘the perfect escape from the daily grind of modern life.’
Source: PR Hilton Sanya Resort and Spa

In May last year, the first tenants moved into the office tower of Park Place, a multi-use retail, office and hotel development in Shanghai’s downtown Jing’an district. Mid-2008 (exact date to be announced) is expected to see the opening of its PuLi Hotel and Spa, which has been described as the city’s first luxury ‘urban resort’. (It’s managed by Hong Kong-based Urban Resort Concepts, whose managing director, John G. Laing, is pictured first on the left).

The idea of the hotel, it says, is to give a ‘contemporary’ take on luxury which includes 22 floors of 209 rooms and 20 suites, a 24-hour butler service, flat-screen LCD TVs/DVD players/MP3 docking ports in every room, an Anantara spa, a 32-meter Long Bar, a ‘Library’ and a ‘Wine Cellar’.

Other people pictured are, left to right, Patrick Chen, director of Park Place; Christine Hodder, the hotel’s general manager; and Markus Engel, director and co-founder of Urban Resort Concepts.
Source: PR The PuLi Hotel and Spa

InterContinental Hotels Group has announced plans to open 30 Tea Tree Spas in the next two years, tripling the group’s current network of Tea Tree Spas around Asia.

More than half of the new Tea Tree Spas will be located in China, where consumer demand for a spa experience is increasing dramatically. (Possibly due to the efforts of the excellent magazine SpaChina with which we are closely associated.)

Gregory Payne, spa director, IHG Asia Pacific, said ‘IHG spoke to 18,000 customers in all major markets worldwide, and we are using the knowledge gained to differentiate our spas and brand through innovation and improved experiences. Insights from the survey — the industry’s largest-ever hotel customer research exercise — have helped to align our services more closely to the needs of our customers.’

IHG is establishing two centers of excellence in Shanghai and Beijing to train and upgrade the skills of therapists.

The new Tea Tree Spas offer up to 15 treatments to cater to the varying needs of customers. A series of express treatments, where two therapists work together to provide facial, hand and foot pampering simultaneously in just 30 minutes, maximizes results for business customers pressed for time. (There is plainly a conflict of ideas inherent in this sentence.)

Ultimate indulgence packages such as the 150-minute Tea Tree Signature Experience combines the lot to provide relief to individuals and couples on holiday.
Source: Hotel News Resource