Spa Review – Touch Spa, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Xiamen, China
Posted June 18, 2009 
Comments(2) Like many countries, spas in 5-star hotels in China has gone upmarket as well. Gone are the days when mainland China spas are dodgy, performed only Chinese TuiNas or has poor service attitude.
Many of the 5-star and resort hotels in the big cities are competing to bring in the best spas and many are marketing their in-house hotel spa as a key attraction. I stayed 2 nights in Crowne Plaza Hotel in Xiamen, China and was able to use the fitness centre, swimming pool and spa to great satisfaction.
Crowne Plaza, Xiamen at night
The Crowne Plaza is an international hotel chain that tends to cater to business traveler than the leisure traveler. Even then, 5-star business hotel tends to provide a good swimming pool, fitness centre and a spa because even business travellers would want these facilities as a minumum in a good business hotel. The Crowne Plaza is less than 6 months old as of this date and is centrally located in Jiahe Rd in Xiamen, China. Because it is so new, the fitness centre, swimming pool and spa are relatively devoid of people and I enjoyed great individual attention when I was there.
The swimming pool was a relative small one and one can only do 20meters laps. However, ample sunshades and deck chairs were provided for one to enjoy a tan and a swim. I also used the gym which was a little small and lack the full range of fitness machines although it had the necessary running, cycling, sit-up machines and a full range of loose weights.
The Gym
The changing room also had a full complement of sauna, steam and hot pool and the facility attendant was very attentive and was always around with a fresh towel. Once I had finished using the facilities and changed up, I went over to the Touch Spa located on the same level. The Touch Spa is a local Chinese spa chain that models itself after the top luxurious spa chain in various parts of the world. Due to it’s upmarket image and service, it is now the residential spa facility in Sofitel, Sheraton and Crowne Plaza chain of hotels in China.
The Touch Spa in Xiamen is nicely decorated in traditional Balinese concept and has 11 single and 1 couple rooms done up nicely. All rooms come with toilet, shower and rest areas. Some rooms even come with a hot pool.
The service attitude in the spa is top-rate and service staff would give a slight bow and greet you whenever they pass by you. The spa offers all traditional forms of massage including aromatherapy, Thai, Chinese Tui Na, foot reflexology as well as a host of facial and body treatments.
There is also a rest area that has comfortable sofas and soft music for you to relax after a massage session. One good extra mark for this spa is that you can choose to relax in this room as long as you want. Because the spa is still relatively new, there are not many customers and I had the entire rest lounge to myself.
Prices tend to be a bit high by China’s standards. As an example, a aromatherapy massage for 60 minutes would easily cost US$80 not including a 15% service tax added to the price. As a guest of the hotel, you are entitled to a 25% discount which is effectively only 10% given the 15% tax.
Will I return? Well, if I am busy with work and cannot hunt for a good spa, then I’m prepared to pay for the upmarket price. As much as it is expensive by China’s standard, the prices offered are still competitive when you compared with major cities such as Hong Kong, Beijing or Singapore.
Pix credit: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com
Location of The Touch Spa @ Crowne Plaza Hotel Paragon, Xiamen, China No.199 Jiahe Road, Xiamen 361012, China
Size: Upmarket, luxurious Mid size spa with all private rooms. Hydro-massage bath and jacuzzi available in some of the rooms.
Facilities: 11 single and 1 couple luxurious massage rooms. One area dedicated for foot massage and the other for rest.
Friendliness: Polite staff and good massage therapists.
Pricing: Starts from US$40 for a facial, wrap or bath. US$60 for Body massage. Various spa and beauty packages available and starts from US$120.
I was in Beijing, China, for some work recently and I had web-surfed for Beijing spa and massage reviews prior to my trip as I had a very packed work schedule and yet did not want to miss out on good spa and massage opportunities in Beijing, China.
Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreat in Beijing is located in a small lane near to the famous historical Forbidden City along a row of restored historical old houses. If taking a taxi, simply tell the taxi driver to go to the Forbidden City or Dong Chen Men (East City Gate) and you can’t miss the place. (See first photo for how the entrance looks like) 
DragonFly offers typical Chinese traditional massage, foot massage, Shiatsu, aromatherapy and other popular massage services. What was different was that they have packages where more than one masseurs work on your body at the same time – very much like the Thai ‘4-hands massage’.
After my foot massage, I was led to another small room which had it’s own individual massage bed. Then, it was another hour of good, solid Chinese Body Massage or Tui-Na. Nothing beats Tui-Na from a good, dedicated Chinese masseur with a positive smile on her face all the time.
Riyuegu Hotsprings Spa Resort is really one resort in two physical locations. There is the resort hotel on one side of the road and a hot-spring theme park and spa retreat on the other side of the road. (Please see previous article for more details about the resort hotel)
The Riyuegu Hotsprings Spa Theme-Park offers the paying public a choice of over 100 outdoor pools with 40 different choices of natural hot spring water for a relaxing soak.
All the hotspring pools were tastefully secluded from each other to allow for private enjoyment. You can actually walk around in your bathing suit to wander from one hot tub to another. If you fancy some fish therapy, the Fish Pool has an additional charge.
Slightly aside from the hotspring theme park is the spa retreat. Guests at the spa retreat do not mind spending a bit more for their own private room which also comes with a outdoor hot-spring bath. Private massage services are also available in the room. The minimum charge for the usage of private room is approximately RMB210 (US$30) & RMB260 (US$ 37) for small & big rooms respectively. For those guests who also choose a spa package treatment, the room fee will be waived.
My husband and I chose to do our spa treatment at the spa retreat. I opted for a 210 mins Aromatic Treatment Package which included a hot spring milk bath, body polish, body wrap, floral water spray and a 60 mins of aromatherpy massage.
We were led by our friendly masseur to our treatment room. The treatment room was extremely spacious, nicely decorated with both natural and dimmed artificial lights and divided into a wet and dry area. Clearly, a lot of careful and detailed planning had gone into the interior design!
The hot-spring bath lies directly under an open ceiling. As you soak in the hot bath tub, you are able to star-gaze during the night. At the end of the massage treatment, light snacks (sandwiches, fruit platter and a dessert soup) were served to guests in the treatment room. You could also order additional food and we did order a delicious black chicken soup with abalone, Xiamen dumplings and bean-curd skin shrimp roll. Most delicious!
You could tell that the owner and management of this spa resort had spent a lot of time, money, energy and effort in adding little touches to this resort.
What most of us outside of China accept as a normal hair wash in a hairdressing salon has evolved into a highly sophisticated routine in China. You see, in the early days when China was still poor, the only way to get some hot water, some relaxation and peace from the ever-crowded home was to visit the neighborhood hairdressing salon.
Western-style luxurious Spa boutiques are beginning to make their presence felt in the land of Tui-Na, Acupressure and Foot Massages. You can usually find one or two of such spa boutiques in the main shopping mall or shopping street of any mid-size and above city in China.
The lowest level of the spa is a reception area decked out in luxurious furnishing. The second level is a treatment area for ladies and the third level, a treatment area for men. This is rare in China as most spas are gender-segregated as they chase after their respective market audience. High-end western-style spa boutique such as this one tend to cater to the ladies market only in China and it is a pleasant surprise that both men and women can actually enjoy beauty and massage treatment in the same spa.
Talk about up-sized! I know foot massage is a popular past time in mainland China but can you imagine a foot massage joint with a hundred over massage rooms and three hundred over massage therapists?
The entire complex is done up very grand, elegant and opulently, very unlike the small and humble foot massage joints one is more likely to encounter in most places in Asia. Prices are clearly stated at RMB50 (US$6.25) an hour of foot massage with a free flow of food, soup, dessert and beverages! These prices are ready to knock the socks off all the small foot massage joints! No wonder there are hundreds of rooms because I am sure at that price, foot massage enthusiasts would be flocking to it!
There were two of us and the ushers lead us to a private room. Everyone gets a private room even if you walk in alone. Each room comes with comfortable seats, piped in music, magazines, LCD TV and a FREE FLOW of drinks, double-boiled soup and food which you can ask for anytime. There is even a printed catalogue with the the bio-data of each of the foot therapist including his/her specialty or strength level so that a customer can even find a therapist customised to his liking.
Tea was served immediately and soon, two foot massage therapists came in to start our treatment. We started with a hot water soak in a herbs-filled wooden bucket (hence the name Da Tong Shui or Big Water Bucket) and then the actual foot massage started.
