The Waterfront has recently had a major addition in the form of a new Spa area. Unfortunately it is called One Spa (unfortunately because local entrepreneur Sol Kerzner is building his ‘One and Only’ in the Harbor development, Barry Sternlicht’s new chain is called ‘One’ and it a part of a fashion for idiosyncratic egocentric naming typified by hotels such as THE hotel in Las Vegas). However the treatments and the spa itself are not only innovative but well designed and well thought out, with a treatment path that works its way through the spaces with a range of treatments in an environment that has been sympathetically designed the therapist are put firmly in charge, unlike the practice in many spas where the therapist has little control over how they deliver treatments. This is sure to become a great attraction for local ‘ladies that lunch’, of which Cape Town has its share, as well as other guests.
Rather than a swimming pool the Spa has a very large whirlpool bath as an extension of treatments and relaxation events, and the interior echoes the spacious, light and airy nature of the interior of the atrium within the entrance. The large reception and concierge desks look across the area to the conference spaces but are positioned to the side of the entrance so that the first view an arriving guest has is through the hotel to the restaurant, bar, terrace and Atlantic beyond. There is a quality of transparency of the interior access paces, where room corridors open off the atrium, the lift is glass, and the corridors from the lift are also glass to minimize solidity and allow light to flood the internal space from the roof lights.
Branding works well here as the Radisson ‘bullet points’ of large well furnished bedrooms, light and airy atria entrances, immediate visibility of bar and food offering are all present. The brand rating of five star in this market is warranted by the levels of services (delegates to the conference in place on my visit were welcomed on arrival to their rooms by a small presentation of fruit and water for example, all being treated as VIP guests), and by the way in which the operation maximizes the use of the locations whilst delivering the high standards of service associated with the Radisson brand in Europe.
