A luxurious oasis just minutes from Beijing’s epic Forbidden City, the PuXuan Hotel and Spa is truly an urban resort in center of China’s capital. Aside from spacious rooms, specialty restaurants, and a high-end tearoom, the hotel is home to the plush UR Spa. As soon as guests are invited up the calming staircase that uses low light to relax and restore, there is an instantaneous feeling of peacefulness. And upon entering the relaxation area and waiting room, guests are enveloped in a soothing, dark environment. The design is very unique—it’s mostly black, with the relaxation room featuring large black pods lined with gold, the staircase accenting dark with light beams, and mostly black treatment rooms with cozy dark nooks. There is even a wet room featuring black tile and a massive black marble slab in the center for detoxifying scrubs. While most spas today choose to use white and airy design and décor to promote relaxation, the UR Spa has gone in the opposite direction—and the gamble is paying off. Luxurious and peaceful, the UR Spa promotes relaxation in every corner, proving that darkness is calming in a totally different—but equally effective—way, and one that’s perhaps more suited to a large and smoggy city.
As soon as guests are invited up the calming staircase that uses low light to relax and restore, there is an instantaneous feeling of peacefulness.
Aside from its uniquely dark interiors, the spa also focuses on distinctive treatments, using a combination of modern science and ancient healing. UR Spa uses only all-natural products and has a partnership with CHA LING L’Esprit du Thé, a skincare brand developed by LVMH in France, and Comfort Zone Italy for massages. It combines these with Traditional Chinese Medicine to create one-of-a-kind experiences that can be as quick as 30 minutes or as long as all-day rituals. For example, the UR Vital experience, one of their Comfort Zone experiences, uses science-based formulas for every skin type. The 90-minute treatment begins with a full body exfoliation with a combination of fruit enzymes such as papaya and kiwi, along with glycolics and jojoba esters. This is followed by a detoxifying massage and it ends with a full body wrap to help seal in all the benefits. Other signature Comfort Zone treatments include UR A Warrior, which involves a rigorous and refreshing Himalayan salt scrub, reflexology foot therapy, and a deep tissue massage; and the UR A Goddess, which features a citrus and jojoba body scrub, botanical foot bath, acupoint leg massage, and express facial. Skincare experiences and signature body rituals have been designed to complement the body’s biological rhythms and are adapted to different times of the day, using techniques inspired by Traditional Chinese Medicine and French massage techniques. The applications differ depending on the time of day: in the morning, it will energize, in the afternoon it will detoxify, and in the evening it will rejuvenate. The firming body treatment is a true combination of French and Chinese methods, using an exclusive CHA LING tool called the Ba Guan, which is inspired by traditional Chinese suction cups to smooth and firm stubborn areas. The UR Spa experience is primed to make guests escape the chaos and pollution of the city and relax, detoxify, and revitalize using the best methods available in the world, inspired by current technology and time-tested therapeutic methods.