Comforts Of Home
SpaTerre Adds Relaxation To Scottsdale Resort

by Matt Morgan

The Caleo Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz.—formerly SunBurst Resort— recently completed a $6.5 million renovation project that included the addition of a 3,500-square-foot boutique spa. Opened Feb. 1, 2004, SpaTerre will help Caleo improve its image and thus its place in the competitive resort world that is the Valley of the Sun.

Response to SpaTerre has been decent considering reconstruction on the resort grounds has led to a slower-than-expected first year. A grand re-opening was planned at the resort for sometime in April; SpaTerre was included in the new publicity campaign that rolled out Feb. 14.

“We have not had the client base we were hoping for because they renovated the entire property and they weren’t doing a lot of promotions,” says Jennie Engelsen- Comer, spa director. “So we’re really excited for this year.”

In 2004, the spa served up to 40 clients a day, with Thursdays through Sundays seeing the highest traffic. Fewer clients allows therapists and technicians to give more personalized service at the seven-room, 3,500-square-foot spa.

SpaTerre’s 20 employees include massage therapists, each of whom are licensed and have a minimum of two years of experience; and licensed estheticians and nail technicians.

There are three rooms for individual massage, and one for couples. The four manicure/pedicure stations get their own room, as does the Vichy shower. Rounding out the floor plan is an aesthetic room.

“We’re a little bit smaller and we don’t have a locker room when some of the other spas do,” Engelsen-Comer says. “We’re finding the guests like that much more because it’s more intimate. It’s private just for them. They’re more relaxed.” SpaTerre considers itself a “personal refuge for relaxation and renewal.”

“You’re immediately comfortable,” Engelsen-Comer says. “We get a lot of comments that the spa looks like it’s someone’s home, and that just by walking into it they’re calm. There’s not a lot of hustle and bustle. All of the rooms are named after the elements: earth, fire, wood, water, air and metal. On nice days we like to open the doors to the treatment rooms [in between uses].”

Taking a look inside the rooms, guests are struck by the warmth and the comforts of home.

Hardwood floors stretch throughout the cozy boutique spa. Exposed rustic beams in the ceilings add a Southwestern flair, while fireplaces, copper soaking tubs, candelabras and Italian chandeliers exude luxurious comfort. Most rooms have attached private bathrooms with showers.

This SpaTerre is one of seven across the country, all part of the Noble House family of hotels and resorts. There is an incomparable quality and consistency among them.

“We want to make all the SpaTerres unique but also that you can go to one SpaTerre and have the same treatments—with maybe one or two different,” Engelsen-Comer says.

The exceptions are what make them attractive in their respective markets. For example, the Native Desert Sage Massage ($120-$175) is unique to the SpaTerres at Caleo and the Inn at Loreto in Santa Fe, N.M.

The treatment begins with a gentle, exfoliating body polish. The ensuing 50-minute or 80-minute massage is designed to enlighten the senses and uplift the spirit through the indigenous fragrance of SpaTerre’s unique and rare Desert Sage oil blend.

SpaTerre fuses Indonesian and Thai rituals into its massage therapies, body treatments, facial care and salon services. With each treatment, the room becomes a sanctuary of serenity; guests are treated like lords and ladies.

The highlight signature service at Caleo’s SpaTerre is the Javanese Lulor Royal Treatment (110 minutes, $250).

“It is borrowed from Indonesian royals who have this treatment every day for 40 days in preparation for their wedding,” Engelsen-Comer says. “And the female elders of the family perform the treatment.”

The soothing, relaxing Balinese massage incorporates jasmine-frangipani oil, followed by a turmeric scrub. The turmeric is worked off and topped with cooling yogurt, which also acts to exfoliate.

“The guest showers in their own private shower and then finishes by soaking in a large copper tub with rose petals everywhere—they’re on the table, in the shower, in the bath,” Engelsen-Comer says. “Afterward, we do an application of the jasmine-frangipani massage lotion so they go away with the fragrance. We sell it in retail as well.”

For a Thai-influenced treatment, there is the interactive Table Thai Massage (80 minutes, $175). Clients are dressed in authentic Thai clothing, and the massage therapist joins them on the table and stretches them, integrating accupressure along the journey.

“You walk out of the treatment and you’re stretched, you’re taller, you’re ready to go,” Engelsen-Comer says. “Gentlemen have it before they go play golf. It makes you more alert.”

The Samunprai Thai Herbal Heat Energizer (80 minutes, $175) uses a steamed poultice of medicinal herbs and a healing blend of Thai massage and aromatherapy to relieve muscle tension.

After guests emerge from a sensory tour of Southeast Asia, they realize no trip to the Southwestern United States is complete without a tan. SpaTerre offers the Sun Dance Bronzer sunless-tanning treatment (50 minutes, $110).

“In our Vichy room, we do a body exfoliation with a small granular exfoliation from Flawless Tanning Systems,” Engelsen-Comer explains. “Then we rinse you off and dry you off, and then we apply the Flawless tanner—there is natural or dark you can choose from.”

The lotion is applied to the skin, and the strokes are followed by a black light. The special light illuminates the lotion so the technician can determine which parts of the body need more or less sunless lotion to ensure an even application and a luxurious-looking sunless tan.

The remainder of the self-tanner is given to clients for use at home. Flawless products are also sold in retail.

To ensure the spa experience doesn’t end with the treatment, SpaTerre stocks a retail section with items from California Tan, OPI Products, Jamu, Thea, Pedisage, Academie Scientifique, Ystara, Aromafloria, j.f. lazartigue and Pure Fiji. Candles and other boutique products are available from Pacifica, Kai, Hay House, Sprayology and Mighty Leaf Tea. SpaTerre also sells its own signature lines of hair products and body products, aromatherapy, and spa robes.

SpaTerre at Caleo Resort uses Indonesian and Thai techniques to put otherworldly experiences on the menu. Skilled therapists and technicians give guests the relaxation they seek in quaint quarters that remind them of home.

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