The Fairmont Doha specialises in fitness, recovery from sports injuries, physiotherapy and nutrition, and harnesses the expertise of international wellbeing gurus and one-on-one coaching with master athletes via Pillar Wellbeing. Yoga, boxing and Pilates classes will be free.
The hotel is home to the largest gym in Qatar as well as the nation’s biggest indoor climbing wall, several spinning studios, a yoga studio, and indoor lap and wave pools.
Meanwhile, Raffles Doha has an array of stand-out features, including an “in-suite scent library” in partnership with French perfume house Compoz.
The hotel’s Blue Cigar lounge has a secret library with a rare book collection that guests are welcome to read, featuring 200 first-edition classics, including a two-volume of The Iliad and The Odyssey in Greek and Latin, published in 1707.
The Raffles Doha is also Qatar’s first all-suite property, with 132 in total. The suites’ design is inspired by the desert dunes falconry (except for the Parisian suite, which is designed to resemble an apartment located along the French capital’s Rue des Beaux Arts).
Categories include four Superior suites – some of which offer private barber and make-up studios, cinemas, saunas, beverage cellars, virtual reality experiences, steam rooms, and private fitness and wellness facilities – and Signature suites with walk-in maxi bars and sophisticated in-room tech, including audio, video, lighting and aroma control systems.
There is also a two-storey Royal suite with private pool, wine cellar, hammam, yoga studio and billiard table; a Designer suite with for art and exhibition lovers and a Raffles suite that “captures the essence of Qatar” in its decor, and has a home cinema, a cigar room, a barber corner and an extensive terrace.
The hotel’s signature restaurant, Alba, will be run by three-Michelin-star chef Enrico Crippa, and marks the first international restaurant opening from the talented chef.
Offering an elevated wellbeing experience, the Raffles spa has partnered with big names in scientific skincare and beauty – including Dr Burgener, Subtle Energies and marocMaroc – to develop its treatment menu.
The spa’s wellbeing programmes can last anywhere between four hours to six days, offering anti-ageing, regeneration, detox, immunity-building, slimming and body contouring treatments.
Covering 2,100 sqm, the Raffles spa includes nine suites, each one equipped to be like a “mini spa within a spa”. Divided into categories, there is one Fitness Suite, three Spa Suites and five Experience Suites.
Spa Suites connect to either a fitness or beauty studio, and are designed to welcome to guests for treatments in complete privacy. Meanwhile, Spa Experience suites incorporate a sauna, hammam, outdoor pool and relaxation space alongside a treatment space for two people, and they can be reserved exclusively for families who want to enjoy all of the hotel’s hydrothermal spa facilities.
Rose Dykins | GLOBETRENDER