The Club & Spa Jersey

'Single-handedly" turns jersey into a chic weekend-break destination.' observer
'this hotel has a superb spa' elle magazine france
'makes brilliant use of natural organic and marine ingredients’ Harpers & Queen

Overview

The Club Hotel & Spa is now a small luxury hotel situated in the centre of St Helier, Jersey's capital. The hotel now boasts a luxury spa, Michelin star bar & restaurant Bohemia, with 38 fantastic guestrooms and 8 suites as well as an outdoor pool and large roof terrace. Making this not only one of the best hotels in Jersey, but one of the leading town-house hotels in Europe. Lawrence Huggler is a dynamic entrepeneur and MD of the Huggler Hotels Group. Lawrence had overseen the successful creation of a new chic restaurant named Bohemia attached to what was a much more humble hotel property in 2004. Bohemia remains Jersey's only Michelin star restaurant, furthermore Bohemia was voted one of the top 25 restaurants in the UK by Egon Ronay. This was achieved within the pre-refurbished hotel at that time named The Beaufort Hotel.

Objective

On the back of the success of Bohemia and the obvious demand for a higher level of hotel product in Jersey, Mr Huggler closed the rest of the hotel and completely refurbished throughout, adding a Spa to extend the appeal of the hotel not only to the tourist trade but the local residents of Jersey.

Howard Consulting were commissioned at the end of 2004 to assist with this process. Essentially we were asked to convert a tired and limited Hotel Leisure Club into a Spa that would sit alongside the 4 rosette and red star standard of the hotel.

Constraints

The refurbishment involved the retention & upgrade of the existing indoor pool, sauna & steam rooms. A newly created space accommodating the treatment rooms & spa reception had to connect well with the existing pool, sauna & steam room – the challenge was to create an end product that married the two areas together both from a guest journey perspective and from a practical operational aspect.

Achievements

We were short on space for the crucial Spa element of Relaxation, however the existing Jacuzzi & deck took up a lot of unnecessary space and did not add any significant benefit to the overall concept. The substitution of a Jacuzzi for a Spa relaxation space also improved the proportions of the pool & deck providing an opportunity for us to create a salt water pool more in-keeping with a Spa by calming the space with softer finishes, warmer colours and improved indirect lighting. We extended the area devoted to the sauna and steam room facilities to also include a very well appointed Experience Shower and Salt Cabin thus creating a more complete experience forming a Thermal Suite. We also added a Rasul to extend the treatment menu adding further revenue potential.

We arranged with Algotherm an exclusivity arrangement for Jersey. We particularly felt Algotherm partnered the Spa very appropriately, not only due to Jersey’s marine connections but also as Algotherm farm their product from the sea just a few miles away towards the French coast – this gave the Spa a creditable indigenous product enriching the Spa’s identity & story.

Client Satisfaction

‘Having visited many spas in the year leading up to our decision to build The Club Hotel & Spa, we felt we had a good understanding of the industry. However, the moment Neil Howard joined the design team he changed all our initial layouts and designs and created a spa that is not only a huge success but one that has put Jersey on the spa destination map. We are now looking forward to developing another project with Howard Consulting shortly’.