Vietnam's La Residence Hotel in Hue Opens Le Spa

The Imperial City's internationally renown Le Spa at La Residence Hotel & Spa added an outdoor component in April, opening a cozy garden space with a sunken bath and Thai massage beds.

Le Spa also published a new spa menu, featuring a Perfume River Mud Bath, a honey and milk bath and a three-hour couple's treatment, entitled 'Romancing the Perfume River.' As well, the spa opened a salon as an adjunct to its core business.

"Nobody confuses the experience of a treatment at La Residence with a treatment anywhere else," said Carmen Marienberg, general manager of La Residence. "It's the architecture of this space, the deft personnel and something I can't quite put my finger on, as well: Call it the feng shui of Hue."

Located on the banks of the Perfume River, Le Spa at La Residence has established a reputation as one of Vietnam's premier spas. Since its inception in 2006 and its elevation to the Conde Nast Hot List in 2007, Le Spa has deepened its commitment to the development of a completely individual experience.

Comfort Zone, winner of the Asia Spa award for 'product of the year,' supplies Le Spa with a foundation of balms, muds, creams, fluids and other necessities. In an effort to create a uniquely, Vietnamese experience, Le Spa has sourced many complementary products locally: papaya, mango, aloe vera, Vietnamese coffee, honey, milk and herbs.

Le Spa's 11 therapists bring a distinctly Vietnamese sense of responsibility, earnestness and ambition to their work. In 'Romancing,' the three-hour treatment begins with a herbal sauna and whirlpool bath before transitioning into Swedish massage, a facial and a foot treatment. With the addition of the Thai massage, La Residence will dispatch two therapists to Thailand for training in June.

In addition to 60- or 90-minute Royal Thai Massage treatments, Le Spa also offers a Vietnamese four-hand treatment and hot stone therapy.

"Our most popular treatments are definitely the massages," said Marienberg. "The hot stone is slowly becoming our bestseller."

The spa recently received three new stone sets – two sets for the body and one for manicures and pedicures. Le Spa has also begin to work with a set of Chakra stones.

Mud, especially the Monticelli Mud Wrap, has been a major drawing card at La Residence, which is why Le Spa has expanded its offerings to the bath. The mud for the 30-minute Perfume River bath is sourced upstream beyond the confluence of a major tributary.

The sunken tub also serves as reservoir for the honey and milk bath, a sure remedy for dry skin.

In the salon, beauticians focus on the nails, hair, feet and legs. Nail art, foot scrubs, shampoo treatments and shave are all part of the salon's mix.

Set on a two-hectare site with 200 meters of frontage on the fabled Perfume River, La Residence celebrated its grand opening in December 2005 after a painstaking restoration of the former colonial governor's residence. The hotel's distinctive bowed façade, its long horizontal lines and nautical flourishes are hallmarks of the streamline moderne school of art deco architecture. In 2007, Conde Nast Traveler selected La Residence for its prestigious Hot List.

Inside, the hotel's 122 rooms and suites, restaurants, lounges, bars and conference room are tricked out in complementary art-deco furnishings and décor that evoke both the 1920s and 1950s. The hotel's fine-dining venue, Le Parfum, serves Mediterranean and French cuisine, as well as dishes from a complementary Vietnamese menu.

The conference facilities, including board rooms, can accommodate 140 guests. The hotel provides complementary WiFi Internet access in the ground floor lounges and in Le Gouverneur itself.