We’ve just seen the opening of what’s almost certainly the world’s most luxurious airport spa…
In this post:
Dior Luxury Beauty Retreat Doha Hamad Airport
Christian Dior and Qatar Duty Free have partnered on the opening of the Dior Luxury Beauty Retreat at Doha Hamad Airport (DOH). To date, this is the largest spa in the world that Dior has opened (we’re not just talking at an airport, but in general).
The Dior Luxury Beauty Retreat is located inside The Orchard, which is the airport’s impressive garden area. The spa is a duplex, and can be accessed either directly from the terminal, or from the inside of the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge at The Garden.
The Al Mourjan Lounge at The Garden not only offers access to this spa, but is also getting a second spa, which won’t be branded. The lounge also offers a second branded experience, which is the Louis Vuitton Lounge.
The Dior Luxury Beauty Retreat is open 24/7, as you’d expect from an airport in the Middle East. The spa is a massive 800 square meters (~8,600 square feet). On the lower level, you’ll find a retail store, with all kinds of Dior products for purchase. Then on the upper level you’ll find a wellbeing space featuring eight treatment rooms. Each treatment room has a different design, inspired by Dior.
The Dior Luxury Beauty Retreat features a wide variety of treatments. The spa’s signature treatment is the two-hour Escale à Doha, which is a face and body treatment (~$547). If you’re looking for a more standard treatment, there’s a 60-minute full body massage (~$250), or a 30-minute foot relief treatment (~$129). Furthermore, for the first time ever, Dior will be offering barber services in a spa, so you can get a shave, a beard trim, a deep facial massage, etc.
You can find the entire treatment brochure here, and below is the price list (one USD is roughly four QAR). Obviously prices are steep, roughly in line with what you’d expect to pay at most top luxury properties around the globe.
The challenging economics of airport spas
I have a couple of thoughts on this facility. For one, Doha Hamad Airport’s selection of duty free, dining, and leisure services, is truly unrivaled, especially with the airport’s extension of The Orchard. What makes the airport unique is that Qatar Duty Free partners on every single business in the airport, so the airport isn’t merely renting out space to anyone who is willing to pay.
As a result, you’ll find one of the most cohesive and impressive duty free selections you’ll find just about anywhere. What I appreciate is that there aren’t just high end shops, but there are also some amazing high end cafes where it’s a pleasure to spend time. Do they make money? I can’t imagine they do. But it sure is nice to have access to them, as a passenger.
Now, opening a spa this big and this high-end is an interesting direction for an airport to take. Something like this has never been done at an airport before, and that’s probably because of the challenging economics, plus the logistical challenges:
- A vast majority of people traveling through Hamad Airport are connecting, and it’s also a banked hub for Qatar Airways, meaning most people have a layover of just one to two hours
- The spa takes reservations, and they can’t be canceled within 24 hours, so assuming you’re connecting, it’s tough to schedule a treatment when you’re at the mercy of Qatar Airways’ reliability
The way I view it, there are two types of passengers who might use this:
- There are locals who are originating in Doha, but for the most part, odds are that they don’t want to start their journey by showing up hours early to get a spa treatment
- There are those who have much longer layovers at the airport, but those are generally also the more price sensitive customers, who are happy to take a longer layover in exchange for a better deal (of course there are exceptions, but I think that’s generally true)
So I can’t imagine this spa will be very busy, or that demand for it will be huge, simply because of how challenging it is to plan to use it. A heavily banked airport with a majority of people connecting isn’t ideal for scheduling spa services.
Also, I nearly spit out my coffee when I read this statement from a media outlet that attended the opening of this:
“It’s already fully booked for the next two to three months, demonstrating the strong demand for luxury wellbeing experiences at the hub.”
Come. On. Please tell me the writer misunderstood this, and that this wasn’t actually a claim that was made? If this claim was made, how stupid do they assume the public is? So this spa that no one even knew was opening is already booked out for months? Inside the departures hall of an airport?!?
Bottom line
The Dior Luxury Beauty Retreat has finally opened at Doha Hamad Airport. It’s located in The Orchard, and can either be accessed directly from the terminal, or from inside Qatar Airways’ Al Mourjan Lounge at The Garden. Doha Hamad Airport’s quality of shops, dining, and leisure facilities, really is on a different level than what you’ll find just about anywhere else, at least for an airside terminal.
What do you make of the Dior Luxury Beauty Retreat Doha Airport?
I just visited the gym next to the spa which apparently opened last month. Want me to share photos?
Bizarre. But I wouldn’t write this off. It’s the Middle East. Not Miami.
Odds are that the target market is already having regular spa/beauty treatments, and want to spend as little time at the airport as possible.
It's simply beyond belief that everything is booked out 24/7 for the next two months. I'll wager they don't have enough staff, have packed the available appointments with influencer and media types, and are trying to cultivate an air of scarcity that induces people to lust after something that's hard to get.
Pass.
I have spent about 3-4 very long layovers in the QR Garden lounge since the LVS lounge-within-a-lounge opened. I have seen exactly 1 table of customers in it during the 20+ hours I've been there. Given that (apples to oranges comparison), I can't imagine this spa will be fully booked, though the access from the main terminal will probably help book far more reservations.
I visited the second, non-branded spa yesterday (it's open). Here's the menu: https://www.qatarairways.com/content/dam/hia/pdf/al-mourjan-spa-en.pdf
The Qspa was really nice: very clean, gender-segregated spa with private treatment rooms connecting to a private shower and changing room. A gym also shares that space with the Qspa. A 30-minute facial with head/neck/shoulder massage was just under $100. My massage therapist was trained in Indonesia, and did a Balinese-style treatment; she did a great job and it wasn't just a...
I visited the second, non-branded spa yesterday (it's open). Here's the menu: https://www.qatarairways.com/content/dam/hia/pdf/al-mourjan-spa-en.pdf
The Qspa was really nice: very clean, gender-segregated spa with private treatment rooms connecting to a private shower and changing room. A gym also shares that space with the Qspa. A 30-minute facial with head/neck/shoulder massage was just under $100. My massage therapist was trained in Indonesia, and did a Balinese-style treatment; she did a great job and it wasn't just a flimsy "steam n' cream". It was certainly a major step up from the AF free 20-minute Clarins lounge facial and more in line with what I'd expect from an urban luxury hotel. Probably because the spa is new, I was able to walk up and get an immediate treatment -- they said that they don't take appointments at Qspa, everything is on demand.
I intended to visit the Dior Spa, but originally couldn't find it in the lounge (it's tucked in a corner). It was kind of a ghost town, but the lounge as a whole was super quiet when I visited -- it might just be due to timing.
Dior Spa's menu seems hmm to me. They've chosen to highlight really long treatments...at an airport. The shorter treatments cost a bit more than at the Qspa steps away, but the markup isn't egregious. Maybe the hope is that the Qspa will be the specialist in express treatments and Dior Spa will mostly cater to the clients that want a pre-booked, longer, more intense session.
Putting two luxury spas in the distant and less busy Al Mourjan Garden Lounge, almost within sight of each other, is a wild choice.
Not surprised at all. This seems like something very Doha . When we were locals, we would go get a full massage at the airport hotel (past security) before flights, and then swim in the pool . All after midnight.
Unrelated but here’s something interesting I saw today.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2024/05/08/gcc-unified-visa-middle-east/?sh=6a2ebb3a4f7b
I guess you'll have to try it and let us know.
Is it possible they've advertised this with locals and the locals are booking it? It could potentially be very popular with luxury-minded Qataris.
@ FMLAX -- I hear you, but I'd give that a 0.000001% chance. It's booked out 24/7 for the next two or more months? With eight treatment rooms? That seems impossible to me.
I imagine it’s “fully booked” for the next few months with influencers and media etc. being given free treatments to try to create some marketing buzz.