We’ve just seen the opening of what’s almost certainly the world’s most luxurious airport spa…
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?
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