For busy bees at odds with the concept of ‘self care’, it’s time to call upon the sage advice of the wellness professionals at Banyan Tree Kuala Lumpur, who’ve introduced a new Wellbeing Sanctuary Experience (prices start from RM1,330 per night for two people). The only effort required from guests is to set aside two or more nights and complete a pre-arrival questionnaire that establishes their sleep quality, technology usage, interpersonal relationships, and exercise and dietary habits.
From there, the hotel’s wellbeing host assesses each individual guest’s wellness requirements according to Banyan Tree Group’s comprehensive ‘Eight Pillars’ approach, determining which areas are in need of restoration or improvement. It may be that a guest scores top marks on dietary awareness and physical vitality, but falls short on sleep and rest or bonding and connection. Additionally, they might benefit from closer contact with nature, learning a new skill, engaging with mindful practices such as meditation, or reconnecting with feelings of gratitude, empathy, and forgiveness.
A major advantage of the Wellbeing Sanctuary Experience is that guests are able to go through their assessment results within a supportive environment at Banyan Tree Kuala Lumpur, with access to a broad range of complimentary activities to address their wellness concerns. Personalised wellbeing journeys are far from being fitness boot camps (although fast-paced cardio and HIIT classes are available). Many sessions are calming and restorative: insomniacs in need of more shut-eye are guided through a seminar of healthy sleep routines, while hunched-over desk workers enjoy a gentle spinal stretching exercise session beside the hotel’s scenic and breezy poolside.
Above all, it’s impossible not to de-stress and decompress at Banyan Tree Kuala Lumpur, which serves as a surprisingly tranquil retreat despite being located at the very epicentre of the city. The Signature Wellbeing Retreat room, with its burnished singing bowl, selection of sleep-enhancing music, and thoughtful nightly rest rituals (including a steaming-hot inhalation bowl scented with kaffir lime leaves) makes sliding into bed before midnight a treat, rather than a task. In the morning, there’s a generous amount of floor space left clear to use the in-room yoga mats and stretch bands for a morning workout before heading up to the 58th floor for breakfast overlooking the Twin Towers.
Wellbeing Sanctuary Experience guests are also eligible for a 30 per cent discount off a la carte treatments at the in-hotel spa and wellbeing cuisine at the property’s Horizon Grill and Ebisu restaurants, making for a staycation that’s all about resting and eating well. Several days of being unknotted on a treatment table by one of Banyan Tree Kuala Lumpur’s signature Thai Classic massages and nourished by regular deliveries of daily afternoon nutrition platters are more than enough to put a spring in one’s step. Armed with a better understanding of their lifestyle practices and a feeling of contentment that comes only from being properly looked after, guests can step into 2022 with their mental and physical batteries fully charged and switched on.
