Le Spa at La Residence Hotel & Spa recently hired a new spa manager from Indonesia, added new, natural products as a complement to its Comfort Zone product line and began implementing a suite of new treatments to enhance the spa’s repertoire.

“The recognition by Conde Nast was inspiring,” said Carmen Marienberg, the landmark hotel’s general manager, “but a spa must be both creative and dynamic if it’s to be an exciting venue for guests. With our new manager, products and treatments, we’re fulfilling both those obligations.

La Residence hired Novi Era Larasati to manage Le Spa, an exquisite, art-deco-inspired treatment facility staffed by more than a dozen therapists and spa associates. Prior to her appointment in Hue, Larasati was the training manager at the Mira Wellness Spa at Marty Myra Hotel in Turkey. Her previous appointments include stints at spas in Indonesia and Malaysia.

“I had a real desire to come to Vietnam,” said Larasati. “I’d been several years in Turkey, and several years in Malaysia before that. For years, I’ve been hearing about Vietnam as one of the hottest new travel destinations, and I wanted to be part of that.”

In Hue, Larasati quickly got to work on Le Spa’s products and treatments. She complemented the Comfort Zone’s scrubs with Javanese lulur, a natural fusion of rice and tumeric that’s popular in her native Indonesia. From local markets, she obtained sea salt for an anti-oxidant scrub and coffee beans to use as a dry-skin treatment.

“Hue is a coastal city, and Vietnam is the second largest exporter of coffee in the world,” she said. “We’re keen to use natural products that are unique to Hue and Vietnam, so that the experience at Le Spa will be one-of-a-kind.”

Larasati is also supplementing her therapists’ knowledge of Swedish and Balinese massage techniques, emphasizing long strokes, skin rolling and kneading as way to induce relaxation and more vigorous circulation.
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