Driving to a strip mall and clumping my clothes into a corner of the massage room isn’t really my idea of a spa experience. So I am a bit uneasy about visiting a hotel spa located in a business park.
As it turns out, the Spa at the Inverness includes none of the drab styling of its namesake hotel. Just one floor below the lobby, a bubbling fountain welcomes the high-stressed into a world of relaxation. A delicate jasmine scent fills the spa’s foyer, and, already, I’ve forgotten about the business park outside.
With a menu of reasonably-priced services and the retreat feel of a mountain resort, the Spa at the Inverness is Englewood’s answer to traveling long and far for a full spa experience. And you won’t pay for it by changing in a closet.
Huge locker rooms (with no skimping on the men’s side) are stocked with cozy towels, primping tools like hair dryers and flat irons, and, of course, a fluffy-as-new-cotton robe and foot-cradling slippers. A lot of work went into finding the perfect robe. Spa director Katie Pederson tried out many different styles, thicknesses and material blends.
“Well the first thing you do when you get here, you change and take all your stress off,” she says.
No matter how soft, a robe probably isn’t enough to get your mind off work. So both locker rooms are equipped with steam rooms and a sauna, perfect for a pre-treatment decompression. Spa-goers also have full access to the hotel’s fitness center, tennis courts and two-lane lap pool. But instead of working out before (or after) my massage, I think I’d opt for the outdoor hot tub and fireplace.
The spa menu is pretty similar to that at high-end resorts, offering all the traditional services: massage, body treatments, facials, nail care and the waxing of just about any body part that can grow hair. But in a world of chemical therapies, the Inverness has turned to natural ingredients and organic products.
Don’t be surprised to get detoxified with paprika, scrubbed with sugar or moisturized with a tangerine fig butter crème. Most of the products come from Australia and Hungary, and several of the body treatments have been customized for Inverness guests.
The best part: all 80-minute body treatments come with free access to the Swiss shower. Eight jets on three sides of the oversized stall spray a massaging mist from head to toe. I wonder if they ever have to drag people out?
Day packages range from two to four hours, but combine that with a few extra hours of sipping a lemon detox drink in the relaxation suite, enjoying the hot tub or idling in the sauna, and it’s easy to spend an entire day in a business park.
“This has been such a great opportunity to put a spa menu together,” said Pederson. “We’re full-service but comforting.”
Hotel spas can be hectic, like a bustling lobby where everyone’s wearing robes. At 4,500 square feet, the Spa at the Inverness isn’t huge. But an almost cavernous system of six treatment rooms, a couple’s suite, a relaxation room and a nail care suite makes the spa never really feel full, even when they’re booked for the day.
Since it just opened in November, the spa isn’t yet overflowing with guests, but according to Pederson, it’s proving popular with both hotel visitors and Colorado residents. After all, massages speak to both the business person and the ultra-distance athlete.
Most spas offer shortened versions of common services, but this one makes a lunch-hour visit possible. Lounge in the sauna, enjoy a 25-minute mini-massage and head back to work, box lunch in hand.
I’m not really sure I’d want to go back to work after all that, but I’ll be happy to return to this Englewood business park.
If You Go
The Spa at The Inverness, 200 Inverness Drive West, Englewood, (800) 832-9053 www.invernessspa.com
From the Editors: Please confirm the details before setting out in our great Centennial State.