Spas The Spa Hotel at Ribby Hall Village, UK
A warm welcome European Spa visits The Spa Hotel at Ribby Hall Village, a Lancashire gem with a dedicated team that has cared for the wellbeing of its guests for the last five years RE P O RT BY SARAH C A M I L L E R I
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t is a bright Monday morning and The Spa Hotel at Ribby Hall Village is already a hive of activity; guests are relaxing in the newly opened Zen Garden and experiencing the spa’s Aqua Thermal journey; the treatment columns are almost full; and the sunshine illuminates the enthusiastic team as they greet and serve the clientele with a clear sense of pride. The 120 staff at this grand property in the north-west of England have been on a real journey into spa and wellness over the last seven years, since entrepreneurial owner CEO Paul Harrison and managing director Mark Partington, took the decision to begin a £5 million investment programme to create what is now a leading spa destination. Since it opened in 2011, the 38-bedroom spa hotel has grown into a thriving business; the jewel in the crown of Ribby Hall Village, a short-break holiday resort set in 120 acres of Lancashire parkland, it has achieved a five-bubble rating from The Good Spa Guide and two AA rosettes for fine dining. More recently, The Spa Hotel scooped the former’s 2016 award for Best Spa for Value, beating 15 other shortlisted UK spas.
The journey begins Success stories are always great to hear, but what makes Ribby Hall’s story compelling is the fact that this was actually the team’s first foray into running a hotel that could present luxury spa service. “Everything we have achieved as a business in the past 21 years has been on the back of the success of each of those years,” says Mark Partington. “Our owner, Mr Harrison Sr, always wanted a building at the highest point of the site to overlook the village, so the original building here was a 42-room self catering apartment hotel. There was no life up here – no bar, no restaurant, certainly no spa,” he states. “It achieved a reasonable profit, it was ‘tick-tock’, but not really exciting. As time went on, we knew that we needed something else, something really special, that would attract new customers.” In fact, it was a family trip to Center Parcs that catalysed an ambitious new investment. “When Center Parcs first launched its Aqua Sana spa I went to try it and I could not believe how busy it was. The experience helped us crystallise our thinking on what we wanted to achieve here at Ribby Hall.” Inspired by a growing demand for accessible spa services, the team embarked on creating a new spa destination. “It took two years to develop the hotel and achieve the luxury offer we knew we needed,” says Partington. “This could not be nip and tuck, it demanded the right level of luxurious equipment, finishes and experiences.” The design, build and realisation of the new spa hotel was just the beginning
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