This was published 1 year ago
New ‘urban resort’ brings elevated luxury to central Rome
If any property encapsulates the evolution of the Six Senses group, it is the new Six Senses Rome.
Touted by the luxury operator as an “urban resort” and inhabiting a historic palazzo on the Italian capital’s hectic Via del Corso, it’s a world away from the look and feel of the original Bangkok-based Six Senses brand, established 28 years ago as a South-East Asian beachy, barefoot wellness resort outfit.
Six Senses Rome.
Says Six Senses CEO, Neil Jacobs, "We purposely lost some of the rusticity that defined the brand when it was born. It was very Robinson Crusoe and very 'get rid of your shoes'. I mean, they used to take your shoes," he laughs.
A 2012 takeover by a US private equity fund installed Jacobs and it was consequently bought by InterContinental Hotels Group in 2019.
Rooftop views from Six Senses.
"When we bought Six Senses in 2012 it hadn't evolved since its inception, but the customer had changed somewhat and when you're charging the amount of money that we charge, which is not inexpensive, you have to add air-conditioning, a bathroom and not have your guests' makeup dripping in the tropics. But you must stay very true to the values of the group. We're not about polished marble and crystal chandeliers – we've always been about organic materials – but we felt our properties needed to be designed more, be more sophisticated and it wasn't right for a chair to be pieces of wood, a hammer and a bag of nails, which it was in the beginning and which was cool then, but not now.
"In 2012, we were a beach villa product that grew in South-East Asia. Today, we are global. We have an international vernacular. And as much as we're on the beach, we are in the mountains, we're in the desert. We are in the city. But the value set has not changed."
The hotel spa and its Roman baths.
To that end, Six Senses Rome's focus is on sustainability as well as unique, place-centric design. Find, for instance, cocciopesto – a building material used in ancient Rome – on the walls as well as local travertine, a limestone the Romans also employed, throughout the hotel's 96 guest rooms and suites, with some featuring Triclinium-style marble seating on their terraces.
These are coupled with the latest in-room technology and the Sleep With Six Senses homemade organic mattresses, cotton bedding and pillows.
Despite its location on Rome's bustling thoroughfare, tranquillity was a key aim in the design of the 12 accommodation categories, even for suites facing Via del Corso and neighbouring San Marcello al Corso Church. With dining options, the all-day Bivium Restaurant-Cafe-Bar and Notos Rooftop, dishes and drinks focus on natural and seasonal ingredients from regional farmers and suppliers.
Elevated luxury wellness practice is a key point of difference for Six Senses, and the Rome property certainly takes this baton and runs with it, offering a 60-minute Roman bathing circuit, reproducing the calidarium (hot) , tepidarium (warm), and frigidarium (cold) of the Ancient Roman bath said to reduce inflammation and aiding muscle recovery.
Another highlight is the Alchemy Bar at Six Senses where potions are blended to make aromatic scrubs and masks using organic ingredients from the hotel garden.
See sixsenses.com
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