From vitamin drips to ‘lifestyle management programmes’, the Equinox hotel is leading the way with health-centric urban stays. Tom Parry, senior report for TTG and TTG Luxury, shares his experience
A spin-off of luxury gym chain Equinox, the hotel originally opened in New York last summer, and is located in Hudson Yards, the largest private real-estate development in US history and the largest development in the city since Rockefeller Centre.
With rooms costing from US$700 a night, it’s not cheap, but with “health the new wealth” (especially in the age of contagion) many people will be more than happy to pay for a hotel that genuinely enhances their wellbeing. After closing during the pandemic, it will be reopening its doors in late July.
HOTEL REVIEW: EQUINOX NEW YORK
“It’s not fitness. It’s life.” Start spouting lines like this down your local leisure centre and brace for an eye-roll. But to a fast-growing social sect, the mantra, as it suggests, is absolutely a phrase to live by.
It’s also the strapline of high-end fitness brand Equinox that, since opening its first Fitness Club in New York in 1991, has amassed a century of outlets across North America and London. Famed for its “high-performance living”, Equinox fuses the active with the alchemic, but perhaps its boldest innovation yet came last summer with the opening of its debut hotel property – Equinox Hotel Hudson Yards.
The 212-room temple to toning is part of the west Manhattan neighbourhood, which much like Equinox guests, is also all about remodelling – through US$25 billion worth of skyscraper steel; this area represents pumping iron of both varieties.
While some city breakers may quibble over dedicating precious suitcase space to their trainers for a less-than-likely gym visit, the crown jewel here is of course the Fitness Club; in fact it’s Equinox’s largest-ever premises at 5,574 sqm – almost the size of a UK professional football pitch – and is a destination in itself.
Offering every element of personal training and group classes you could think of, there’s also the brand’s most exclusive E by Equinox “gym within a gym” sanctum, with membership worth a cool US$500 a month plus a US$1,500 initiation fee.
Having completed my first London marathon in 2019 and (at the time of my stay earlier this year) ramping up training for this year’s event, I was eager to experience a slice of the Equinox lifestyle.
If I thought I was approaching a big fitness task, Jenna’s was a step beyond; her latest triathlon, organised by the US Marines. The session she set for us was about core strength, with Jenna saying she also wanted to help me avoid the niggling knee pain that had persisted during my last 26-miler.
All personal trainers are given a science-backed education through Equinox’s Fitness Training Institute, overseen by the company’s Health Advisory Board comprising doctors, nutritionists, scientists and top-level coaches. And even for our short session, the results-driven Equinox mindset seemed clear.
The highest level of personal training at Equinox Hudson Yards is Tier X, which claims to offer “a lifestyle management programme” with a unique holistic approach and features the use of Halo Neuroscience headsets to stimulate brain function and boost performance.
As Jenna and I moved across the club floor to get into the workout, the scale of the place became clearer too. The Fitness Club and spa are designed by Joyce Wang, and high-end equipment meets sleek urban architecture brilliantly, with prime views of Hudson Yards’ centrepiece, Vessel, the huge explorable sculpture by British designer Thomas Heatherwick.
Even a trip to the spa comes with added science – from the cryotherapy chamber and infrared sauna to on-demand vitamin IV drips, which can also be administered in guests’ rooms.
My premier river-view room offered understated luxury with clean lines, neutral colours and soothing views of the Hudson.
Aside from fitness, Equinox also prides itself on the science of sleep, and my spring-free, handmade, Coco-Mat mattress – designed to keep you cool at night and mechanically support your spine as well as providing a natural elasticity to encourage rest and recovery – gave me the most peaceful night’s sleep in a hotel bed I’ve ever had.
Clever touch-free initiatives for the reopening of the Equinox hotel will include a mobile app allowing guests to limit human interaction and touchpoints via the use of a digital key, concierge texting and virtual check-out features.
While my one-night stay here felt pretty packed, from exploring the jaw-dropping design, to perspiring through the fitness session and soaking up the dining vibe, I felt like I’d barely scratched the surface of Equinox Hudson Yards’ potential. One thing’s for sure. It’s definitely not just fitness.
And as the world emerges from the Covid-19 nightmare, hotels focused on wellbeing can only be a good thing.
Equinox is also planning to open hotels in Houston, LA and Chicago. The company has also branched out into health and fitness trips packaged as Equinox Explore, although bookings (except for surfing in Costa Rica in November 2020) are postponed for the time being due to the pandemic.