Fitness is no longer a niche lifestyle choice but a dominant way of living – and SIRO is betting its future on it. As the brand readies its expansion into new continents, Robbie Hodges checks into its first property in Dubai.

"Glowing skin, stronger hair, clear mind, sharp focus". I hadn't so much as stepped out of Dubai airport, but already, I was drunk on SIRO - gleefully sprinkling the purple electrolytes into my Voss water, supped in the rear seats of a Merc as the city's blanched Miami Vice landscape hovered through hot air and tinted windows.

In case you hadn't realised, fitness is no longer a niche lifestyle choice. Health has been eclipsing hedonism for years, a shift the pandemic only accelerated. In its wake, many have turned to preventative wellbeing, aware of how fragile public institutions can be. Image plays a role too; 85% of girls in the UK have applied filters or used an app to change the way they look in their photos by the time they are 13, raised under a culture of perpetual photographic surveillance.

Given this state of high anxiety, it’s easy to see why SIRO has staked its future on fitness and recovery. What I hadn't quite grasped before visiting was just how seamlessly fitness culture can be transmuted into quite so many touchpoints; so many opportunities for premiumisation. This, the brand's first property, opened doors in 2024. Since then, fitness has become life. It's electrolyte welcome drinks, zero gravity armchairs, protein bars in the mini fridge, and, as the surge in social saunas and run clubs indicates, spirituality and community, too.

My luggage and I rattle into the lobby as Puma's closing out a Monday morning lap and yap (my term; you’re welcome) – a 3km run around neighbouring Za'abeel Park followed by a panel and breakfast hosted by the brand's ambassadors in the hotel’s rippling amphitheatre. This, SIRO's freshly anointed PR Manager Raphael Austin tells me, is where things are heading; towards breakfast coffee raves and community hangs.

Interestingly, he's an alumnus of Sunset Hospitality Group which is largely known for glitzy restaurants such as SushiSamba and flirty, cork-popping beach clubs loosely held together by bikini strings. After a quick appraisal of SIRO's shiny clientele, it clicks. SIRO's crew might be living for the future, less the moment. But their focus on the self and feel good hormones springs from the same zeitgeist. 

It's a little overwhelming for the uninitiated. Such constant, high-scrutiny self-reflection had me wanting to hide in the Cryotherapy chamber at points during my stay. At the same time, I wanted more – biting my tongue lest I ask where I might procure one of the long SIRO-branded grey jersey hoodies that replace bathrobes in the rooms.

"Cult" is a term reasonably levelled at fitness communities from Barry's Bootcamp to humble run clubs, and SIRO has the classic good traits – an aspirational philosophy espoused by charming, affable staff – without the sinister coercion, which might explain how and why the brand is expanding so rapidly. Miami is in the pipeline, along with Los Cabos, Riyadh and Tokyo, pushing the portfolio to six. It's a global takeover. All of which is to say that the following text is not propaganda, at all.

LOCATION

One Za’abeel tower is a diamond stickpin on the outskirts of DIFC, Dubai International Financial Centre; a mixed-use riot of restaurants and real estate with swimming pools spilling out at various levels, a One & Only property, residences and offices. It’s a jenga tower, confusingly linked together by a sequence of lifts – hair-pulling at times, though made easier by plentiful, helpful staff. “Walking distance” is an irrelevant concept in Dubai, but the mall and Museum of the Future are five minutes by car. 

ETHOS

“The hotel destination built for better living,” says SIRO, which claims the title of Dubai’s first fully integrated fitness and recovery hotel. A floor is dedicated to each, with guests ricocheting between the two; cryotherapy to boxing to compression to group cycling and so on and so forth (more on this in Services below).

GUEST PERSONAS

Fiercely fit locals dropping in for a Sanctum or spin class mingle with the internationally well-thy. It’s an intimidating crowd – all the posturing and glamour Dubai’s known for, on taut muscular frames with no less muscular personalities. Figures accentuated by heavy jersey or sheathed in lycra pick at their “mindful matcha” and “blueberry balance cups” in the lobby; gossiping about classmates (hapless souls like me with holes in their trainers, no doubt) and ranking the city’s PTs. Alongside this body-conscious crowd are business trippers in navy blazers and shoes – executive types for whom one imagines lifting weights comes second only to closing deals. 

INTERIOR DESIGN

SIRO’s central tension of fitness and recovery is nicely articulated through its design. In guest and recovery spaces, subtle stylistic nods to the traditional Japanese ryokan create a sense of calm. Hallways are panelled in blonde woods, their floors woven almost like tatami mats. Pools of charcoal pebbles in changing areas echo the dry landscape gardens raked painlessly by monks in Buddhist temples. 

This highly tactile design approach is thrown into sharp contrast in the lobby and communal fitness areas in which neon lights, screen displays and high BPM spin remixes playing overhead scream Just Do It. It’s not wabi-sabi (c’mon, it’s Dubai), more Japan meets China in a Yin-Yang, push-pull kind of design dynamic. 

ROOMS

Bombastic views of Dubai swarm floor-to-ceiling windows; a sprawling toy town in a constant state of becoming, foregrounded by the serene yet highly intentional setup of SIRO’s rooms which promise to regulate wayward circadian rhythms by encouraging both fitness and recovery. 

Polished wooden monkey bars clamber up the wall. Alongside a soft scoop of an armchair, one of Peter Opsvik's iconic multi-use Gravity chairs sits poised, ready to rock wearied travellers back to equilibrium - flipping legs over heart can improve oxygenation and support the jetlagged parasympathetic nervous system, SIRO's concierge Ash tells me. I crank open the huge mirror to discover a glowing Aladdin's cave of fitness accoutrements - resistance bands, a foam roller, yoga block. A chic SIRO-branded tote for transporting gym and swim kit on-property could be a nice extension assignment for the brand team. 

We’re all accustomed to the overly complicated hotel light switch, but never before have I seen “relaxing scene” as a preset, illustrated by a human pretzel folded into Sukhasana pose. “Scene”. Interesting word. It all speaks to a culture of performative rest in which wellness is enacted for an audience. All together, it’s a fine, fine choreography of repose bathed, helpfully, in perfect selfie lighting.

MINIBAR AND IN-ROOM DINING

No in-room dining, so to speak. A couple of Barbells protein bars, gourmet chocolate bars, coconut water and alt milks linger tantalizingly in the fridge.  

RESTAURANTS: WHAT TO EAT  

Breakfast, served at NETTE in One Za’abeel’s chic food court, comprises a menu designed by SIRO’s nutritionists with the fit-focused in mind. This does mean some details are a little squiffy; my ‘seasonal’ autumnal fruit bowl comprised strawberries, pineapple and blueberries. Still, every morsel, right down to the individual crumbs in the bread basket, can be combed over in full nutritional detail with the scan of a QR code. The indulgences are small but irresistible, as they should be – a zaatar mini croissant, half a slice of charcoal bread sluiced with dried apricot – while the protein shakes are bottomless. Meatheads, rejoice! 

For daytime nibbles, there's an outpost of Common Grounds, a popular clean eat hotspot on vibey Kite Beach, where macro-nutrient rich protein shakes, wheat wraps and breakfast cups can be grabbed pronto. Or swipe and tap on the lobby’s food locker to retrieve one of the prepped salads sat in cardboard tubs therein. 

But, if you're feeling devilishly naughty, do slacken those resistance bands and drop down to the gluttonous floors below. Just one floor down is Culinara, a high-end food court of sorts where everything from hand-stretched pizza to tabbouleh to champagne and caviar can be ordered to your table by QR code.

Or plunge deeper, to Indonesian restaurant Andaliman on the fourth floor, where evenings roll like a pebble at the bottom of the ocean as smooth, easygoing disco remixes swallow you in silk cushions. Chicken satay - basic, perhaps? Not here. Smoked in charcoal, then slicked in spicy peanut caramel and sponged up by pillowy rice cakes. The Sea bream in Dabu dabu sauce, my catch of the day: Order it. Under the lazy sweep of tropical fans and with tables creeping out into tropical gardens, the restaurant has a touch of The White Lotus season three about it, minus the bloodshed. 

WELLNESS FACILITIES

Deep breath in as I condense two sprawling floors of fitness and recovery facilities into 6 paragraphs.

Most guests' SIRO journeys start with a body composition test (technical name: bioelectrical impedance analysis). No tears were shed as Helen, SIRO's in-house nutritionist, delivered her verdict: a totally average wadding of muscle and fat, meaning no urgent need for the bioactive collagen jelly or protein powders that hovered menacingly below eye-level of our conversation.

It's just as well. I've been in #monkmode since before TikTok was even an investor pitch deck, an almond mom before Yolanda Hadid became meme lore. In short: Self-flaggelation in the name of wellbeing comes naturally to me. And yet, I found that libidnal urge to push myself rendered totally impotent, despite the top-of-the-range facilities.

The brooding glass oil slick of a gym is vast, trisected into cardio, machines and weights rooms that spin off into a HIIT and a cycling studio, all technogym-equipped. Muscle-strapped bros fist bump in the changing rooms and linger on laptops in the lobby. There's an intimate reformer Pilates studio - a yoga studio, too, which is also used for Sanctum classes, the workout du jour that blends HIIT and primal dance, with instructions delivered through illuminated headphones.

I wouldn't say SIRO suffers from an attitude problem, but cultivating a positive, inclusive atmosphere in fitness spaces is no easy task - even harder to achieve when luxury enters the equation, further inflating already muscular egos. (Just look at the social media discourse surrounding high-end chains such as Third Space and Equinox.) SIRO gives it a good shot, but the bleary-eyed business traveller (a role I played well as delegate of the Dubai Future Forum) may prefer to seek respite from the back-slapping on the "recovery" floor.

Yes, an entire floor dedicated to resetting mind and body. It's not a "spa" so to speak - too leisurely. This is high-impact rest for people who view downtime not as an end in itself but as a springboard for performance. Divided by sex, unlike the gym, it's a warren of low-stimulation, multisensory cloisters furnished with warmed loungers and pillows, aglow with Hamalayan salt walls. There's a sauna, steam room and cold plunge, naturally, as well as IV drips, red light therapy and sound baths for the more adventurous. 

In the empty treatment rooms, high-tech wearables that take the edge off DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) are set out atop illuminated treatment beds, like the perseverant funerary attire of corpses long returned to the earth - or flatlays for a Lady Gaga styling appointment. Kinda creepy, but cool. Thigh-high therabody compression boots and a pair of headphones are found in one. In another, a glowing nuclear green headpiece replete with goggles is paired with what looks like an MRI scanner - electric muscle stimulation for muscles in desperate need of relief. A Cryotherapy chamber is also available by appointment.

This is wellness for the seriously well and can be deployed as part of a holistic fitness program for those with the time and inclination.

VERDICT

As I take one final sweep about my room, I reach for the white and gold book of Biblical proportions which has sat, immaculately unopened, in my room. "Good Vibes, Good Life: How Self-Love is the Key to Unlocking Your Greatness". It was published in 2018, which makes sense. Gospel for the era of hustle culture and Instagram’s clean-girl perfection, forces now eclipsed by messy, emotionally transparent TikToks and a renewed tilt toward collective wellbeing.

In a hospitality sector that has never been more saturated yet less exciting, SIRO cuts through with pioneering spirit, a razor-sharp focus and a maternal dedication to guests' health and wellbeing that feels honest and true in its intentions. As the world looks to future horizons fractured by diverging health inequality, every hotel, both high but especially low, should be taking note.

PRICE

Lead in rates start at £215.