
Valentine’s Day is my favorite holiday! As designers and architects of spas, we are responsible for creating places where couples can spend quality time and enjoy a romantic experience.
Some 18 years ago, my wife and I had a concept for a spa “couple’s suite” experience. It involved a couple’s massage after a shared bathing experience in a relaxing Japanese steeping tub. This original suite was actually built and designed for the Mar-a-Lago Resort in Palm Beach, Florida. It was very successful and became a very popular signature therapy. So we are happy to say that we designed the first couple’s spa suite, a different take on “couples therapy.”
Valentine’s Day conjures up remarkable exchanges of romance, which coincides with our design for the Marilyn Monroe Spa, which opened recently in Maui. It is being celebrated as one of the more successful new spas on the Island. Obviously, Marilyn Monroe is an icon of both beauty and romance. One of the spa’s unique features is the “glamour room”, where a guest can have her nails, makeup, and hair done and emerge feeling pampered, beautiful, and glamorous – a perfect gift for Valentine’s Day.

The property is the Kamaha’o, located in the Hyatt Regency in Maui, Hawaii. It’s a beautiful, romantic waterfront setting and the perfect place for couples to go and experience a couple’s massage and a relaxing bath. The spa offers a very popular treatment called the Marilyn Monroe Signature Massage. The whole couple’s ritual, combined with this beautiful, bucolic location and views out to the Pacific, provides the utmost romantic experience. With Valentine’s Day rapidly approaching, I thought this was the perfect topic to commemorate the holiday and start planning a romantic escape.
Robert Henry
roberthenry@rdh-architects.com
www.rdh-architects.com
212.533.4145