Buff Bar & Herbal Bath @ Rock Spa, Hard Rock Hotel Penang!

RETUNE YOURSELF.

That’s the tagline of Hard Rock Hotel Penang’s Rock Spa. A place to unwind. A place to release all your stresses be it body, spiritual or emotional. A place to loosen your aches and tensions. A place to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and reconnect with nature and yourself. A place to become yourself again and indulge in luxuries. Yes, a place to retune yourself.

Hard Rock Hotel Penang holds a special place in our heart. The rocking atmosphere, cool and friendly staffs and amazing food. It has successfully differentiate itself compared to other hotels and resorts at the stretch of Batu Feringghi. If KayaButter have the money to splash, definitely we wish to stay in Hard Rock Hotel Penang. We are actually saving money to have a chance to stay in Hard Rock Hotel Penang. The room by the pool is our target! Hehe 🙂

Although HRHP continues to be the preferred choice among tourists, many patrons do not know that actually HRHP is also famous for its spa treatments and facilities. The spa has a cool name which is Rock Spa, rock as in very awesome or amazing and not as in the rocks that will be used for your spa sessions. 😛

Tucked away at the farthest left of the swimming pool as you step on the pool area, you are forgiven if you miss Rock Spa. Once you are in the pool area, walk to your left. You will pass through a small bridge and keep going to the left. You will see a few cabanas and reclining chairs as you keep going.

Kaya who loves to hog the camera takes a chance to selfie. See his excited face. Can’t wait for the 2 hours Buff Bar and 30 minutes Herbal Bath!

Once you see this sign means you have reached Rock Spa!

This is where the foot reflexology sessions are done. Feels like doing the foot reflexology to relieve my leg aches but Kaya must focus on our main mission here: 2 hours of Buff Bar and 30 minutes of Herbal Bath!

Once you step into Rock Spa, you will be greeted by their receptionist. The receptionist is a very friendly and professional Indian girl called Mel. KayaButter do not get to take photo of her because there are a few guests trying to fix an appointment for their sessions. The one in the photo is Kak Puteh who is the Person-In-Charge of the Rock Spa. It is advisable that you book your session before going there to avoid disappointment. Since we have booked our appointment earlier, we are given a declaration form to fill in and sign. Basically it is a form where you need to state your allergies to avoid complications during the treatment.

As we have mentioned earlier, Rock Spa has definitely built up a very good reputation with so many awards received. Here are the awards that Rock Spa Penang has received:

1. Bazaar Spa Awards 2013 – Most Creative Traditional Massage awarded for Buff Bar and Rhythm Sticks Massage
2. World Luxury Spa Awards 2012 – Best Luxury Day Spa
3. Bazaar Spa Awards 2014 – Best Couple’s Getaway awarded for Buff Bar
4.  The Malaysian Women’s Weekly Spa Awards 2014 – Best Aromatherapy Body Treatment for Buff Bar Treatment

Rock Spa is also available in 14 other Hard Rock Hotels all over the world. They have one in Indonesia (Bali), one in Thailand (Pattaya), three in Mexico (Cancun, Riviera Maya and Vallarta), one in Panama (Panama Megapolis), one in Dominican Republic (Punta Cana), one in Macau and five in United States (Biloxi, Hollywood, Las Vegas, San Diego and Tampa) and finally one in Malaysia which is PENANG! We are so proud that we have one here in Penang. 🙂

After submitting the forms, the receptionist explains about the ingredients that are available to be used in for scrub and asks us to choose. You get to choose one flavour of aromatherapy oils, one base of the scrub and two flavour of the scrub if you select Buff Bar treatment.

The Aromatherapy Oils

Pink Grape Fruit – Detoxifying and Toning

Lavander – Relaxing

Ylang Ylang – Calming of mind and cell renewal

Rosemary – Revitalising and Firming

Lemongrass – Lighten your laziness and tired muscle

Peppermint – Head Clearing and Boosts Circulation

The Base of The Scrub

Salt – Exfoliate dead cells (Suitable for those who have not scrubbed their body for a long time)

Rice – Body Polish (Suitable for those who often scrub their body and wish to polish their skin)

Clay (for soft skins) – Body mask to moisture and smoothen skin (Suitable for those who often scrub their body and wish to have smoother and softer skin)

The Flavour of The Scrub

Milk – Makes the skin glow and shine

Ginger – Warming effect and relieves tired muscle

Orange Skin – Skin brightening and gives vitamin C

Lavender Buds – Makes the scrub more fragrant and gives relaxing functions

Seaweed – Helps skin to detox

Coconut – Moisturising the skin

 Kaya chooses Pink Grape Fruit, Salt, Coconut and Orange Skin whereas Butter chooses Peppermint, Salt, Milk and Orange Skin. Kaya wanted to try Lemongrass yet unsure what will it turn out. So, both of us choose the ingredients that we like and we took the safe combination. 😛

This is the place for your manicure and pedicure. Facials are also done here.

This place is called as Spa Bungalow. Spa Bungalow is more expensive than Private Villas and Outdoor Cabanas because they use a lot of aromatherapy oils to massage. It is said that aromatherapy oil can enhance the massage effect a lot. You can have a better view of Rock Spa’s Spa Bungalow at the following website. It gives a 360 degrees view. http://www.panomatics.com/nextgen/my/hardrockhotel/001/amenities/rockspa.html

There is a wide area outside Rock Spa and there are a lot of trees and greeneries to create the ‘zen’ effect. You will feel that you have been transported from hotel to Middle Earth green pasture with lots of tree.

The cabana that you see in the photo above is also another choice for your massage session. After we have finished choosing the ingredients, we are ushered by our massage therapists to our Private Villa. Before that, we are asked to go to toilet first to settle our nature calls so that we can have a smooth an uninterrupted massage session.

This the roadway that leads to our Private Villa. There are two Private Villas. The outdoor design and setting really create the mood of relax and leisure for us. We are ready to be pampered by the magic touch of our massage therapists.

As we step into our Private Villa, one can almost feel that he/she has connected back to nature. The creative use of a lot of natural and green materials to adorn and design the villa impresses us a lot. With all the greeneries, there are also some element of human comfort such as slippers, ceiling fans, shower, music and lights.

This is the view that you get from your massage bed.

As you lie your face on the top of the bed, your eyes are greeted with a beautiful bowl of flowers instead of planks.

Thank God that Rock Spa installs two ceiling fans as not all people enjoy our tropical weather. Sometimes it can get quite hot especially in the afternoon.

Rock Spa is so thoughtful to provide a place for you to put the jewelries, water, lotions, hair comb and shower caps. If you are afraid that your jewelries might be lost during the treatment, it is advisable not to wear any when you go for the therapies.

You can wear the robe when you are finished with the treatment if you are uncomfortable moving around naked. 😛 You can also have the extra towel in case you need it as the side of the massage bed.

Finally, after all the photo takings, KayaButter is ready for our Buff Bar therapy. You are required to wear only the disposable underwear given. We get to enjoy the 1 & 1/2 hour of traditional massage and 30 minutes of scrubbing. We throughly enjoyed our massage. The massage is very systematic starting with our hands, head, back and down to our legs. Our massage therapist are very professional and sensitive to our needs. They will ask whether we prefer a softer, modest or strong massage. Do tell them if they are too soft or too strong. They will be very happy to oblige. The massage is very thorough and presses deep into our skins unlike some massages whereby the therapists just rubs and touches your skin only. Half way through, we are already into our slumber.

Next is our scrub session. You will literally be jolted by the intense scrubbing. KayaButter chose salt because we haven’t scrub our body for quite some time. Just imagine that a piece of sandpaper has just rubbed through your whole body, front and back. Haha 🙂 Although slightly uncomfortable, the result is amazing. Both of us find that our skin has become smoother and has a glowing effect. Wish that we can show you the photos but sorry… we are naked that time. 😛

After the relaxing and intense scrubbing session, we are totally refreshed. Next, they prepared the herbal bath for us. It is an add-on package for us that will cost RM80 for 30 minutes. It is very good for detoxification and helps to relieve tired muscles. The herbal bath is hot and for those with low blood pressure or anaemic, you might experience some dizziness after the bath. Kaya enjoyed the herbal bath a lot together with the ginger tea that is served after the massage + scrub session ended. You can choose either ginger tea (complimentary), coconut juice (RM10++) or sherbet (RM10++).

Oh ya, the combination of peppermint oil + salt + milk + orange skin for Butter works very well. The orangey smell is so refreshing. And the combination for Kaya which is pink grape fruit + salt + orange skin + coconut works well also. The orange skin overpowers the coconut smell yet Kaya can smell faint coconut smell.

This is where we have our herbal bath.

We really loved this Private Villa. The whole ambience and setting is really great for a couple getaway. No wonder they win an award for this. The attention and care from the staffs are world class. One thing that not many other spas can do is that you can enjoy your massage and bath while hearing the waves. Such a therapeutic effect. Another thing is that the private villa gives you total privacy and security unlike another spa session that we had in Bali. The spa room in Bali that we used have a open space whereby outsiders from faraway can see us while we are in the room. That is a big turn off for us. One thing I find that they can make the room ambience better which is to use a bamboo or more natural design for the lamp instead of the England-looking lamp.

Now we are fully recharged and RETUNED!

Thanks to Grace Chiam for the invite and Sue & Karen Sim for facilitating this Rock Spa review session. We really enjoyed a great session at Rock Spa. Keep rocking on. 🙂 Here is price list for the services that Rock Spa provide:

For more information, here is the link for the latest promotion for Rock Spa.

Rock Spa Promotion: http://penang.hardrockhotels.net/promotions?view_category=Spa+Promotions

contact information

Rock Spa
Hard Rock Hotel Penang
Batu Ferringhi Beach 11000 Penang.
Contact No: +604-8868071
Email: spa.penang@hardrockhotels.net

business hours

Daily

9am – 9pm

The price of the services we had is as below:

Buff Bar – RM295 per pax.
Herbal Bath – RM80 per pax.

All prices are subject to 6% government tax. Surcharge of RM50 per person for treatments performed in Spa Bungalow.