In conversation with our spa manager

There is a kind of person who becomes a spa manager. Not someone drawn to the aesthetic of wellness, the Instagram-friendly steam and candlelight, but someone who actually believes in what restoration does to people.

Sarah Morris is that kind of person. We sat down with her this Summer to discuss the success of the Francis Hotel Spa opening and to understand what she's building here, and why Bath has always been her place to build her career. 

The vision.

Sarah explains, was never about creating another hotel spa. "This is a purposeful addition to the city's wellness offering," she says, "Bath has always been a centre for healing. We're not inventing that. We're continuing it."

Looking ahead as the year pans out from September to March in the city of wellness. The timing of the spa feels significant. With our first time in the ReBalance Festival, which arrives in February. And the incredible tourist season we have had, with hotel guests intrigued to discover our spa. 

The Francis Hotel Spa opens into that moment with something distinctive: a private thermal suite, the only one of its kind in heritage Bath. Followed by three treatment rooms, and an approach to care that Sarah describes as the opposite of superficial. It's real, welcoming and thoughtful. 

The thermal suite

The thermal suite is where the experience begins for most guests. A multi-use space offering detoxification, deep relaxation, and what Sarah calls "a genuine moment of stillness."

Within it, the bubble chamber uses ultra-fine effervescent bubbles to boost circulation and soften the skin. Whilst playful in experience, it's therapeutic in effect.

The Rasul ritual follows its own particular arc, with a salt scrub, invigorating experience shower, mineral-rich mud applied and left to work in the private thermal chamber while heat and steam open the pores.

Aimed for anyone who seeks a modern spa experience. The suite is a forty-five-minute self-treatment that stays with you considerably longer.

Watch the video here 

The people

The team she's assembled reflects the same dual approach: therapists qualified across holistic bodywork, advanced massage, reflexology, and facial therapy. 

"We emphasise intentional care, active listening and mindful communication. It is about creating experiences that are deeply personal, respectful and genuinely restorative."

The integration with the hotel feels important to her too. The ease of moving from the lounge to the spa garden to treatment and back to your hidden room in our hotel.

And the perfect addition is the in-room wellness yoga and spa kits available to buy, allowing the experience to extend beyond the treatment table. The connection with the hotel and Emberwood as the original local is a community anchor that already belongs to Bath. "For locals, we want it to feel like theirs," she says. "Not just a hotel facility but a space to return to when they need time out, support, or simply a moment to breathe."

For visitors, she hopes the memory lingers. For the community, she wants the door to feel genuinely open.

"We've created this with real care and thought," The Francis Hotel Spa is here to offer something honest and lasting. Not rushed treatments or fleeting trends, but a slower, deeper kind of wellness that really makes a difference."

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