Banyan Tree Launches Veya, a Wellbeing Brand, in Phuket
The first Banyan Tree Veya opened on 18 March 2022 with 23 villas in Laguna Phuket, a programme built on movement and mindfulness and a white room for sensory rest.
Banyan Tree Group launched a new brand, Banyan Tree Veya, on 18 March 2022 with a first property of 23 villas in Phuket. It stands within Laguna Phuket, the resort estate at Bang Tao on the island’s west coast where the group opened its first hotel in 1994.
The idea
Banyan Tree was among the companies that established the Asian resort spa in the 1990s, with treatments drawn from regional traditions and its own training academy for therapists. Veya is its move from spa to full wellbeing stay. The name comes from a word meaning to weave, and the approach rests on what the group calls its eight pillars of wellbeing, which include sleep, diet, movement, connection with nature and continued learning.
Unlike a medical retreat, Veya does not begin with diagnostics. A stay follows three steps, which the group names awareness, discovery and sustenance: guests first take stock of their habits with a practitioner, then try a range of practices, and leave with a routine they can keep at home. Programmes are flexible, and guests can do as much or as little as they choose.
What happens there
The emphasis is on the body in motion and at rest. The daily schedule includes breathwork, sound therapy and meditation, along with yoga and freer forms of movement such as intuitive dance. The signature treatments are a series called Weightless, which combine flotation with massage and sound. The wellbeing centre includes a White Room, an all-white, soundproofed space for sensory rest that the group describes as the first in Thailand, and a herb garden where guests prepare traditional Thai remedies.
Food is largely plant-based, with Asian and Mediterranean influences, and staff trained as nutrition advisers help guests build menus around their own goals. The villas have private pools and are equipped for practice, with yoga mats, singing bowls and sleep aids.
Where it fits
Veya is lighter in touch than Thailand’s established retreats, Kamalaya or Chiva-Som, and it suits travellers who want a beach holiday with structure more than a programme with rules. Because it sits within Laguna Phuket, guests also have access to the beach, golf and restaurants of the wider estate.