Cover The Garden Club at Palm Heights Grand Cayman
features 60,000 square
feet of wellness spaces
and experiences
The Garden Club at Palm Heights Grand Cayman features 60,000 square feet of wellness spaces and experiences
1 / 1
More enchanted tropical garden than run-of-the-mill hotel spa, Palm Heights in Grand Cayman’s new 60,000 square foot wellness space is a game-changer
With citrus-hued parasols and Seventies-inspired decor, Palm Heights in Grand Cayman is the coolest hotel you’ve probably never heard of. Just ask Hollywood’s most stylish set. Chloë Sevigny’s friends threw her a hen party there last year. Emily Ratajkowski and musician Moses Sumney rang in the New Year, kicking off 2023 with a party and impromptu photo shoot on the hotel’s beach. Shortly after, Bella Hadid enjoyed a romantic retreat with then-boyfriend Marc Kalman in January, and sister Gigi chose Palm Heights for a summer getaway with friends in July.
Yet despite the steady flow of A-list guests, Palm Heights is more intimate and understated than one would expect. Think of it as a Beverly Hills Hotel or Chateau Marmont for a new generation—only here, it’s on a stretch of sugar-white sand of Grand Cayman’s Seven Mile Beach. “The objective was for Palm Heights to feel like a fabulous holiday home rather than a hotel,” says Gabriella Khalil, who founded the hotel in 2019 and is its creative director.
“The aesthetic was inspired by the Seventies and we really focused on this era by researching everything from design objects to art, photography and fashion. It references the glory days of the Caribbean, celebrating the understated glamour of the era.” Palm Heights is a love letter to midcentury modern design, with vintage pieces including a rug by 20th-century Italian architect Ettore Sottsass and fans by German industrial designer Ingo Maurer. “Pieces by iconic designers like Gabriella Crespi and Mario Bellini are among my favourites within the hotel,” says Khalil.
Above Inspired by the Seventies, Palm Heights is a love letter to midcentury modern design
Inspired by the Seventies, Palm Heights is a love letter to midcentury modern design
1 / 1
The boutique hotel houses 52 suites, three restaurants—including the famed Tillies—which serves classic Caribbean cuisine—and The Coconut Club, a design-led alfresco bar with killer sunset views. Over this past summer, Palm Heights unveiled The Garden Club, a 60,000 square foot wellness space that’s primarily outdoors. “I would describe the space as a tropical Versailles,” says Dong-Ping Wong, the New York-based architect Khalil enlisted to collaborate on The Garden Club’s design.
Using plants as architecture, the space comes alive with verdant walls of native vegetation, forming a labyrinth that leads guests through a series of wellness spaces and experiences. “I personally think it’s kind of gorgeous that it’s a piece of architecture that constantly grows and changes, that you have to care for. It’s alive,” says Wong, who adds that the decision to embrace the outdoors results in an everevolving space that’s an enchanting jungle during the day, and a seductive moonlit paradise in the evenings. Lush palm walkways connect The Garden Club’s series of special nooks and hidden sanctuaries.
See also: The Peninsula London is finally open after 35 years in the making
There are six hot and cold plunge pools, an expansive yellow marble hammam and four oversized ritual baths, custom-made using Italian travertine. If you haven’t guessed by now, the emphasis at The Garden Club is on bathing—a theme that nods to the significance of water, visually and culturally, on the island.
“One of the starting points was the ancient world, and bathing practices that date back to ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. But communal wellness rituals are some of the most universal practices—there’s a history of them everywhere from Turkey to Japan to Scandinavia,” says Khalil. “We wanted to celebrate the idea of wellness being something that people can experience together and connect over.”
Above Gabriella Khalil is the
founder and creative
director of Palm Heights
Above The Garden Club
is inspired by ancient
bathing practices from
around the world
Gabriella Khalil is the founder and creative director of Palm Heights
1 / 2
“Bathhouses are almost always dark. But Grand Cayman is tropical—the climate, being outside, being in the water, is part of the experience there,” adds Wong. “We felt it would be a shame to be removed from that, to be in a space with no real connection to the outside world; there are plenty of those spas. We wanted to do something different, something that embraced the environment.”
The Garden Club also houses Palm Heights Athletics, the hotel’s indoor-outdoor training space which includes a 40-metre sprint track, boxing ring, and dance and Pilates studios. And for those who do seek a more traditional spa experience, The Garden Club offers that too. A thoughtful roster of fitness and wellness programmes is the result of Khalil’s curatorial expertise. “I believe that all of these creative arenas, whether it is design, food, fashion, wellness or the arts are closely intertwined,” she says. “So I’m closely involved in everything that contributes to the look, feel and overall experience of Palm Heights.”
See also: Villa Mabrouka, Yves Saint Laurent's former home in Tangier, Morocco, is now a 12-suite hotel
Above The Garden Club
is inspired by ancient
bathing practices from
around the world
Above A marble hammam
surrounded by native
vegetation
The Garden Club is inspired by ancient bathing practices from around the world
1 / 2
For example, Costa Brazil, the eco-friendly lifestyle and beauty brand founded by Francisco Costa, developed a menu of exclusive treatments that include shimmering elixirs, breathwork and sound therapy for The Garden Club—the first location outside Brazil to offer treatments and rituals by the brand.
“I’m a big fan of [wellness expert] Anna Zahn’s approach to body sculpting and lymphatic practices through Ricari Studios, so enlisting them for Garden Club was a no-brainer,” says Khalil. “We’ve also had several other beauty and wellness experts, like facialist Cynthia Rivas and Pilates instructor Liana Levi here to do periodic residencies and training.”
Khalil and Wong are also working with local musicians to produce a soundtrack that will create more of a multi-sensory experience at The Garden Club. “I want to position speakers so the mood can shift as you wander through the gardens, which become more quiet, ambient or rhythmic, depending on the space,” says Wong. “The idea is to have it blend in with the sounds of the surrounding nature, while pushing it into this surreal, otherworldly nature.”
It’s a refreshingly gentle alternative to the traditional hotel spa model, where guests are typically closely doted on and herded from one room or experience to the next. Guests at The Garden Club are free to roam, explore and simply soak up the sun.
“Good design looks good: it’s pretty and it’s aesthetically pleasing. But great design can be transformative. It not only feels different and new, but makes you fall in love with a place,” says Wong. “Not with the design itself, but with the context it’s in; the city, the neighbourhood around it or the surrounding environment. The aesthetic qualities are the tools that do that, but what you leave with is more that visceral experience as opposed to the visual experience. That’s something we’re always striving for.”
Topics
Coco Marett is a writer and editor who grew up between Hong Kong and Melbourne. She currently heads the travel section for Tatler Asia, and manages the Tatler Travel account on Instagram. She is known for her features on unique, under-the-radar properties and destinations. She's also known for her in-depth interviews that paint a refreshingly candid portrait of influential figures across various industries —from artists to political figures, CEOs to celebrity chefs. Follow her on Instagram @cocomarett
