Giving Your Student to the “Red Door” Treatment

The beginning of the university school year, which often kicks off in August, can be fraught with tension and stress, whether your East Coast-based academic is an incoming freshman or entering the last year of graduate school. As summertime can allow for together time, even if she scored that big-deal internship, a long weekend in Washington, D.C., wrapped up in a delicious spa experience could be the perfect way to both catch up, chill out and start the school year right.

That’s one of the premises behind a new partnership between Canopy by Hilton Washington, DC | Bethesda North and the Red Door Spa & Salon. The time-honored beauty and wellness oasis, accessible from the Canopy lobby, offers a 10 percent discount to hotel guests in designated “Just Right” rooms and a 15 percent discount for guests in suites on all Red Door services Sunday through Thursday. Red Door signature facials and body treatments are available at three levels (Mini, Essential and Escape) integrating current luxury spa modalities, from raps and microdermabrasion to specially selected organic botanicals.

Spa botanicals and accessories. Photo: WildStrawberry_magic | Dreamstime.com

While the spa menu is streamlined for the 21^st century and the shop includes a variety of med-spa and boutique skincare brands, Red Door hallmarks are still intact, including the hair, nail and make-up services that made it a destination a century ago.

While the property offers guests fresh-looking contemporary rooms, a fitness center and a friendly staff (which has earned a buzz online), another built-in treat is the hotel’s location within the trendy Pike & Rose neighborhood. The modern spread includes an interesting mix of restaurants (Summer House Santa Monica, &pizza, Baked Bear, and City Perch Kitchen + Bar) and retailers (REI, Sephora, H&M, L.L.Bean and Sur La Table) tailor made for back-to-dorm shopping. Of course, if culture and buzzy Georgetown eateries are more your thing, it’s just a two-block walk to the White Flint Metro Station to catch the Red Line Metro that whisks commuters quickly and efficiently to the heart of the capital.

The complex’s most noteworthy feature, however, is Farm at Pike & Rose, occupying 17,000 square feet of rooftop space. While the impressive urban farm demonstrates the benefits of a sustainable community in action, it is also fun to see where neighborhood restaurants source their produce. Better still, anyone living in the area — including your college student if she’s attending college nearby — can enroll for a seasonal Farm Membership and receive weekly boxes of fresh produce.