The Six Senses Effect

by Natasha Wolff | November 7, 2026 10:59 am

Since IHG[1] acquired Six Senses[2] in 2019, the luxury hotel group seems to be everywhere. While our parents may still choose their Ritz-Carltons and Four Seasons, my generation of travelers seems to have embraced a different definition of luxury: one involving sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch and whatever that elusive sixth sense might be. (I’ll ask M. Night Shyamalan the next time I see him.)

Still, I hadn’t visited a Six Senses property until I was in Israel this summer. A friend suggested we spend a night at the Six Senses Shaharut[3] in the Negev Desert while we visited Tel Aviv[4]. (Six Senses actually plans to open a Tel Aviv[5] branch next year.)

Making the three-hour drive from Tel Aviv[6] to the Arava Valley sounds like a schlep. But the reward feels like landing on a planet in Star Wars: a compound comprising 60 suites and pool villas, many with uninterrupted desert panoramas, unlike anywhere else I’ve stayed.

City? What city? You won’t want to ever return to the city, especially once you watch the sun set over the desert before a meal at Shaharut’s main restaurant Midian, where most dishes are cooked using a taboon oven. A gorgeous outdoor pool rivals anything you’ll find on a Grecian Isle, in Hawaii or Indonesia.

The spa, meanwhile, offers traditional experiences, but also unusual ones, like a sound bath ritual or an individualized scrub-making workshop, all arranged by a 24-hour GEM (Guest Experience Maker). You may want to take a morning hike, a trip to Eilat and the Red Sea, or even visit the functioning camel stables, but it’s more likely you’ll simply get lost in the views of the infinite sand and the almost supernatural vistas of the Edom mountains. This is beauty—a complete escape from everyday life.

I’d heard a lot about the Six Senses in Ibiza[7] when I was on the Balearic island this summer for Mimi van Wyck’s Egyptian-themed birthday party[8]. A lot of the well-heeled guests were staying there, but I didn’t get a chance to visit until later this fall, a week or so before the Ibizan club season came to an end. It was actually a relief to enjoy this special property in a more low-key time of year. This way I didn’t have to fight anyone over the kombucha tap at the breakfast buffet, which, frankly, is an amenity after my teetotaling heart.

People always talk about the two sides of Ibiza: the partying-till-six-am scene at clubs like DC-10 and Univers, and the island’s more spiritual side. When I’m in the States, the closest I usually get to a farm is to go apple picking, but Six Senses had me yearning for rural life. Or, at least a rural life on Ibiza. The property has its own rustic acreage where much of the resort’s produce is grown. It even has a hedgehog rehabilitation center that’s more Charlotte’s Web than Sonic. It’s a place to slow down, a necessary respite when the crowd at the hotel itself can feel a little fast and chi chi.

That said, with several amazing boutiques (including one in the spa), shopping at the Six Senses Ibiza is as good as at the Bal Harbour Shops[9]—better than most any hotel I’ve ever visited. Fashion is often front of mind here: Casablanca recently did a collaboration with the resort. But the real glamour is in the rooms themselves. They feel like private spa retreats from the sensory overload of clacking six-inch strappy sandals at the pool and the heart-racing pulse of the deejays at Pacha.

Ibiza is overstimulating, but it doesn’t hold a candle to my rampant theatergoing, shopping and restaurant-trying in London. So it’s pretty miraculous that I actually didn’t want to leave the newly opened urban sanctuary that is the Six Senses London[10] in Bayswater, just a hop, skip and a jump from Notting Hill. The plant-covered lobby feels like a greenhouse, lush and vivid, complete with a gorgeous staircase that offers passage up to a member’s club and down to an expansive spa. (The hotel was once a department store.)

If the lobby has a central, winding staircase (and yet another quirky boutique), the rooms have their own indulgent centerpiece: a shower. While many guests long for a bathtub, the large, old-fashioned shower, covered with very cool privacy curtains, approximates bathing in a rainforest. You’ll forget that you’re actually in the urban jungle.

As a brand, Six Senses takes a holistic approach to travel. The emphasis is on wellness. But the London property takes that tack to another level. Yes, there’s kombucha available on the regular, but there’s also an apothecary downstairs where, by appointment, an herbalist will make you a tincture and a tea blend to try to solve what ails you.

I told the herbalist about my problems with melancholy, procrastination and anxiety as if it were a therapy session. Which, let’s face it, a stay at a Six Senses property just might be. It’s only in retrospect that I realize I should have asked the herbalist to whip up something for the inevitable depression that comes with checking out and returning to the mundanity of regular life.

But maybe that’s what the sixth sense is for: knowing when it’s time to plan your next trip.

Source URL: https://dujour.com/travel/six-senses/