Refad’s Conrad Hilton Al Khobar: Specialist Wellness Design & Strategy
Project render by Refad Real Estate, Saudi Arabia
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Location: Al Khobar City, Saudi Arabia
Client: REFAD Real Estate, Saudi Arabia
Operator: Conrad Hotels & Resorts
Interior Design: David Tkint, Dubai, UAE
Architects & Engineers: MSCEB, Bahrain
Sector: Luxury Hospitality / Mixed-Use
Size: Approx. 2,600m² across two floors
Role: Specialist Gym & Spa Consultant
Services: Concept Development, Capacity Planning, Functional Space Planning, and Equipment Specification
The Concept: Refined Vitality in Al Khobar
THE BRIEF: BEYOND THE HOTEL GYM
Located in the heart of Al Khobar's Merkan Quarter, the Refad Place Wellness Club is a flagship development within a 145-room Conrad Hotel. Biofit was appointed as the specialist Gym & Spa Consultant to move the project beyond a standard hotel amenity into a high-performing, revenue-generating private members' club.
The challenge was to integrate Conrad’s global luxury standards with a locally relevant membership model that addresses the needs of high-end business travelers, affluent local residents, and corporate partners.
Our draft zoning plan for the mens floor of Conrad operated social wellness club by Refad
Spatial Planning for Luxury Hospitality
1. Biological & Cultural Zoning
The club is split across two levels to ensure total gender privacy for spa and gym zones, a critical requirement for the Saudi market. Our spatial narrative, "Refined Vitality," balances high-arousal performance zones with "silent sanctuary" restorative spaces.
2. The Adjacency Strategy
With a diverse facility mix—including a high-performance gym, group fitness and holistic studios, as well as luxury thermal suites and spa treatment rooms —Biofit mapped the technical adjacencies to prevent "friction". This included:
Acoustic Separation: Protecting the tranquility of spa treatment rooms from gym floor vibration.
Hygrothermal Control: Ensuring negative air pressure in wet areas to prevent humidity migration into the fitness zones.
Floor zoning: Consideration for changes in flooring finishes to demarcate distinct areas, such as cardio vs strength vs functional training.
3. Operational Logic & Guest Journey
We developed detailed Customer Journey Flow Diagrams to optimize staff efficiency and member privacy. By centralizing the locker room core and managing the transition from "wet" to "dry" zones, the plan facilitates a seamless, intuitive experience for both hotel guests and club members.
Customer journey flow diagram for Conrad Hotel social wellness club, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia
This project involved balancing local cultural norms, the developer’s vision for a market leading social wellness concept and the Conrad hotel brand standards into one cohesive offer.– Matt Aspiotis Morley
Gender-Sensitive Wellness Layouts & Cultural Alignment
THE FACILITY MIX
Mental & Physical Performance
Destination-Level Gyms: Separate male and female floors featuring high-tech cardio, selectorized strength, and "no-tech" functional training zones as well as areas for mobility / active recovery and a consultation / diagnostics area.
Specialist Studios: Dedicated spaces for Reformer Pilates (ladies), yoga, and high-intensity group training.
Restorative & Anti-Aging Spa
The Thermal Circuit: A sequenced journey featuring traditional Finnish saunas, infrared saunas, steam rooms, and hydrotherapy pools.
Advanced Recovery: Integrating low-impact wellness technology, including red-light therapy, compression boots, and mechanical body rollers.
Social & Lifestyle
Pool Deck: A unisex social hub featuring a functional health café and "Wellness Bar" serving performance-enhancing recovery smoothies and single-origin coffee.
Co-working lounges: Both floors have a dedicated social lounge with coworking tables, allowing members to linger pre or post-workout, perhaps even using the space as a base for a few hours of work.
Circulation diagram (primary circulation corridor, Back Of House corridors, secondary circulation) for Conrad Hotel social wellness club, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia
Technical Equipment Specification for Gyms and Spas
Consultancy Deliverables (Ongoing)
Biofit is currently executing the Functional Space Planning phase, providing the interior design team with a technical spatial narrative and equipment specifications for all fitness and recovery zones. This ensures that the final design is buildable, durable, and commercially optimized for the Conrad management team.
As part of this, we provide a narrative guideline that covers the guest experience, lighting intent per zone, acoustic adjacency considerations and flooring requirements.
From there, we move into the selection and specification of technical equipment for the gym and spa areas, prior to the full design integration and handover with the interiors team.
Frequently Asked Questions: Refad’s Conrad Hotel Social Wellness Club, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia
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The facility utilizes a two-story vertical separation strategy to provide complete gender privacy for gym and spa zones. While social areas and the rooftop pool deck offer unisex environments, the core wellness journey is strictly segregated to align with local preferences and Saudi Vision 2030 lifestyle trends.
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Our Phase 2 work focused on "Capacity Planning," quantifying user volumes and equipment density to ensure the 2,600m² footprint was optimized for both hotel guests and a high-volume local membership. This involved testing architectural layouts against circulation standards to ensure a "low-density" luxury feel even during peak hours.
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Unlike a traditional hotel gym, Refad Place is positioned as a "destination club". We integrated a functional health café on the pool deck and a social lounge with co-working capabilities at the entrance to encourage "dwell time" and community engagement among members
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We provided the "Design Integration & Review" (Phase 4), acting as a specialist peer reviewer for the lead architects and MEP engineers. This ensured that technical requirements for specialized areas—such as the infrared saunas, ice baths, and high-impact functional zones—were embedded into the IFC (Issued for Construction) documentation early
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