No. 124 Brighton – Field Trip Spa
If you’re looking for a boutique spa hotel in Brighton with stylish rooms, a buzzy bar, delicious dining and top notch spa treatments, No. 124 Brighton by GuestHouse is a great choice.
The lowdown
Enjoying pole position on Brighton’s seafront, opposite the famous West Pier, the city’s newest and bougiest boutique hotel, No. 124 Brighton, offers a stylish escape with tailored treatments at its Field Trip spa. With cool and comfy sea-view bedrooms, delicious dining, cracking cocktails and a playful vibe, GuestHouse Hotels’ latest property has been an instant hit with locals and visitors alike.
The revamped Regency building is a breath of fresh sea air for Brighton’s spa-hotel scene. Curiously, despite long being associated with rest and recovery, the city of Brighton and Hove has been something of a spa desert until now, with little more than dated hotel leisure clubs. So, the arrival of this stylish hotel and wellness space is particularly welcome – and its location is postcard perfect. Conveniently located for easy access to the best of everything in this fun-loving city, it’s a pebble’s throw from the beach, the seafront bars and clubs, and many of the city’s best-loved dining spots. Not that you need to leave the hotel for good grub; its resident Pearly Cow restaurant is already established as a foodie favourite.
It’s eminently walkable to all the city’s star attractions too – the South Lanes’ jewellers, the North Laine’s independent shops, Palace Pier, Brighton Pavilion and the i360 – plus shabby-but-increasingly-popular Preston Street, aka “Food Street.” The hotel doesn’t have its own car park, but there’s an NCP nearby at Regency Square, and it’s an easy 20-minute walk, or even easier Uber ride, from Brighton station.
Spavellous for
Fun-loving seaside fans, foodies, couples, friends, lovers, clubbers and anyone looking for a restorative coastal break with great treatments.
Spa info
No. 124 Brighton’s Field Trip spa is a beautifully designed oasis of calm. A dedicated space with its own thoughtfully created and beautifully curated personality, Field Trip offers the best kind of city escapism.
As soon as you enter the hygge-hued oasis, your breathing rate slows, and blood pressure subsides. Deceptively large and upliftingly light, the natural shades, textures and organic shapes set a different tone from the more daring décor of the rest of the hotel, immediately signalling that this is a place to dial down the pace and dial up the self-care.
There’s no pool, but the sea is just across the road for fans of a wilder swim. And the spa punches above its size through its expertly delivered bespoke treatments and carefully chosen natural products, which are mixed and matched based on each client’s individual needs.
There are five cocooning treatment rooms at Field Trip, including two large doubles – one with the supersized copper bathtub.
Treatment highlights
Field Trip spa offers an expertly created range of treatments that use organic, vegan and adaptogenic products. All the spa’s wellness experiences are skilfully tailored to the client’s needs on the day, both in terms of product and delivery, so no two treatments are the same.
Lessen your Stress – a tension-relieving massage targeting back, neck, and shoulders followed by a full balancing facial and a soothing scalp massage
Ease Your Tension – also focusing on coaxing tight back, neck and shoulder muscles into submission, this ultra-relaxing treatment has the added bonus of targeting ‘hardworking feet’ with a refreshing scrub and foot massage plus a soothing scalp massage.
Relax Regimen for Him – a ‘made-for-men’ ritual with a revitalising back, neck and shoulder massage designed to release muscular tension, followed by an organic facial tailored to male skin.
Time Out for Mum-to-be – a specialist ritual with a soothing back massage, adjusted for pregnancy.
Copper Tub Experience for Two – reader, read on…
My daughter and I were booked in for GuestHouse’s Signature Copper Tub Experience – an indulgent treatment that includes 1 hour and 30 minutes’ relaxation time in the spa’s huge round copper tub, plus a personalised massage and facial to deliver comprehensive R&R.
Tub time
After spending some time in the stylish relaxation room and completing minimal ‘onboarding’ (guests are sent a form to complete at their leisure before their visit) we were led up the sun-bathed raw plaster staircase to one of the dual treatment suites, a large natural-vibed space with a cocooning cave-like annexe with the copper tub. It felt calming and quiet, a million miles from city life, and having the spa on the first floor means it enjoys natural light rather than the artificial illumination you get with your average subterranean city spa.
Our gently steaming bath awaited with two glasses of chilled bubbly ready to keep us refreshed during our soak. The therapist sprinkled in a few drops of our chosen essential oil and talked us through the products sitting on the side: salt with Pinks Boutique rose and jojoba oil and Himalayan salt crystals. The idea of GuestHouse’s signature Copper Tub Experience is that you and your spa buddy get to spend quality time together, relaxing in a large circular bath, sipping bubbly – alcoholic or otherwise – and enjoying the muscle-soothing and skin-smoothing magic of the oil-infused bath salts.
We quickly changed into our swimwear and slipped into the inviting warm water of the tub and excitedly ‘cheersed’ to the experience. What is it about hot tubs and fizz? I actually went for the non-alcoholic option, but it hit the spot perfectly.
Once we’d settled into the tub, we started to try the products, massaging them into our skin. The combination of the fragrant melty oil and coarser salt felt divine – and effective – leaving a glossy sheen on our soft, exfoliated skin. The experience is a great choice for couples looking to spend romantic time together – but it’s also a cool way to spend time catching up with a friend/child/other – or simply enjoying a solo spa session.
Tub time flew and before long (about 30 minutes) a gentle knock from the therapist signalled the end of the soak and time to dry off for the second part of the experience, the ‘bespoked’ massage and facial.
The massage
We headed through the curtain to the treatment area where two comfy massage couches and our personal therapists awaited, each dedicated to maximising our individual wellbeing and delivering our desired treatment outcomes (guests are asked how they want to feel as a result of their treatment – an important part of the holistic Field Trip spa experience.)
In addition to the core back, neck and shoulder massage and facial we had the choice of adding a foot or head massage. My daughter and I both love a scalp massage to finish, though it was a tough decision (as spa decisions go..).
As the therapist soothed my back, neck and shoulders with confident flowing strokes, I could immediately tell she knew what she was doing, her experienced hands intuitively hovering over tense areas and expertly homing in on pressure points. She quietly checked in on the temperature and massage pressure and I really felt that optimising my wellbeing was genuinely important here; she’d really listened to the brief. She then began to work down my spine and out along my ribs. It felt soothing but effective and the oil smelled divine. All too soon it was time to turn over onto my back for the massage to continue around my neck, shoulders and décolletage, and then the facial began. As I rolled over, I took a quick peep at my daughter next to me – her expression confirming that she felt as blissed-out as I did.
The facial
The facial was again ‘bespoked’, using products across brands to address each of our specific skin requirements. This approach is unusual but makes perfect sense outside of a marketing context. It also means it’s hard to go into too much product detail, but I can tell you I very much enjoyed the experience, scents and sensations involved – and that I emerged glowing.
Once the facial had finished, we were left in the room for a few minutes to gently return to reality before being shown back to the relaxation room where our respective therapists talked us through the products they’d selected to use for each of us and, in my case specifically how they would help to add moisture to my parched summer skin. (My daughter was given info about the products used but she was advised that her youthful skin was doing just great). Again, I appreciated the personalised approach, with genuine-feeling product recommendations giving the option to extend the benefit of the treatment beyond the spa with a couple of product samples to take home. These little touches made the experience feel extra special too.
Rooms
We didn’t stay at the hotel this visit but had a look at a couple of the rooms. Needless to say, it’s the sea-view rooms and three suites that have the wow factor. The two first-floor Lookout Suites have their own balcony and sea views, and the private and spacious Hideout Suite has its very own private hot tub.
City View rooms share the GuestHouse charm, but on a smaller scale and without the sea view. They’re still well-designed options with rain shower bathrooms reflecting the coastal colours and stocked with upmarket natural products by spa brand Wildsmith Skin. Plus, all the bedrooms are sprinkled with local artworks and come with Crosley record players and a selection of vinyl.
For families there are extra beds and interconnecting rooms, and canine companions also get their own beds and blankets for a small fee.
Wining and Dining
The Pearly Cow restaurant dishes up tasty small plates of ‘fire’ (flame-cooked) and ‘ice’ (raw/chilled) and has already established itself as one of Brighton’s premier dining spots thanks to its flavoursome food and buzzy atmosphere – and, for non-veggies, crowd-pleasing beef dripping chips. Maximising taste and minimising pomp, Pearly Cow’s locally sourced menu features everything from crab tacos to melt-in-the-mouth short rib. Plant-based options are more than an afterthought and the wine list equally is convincing, championing local Sussex bottles. Plus, mixologists shake up some of the best cocktails in town.
One floor up, three lounge areas and a Mediterranean style courtyard are stylish spaces to enjoy a cocktail or two. And a pair of bar-top helter skelters illuminate the mixologist’s magic and serve as a handy reminder of your location in the event of over-exuberant sampling of the cocktail menu.
why so spavellous?
If you’re looking to escape to a stylish spa hotel in Brighton, No. 124 Brighton offers the best of everything from the second the exotic scent of the signature candles hits you as you enter the hotel; playful decor, indulgent and effective spa treatments, friendly non-robotic staff and killer views. Plus, the location is great having both a central seafront position and being handy for pretty much all the city’s attractions.
There’s a reason that the GuestHouse Hotels are having a bit of a moment, their stylish boutique hotels are to smaller cities what the Pig hotels are to the countryside.
spavellous tips
- The Terrace, planted with wild grasses, is the perfect spot to enjoy a cocktail during the summer months
- It’s worth spending extra on a suite if you’re celebrating a special occasion or planning on spending time in the room – the secret-doored Hideout Suite’s the one to make a romantic splash.
- If you’ve booked one of the smaller rooms, bathroom surface space is at a premium so it’s worth bringing your roll out wash bag
- Sea swimmers remember to pack your water shoes – your tootsies will thank you for protecting them from the unforgiving pebbles
- The copper tub experience makes a great gift
- Sign up for GuestHouse’s loyalty programme GuestBest for perks, saving and other benefits
Spa Goers say...
‘We weren’t sure quite what to expect, but what we got was 90 minutes of relaxing spa heaven’
‘My mum gave me a spa voucher for my birthday and I booked the Signature Copper Experience for some me time – I totally recommend it for an indulgent solo spa experience’
‘I LOVED the products used in the spa and the fact that they’re natural’