Starwood Hotels & Resorts has expanded its footprint in the UAE with its first hotel in Ajman – the smallest emirate by area at only 259sq km (100sq m) – and the UAE’s first GOCO Spa.

The 205-key Amjan Saray resort is the first of 10 Luxury Collection-branded hotels due to open around the world in the next 12 months, according to Starwood.

The GOCO Spa at Ajman Saray features 17 treatment rooms across 1,250sq m (13,455sq ft). Out of respect for local culture, the spa offers two completely separate, private male and female thermal bathing facilities, which each include a steamroom, sauna, authentic hammam, ice fountain and chromotherapy rain showers.

“Being appointed by HH Sheikh Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaim to manage the spa and wellness facilities at the Ajman Saray represents a very good omen for our expansion in the Middle East,” said Ingo Schweder, CEO of GOCO Hospitality.

“It’s a vibrant marketplace and we have a diverse yet specific spa, beauty and wellness offering – unlike any other. We anticipate the addition of more GOCO Spas in this dynamic and financially prosperous region in the next 24 months,” Schweder added.

The private section of the female spa comprises six multi-purpose rooms and The Glamour Studio, a dedicated beauty salon and two beauty treatment rooms offering advance beauty facials by QMS Medicosmetics.

The male spa is equipped with seven multi-purpose rooms and a contemporary barber by Hommage, a male beauty care specialist with the ethos of a European gentlemen’s club.

There are also two spa suites for couples, each with a thermal bathing pool, steamroom and a secluded treatment space for two.

Extra treatment rooms are part of the wet zones, for example during the GOCO hammam ritual, a light massage takes place in an individual scrub room after a cleansing black soap wash and vigorous loofah body scrub.

Amala is the third product line on offer at the GOCO Spa at Ajman.

Dubai-based Bishop Design was responsible for the interior design of the spa. The hotel itself is full of Mashrabiya motifs and intricate Zellij tiles, lush courtyards, oases and cooling fountains.

The Ajman Saray is home to five different restaurants and lounges, almost 1,000sq m (10,764sq ft) of meeting and event space, as well as an outdoor swimming pool and a range of watersports activities, separate to the hotel’s fitness centre.

Starwood currently operates four Luxury Collection-branded properties in the Middle East: Ajman Saray, Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa, Grosvenor House in Dubai and Sheraton Kuwait.