How do you create the award winning quality and service?

By emphasising the Human Factor. For a therapist to create quality he must wake up and want to come to work. I look to find people who love what they are doing. A spa needs a lot of positive energy. And I look for people who have that energy and can transmit it. Then we offer them training, and the resources needed.

Therapies exist everywhere in the world. However to create a quality Spa you need training and standard operating practices as well as people who feel proud about where they work. People need to feel the Spa is theirs. Everything needs to make sense to those working here, to have a meaning.

Our work is very difficult, I consider our Spa not just a Spa but a wellness centre. Wellness is not just the absence of disease, it is about the quality of life. We enable our clients to make lifestyle changes, for example how to eat right or how to relax. So everyone working here needs to have the sense that our visitors need to take something back home with them. We call it “at Home Spa experience”

And this approach starts us soon as the guest walks into our spa. We do not look at him as an individual who wants one beauty treatment. We want to know what the individual’s goal is. If someone comes to exercise is it to lose weight, get fit or is it to reduce stress.

The Spa Traveller is very educated and knows what he wants, and so looks for therapists who are well educated too, who care and who can prescribe the lifestyle changes that are needed.

No other part of the hospitality industry is so individualised. We need to listen and care about our clients so we can create packages and treatments suited to their needs, and that work for them.

Many are worried about what 2009 will bring. How do you see the new year?
We are on the map of best Spas in Europe and for us it is important to mover forward and maintain standards.

The day after we won the award I wanted to make changes, I wanted to add a new concept, to give our visitors something from our own culture.  I do not believe in trends, I believe in making what you have works. Trends do not last long, whereas if you give people something of your local culture and high quality of client care within the treatments you are giving them value for money. Décor, and ambience are no longer sufficient to attract and sustain repeat clients. What differentiates us, is our location and the fact that we offer value for money. This is what creates a name.

When we won the award I wanted to go a step forward and offer treatments using local essential oils. I also wanted to bring something more exotic, I  approached LI’TYA who  produce aboriginal products, and now we offer their treatments too.

It is very important to know how the predictions for the future. Paul Zein a futurist and economist says that the wellness industry will grow to over one trillion dollars by the end of the decade. That is far more than what just the medical industry will grow by, wellness encompasses more than just medical. People are looking to find ways to relax, Paul Zein says that the wellness industry will change the world the same way computers did in the last two decades.

To stay ahead you have to know the market place. Populations are ageing, people from the UK are working more than anywhere in the world. So some really want to know how they can change their lifestyle, and that is what we offer.
 
How easy is to find the “right” type of people?

I have found people who love what they are doing. With the Standard Operating Procedures I can take a beauty therapist straight out of college and train her to be a Spa therapist.

Because of the name we have created potential employees come to us. The team is so strong that they set the standard for the new comer. The newcomer needs to meet the quality expectations of the team. When you create that kind of environment it’s a very powerful quality tool.

You have to know today’s traveller, the Spa goer. More people are heading to spas with a clear idea of what they want to experience. Today’s traveller is UNAFRAID to ask for more information. By knowing were the spa industry is heading we are always prepared to have the answers to their lifestyle expectations.