Leisure Manager spoke with the director of CHI, The Spa at Shangri-La, Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi, Becky Wyton, to find out how she manages to keep breaking revenue records
Is there currently a lot of competition among spas in Abu Dhabi?
Becky Wyton: In recent months competition has increased drastically. Seven new spas have opened over the past year alone. Fortunately, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has many new spas that are award-winning and globally recognised — we remain to be the preferred choice given our reputation.
We constantly create new treatments to market to both our new and existing customer, and work closely with our marketing and communications team to develop innovative ways to market them. Our intuitive therapists satisfy our guests’ needs and at the same time engage with them, which has led to building relationships to develop guest loyalty.
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What is your split between in-house users and external users, and who do you believe are more profitable?
BW: We have approximately 25% in-house guests and approximately 75% external guests at CHI, The Spa. External guests are our regular guests and they are always looking for something new to try.
They are more flexible with their time and are therefore able to book longer treatments or half-day packages. In-house guests generally enjoy shorter treatments because their schedules are usually quite tight.
How do you try and attract more visitors to your spas and how does it differ between external and internal guests?
BW: We are quite creative with our marketing and PR efforts to attract more visitors to our spa.
To cater to our external guests, we frequently host media to come for spa reviews and obtain excellent coverage through the hotel’s radio sponsorship. Social media has been a powerful tool in creating awareness of our ongoing promotions in addition to enabling us to interact directly with our guests on the hotel’s Facebook page, which has over 9000 fans.
We attract in-house guests with innovative turn-down amenities that vary depending on the promotion or season. At times, we also invite them to sample treatments such as Cleansing Ritual, Jet Lag Refresher and Chi Refresher during off peak days.
We have two kinds of external guests, those searching for new treatments and those who like the traditional ones or the ‘favourites’. Therefore, variety is the key to cater to each one’s preference.
We work closely with the communications team to come up with themed or seasonal treatments depending on what is happening in the city such as the Chocolate Couples Delight treatment for Valentine’s Day as well as two exciting Madonna-themed packages in time for her Abu Dhabi concert in June.
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