Hotelier Spa Forum highlights need for education

More than 150 spa directors, managers and owners attended the Hotelier Middle East Spa & Wellness Forum in Dubai yesterday, which highlighted the urgent need for more education at all levels across the industry.

The event, which was held at Ritz-Carlton DIFC on March 18, comprised a series of panel sessions and workshops featuring 25 top level speakers with extensive regional and global spa experience.

These included Kathryn Moore, director of operations and international project manager, MSPA International; Neil Hewerdine, vice president spa services, Atlantis The Palm; Galina Antoniouk, complex director of spas, Grosvenor House and Le Royal Meridien Dubai; Sharon Barcock, director of spa operations and development MEA, Hilton Worldwide; and Paul Hawco, group director of spa at Jumeirah.

Debates covered a variety of topics such as the potential of the UAE as a spa destination, how to speak the language of spas and business, and raising the bar to meet savvy consumer expectations, but one theme dominated — the requirement for training, education and communication in every facet of the spa business.

Speakers highlighted the need for therapists to upskill and acquire more knowledge, for spa managers to learn how to maximise revenue and understand profit and loss, and for spa directors and owners to understand how to promote and grow their business through marketing and differentiation.

In the opening session, DR Global director Daniella Russell said there was a “mis-match” between the skills of therapists and the expectations of international travellers coming to Dubai.

“I think we have to be very careful because since the recession we have actually lowered our salaries and yet the salaries internationally have still maintained themselves, so we’ve actually lowered our standards somewhat, but of course education is becoming an issue internationally,” said Russell
“Generally Ii think our staffing is becoming a little bit of a fine line for us, we’re bringing in a lot of excellent therapists but not necessarily qualified – they’re fantastic therapists by touch but their knowledge base and communication skills are somewhat limited and the international market are so astute, so conscious of what they want, their knowledge is sometimes beyond that of our therapists and they’re mismatching.

“If we’re going to be an international spa country we need to have international standards and that means communication, knowledge and skills, not just a beautiful hand touch which is not enough,” asserted Russell.

Anantara Spas – MSPA international regional spa director UAE Lindsay Madden-Nadeau said she sat “on the same bench in that respect”.

“I think we all face challenges with hiring and the communication of the staff and it’s about bringing that education back to beyond basics and starting from scratch again,” said Madden-Nadeau.

In a session later focused on spa management, Hilton Worldwide's Sharon Barcock said there were also issues with training at senior levels.

"Sometimes because of low pay spa managers don’t have the experience we’d like them to have. There is a requirement that we do provide suitable training for our teams so we can develop people," said Barcock.

The Hotelier Middle East Spa & Wellness Forum was supported by official wellness sponsor Technogym and exhibitors The Product House, Merchant Star International and Diversey.