St. Regis Abu Dhabi' s Christian Kiefer; Hilton Worldwide's Sharon Barcock; Sofitel's Michael Monsod and Niyama By Per Aquum's Jason Sloan discuss 'speaking the language of spa and business' at the debate.
Are spa salaries enough?
Nadia Kokoshkova-Mansour, spa and health club manager, Hilton Dubai Jumeirah Resort & Residences
This amount of money we’re offering is quite challenging but it’s not impossible – yes, we need to educate them. If you don’t teach them they don’t learn or develop. The salary hasn’t gone down, but it’s all about incentive – what we offer on top of the salary.
Gopal Kumar, director of spa and retail, Assawan Spa & Health Club, Burj Al Arab
Everybody says that people don’t have qualifications but you’ve got to understand this region isn’t a cultural spa region. Asia is a cultural place because if you go to Thailand, Indonesia they do massage as part of their culture which is why they have nicer hands.
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You can’t compare western therapists to Asian therapists because both have different specialities. The service culture and good technical skills is what you want. The Middle East is an expensive region to live in and people are here to support their families, so you can’t compare salaries to Asia – it has to be a little higher in the Middle East.
BASSEM EL JAWHARI recreation and spa manager Sheraton Jumeirah Beach Resort
The spa doesn’t get the attention that hotels give food and beverage and rooms departments, so that’s why the budget is always limited. As a result, spa salaries are low and this can make it difficult to find staff with the right skills, and to retain these staff.
luis molina spa and recreational manager Luis Molina, Rosewood Abu Dhabi at Sowwah Square
We’re working on a structure for salaries to be slightly higher than the rest of the hotels to make it more attractive, because we’re the new guys in Abu Dhabi we’ve got to offer something different.
We have some staff from Dubai and also international staff from Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Russia. It was interesting when someone was saying you need Russian receptionists for the growing number of Russians coming to the spas as we’ve just recruited one.
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