[L-R] Paul Hawco, Afrah Hamdy, and Sayed Salem, photographed at the Anantara The Palm Dubai Resort’s hammam. [L-R] Paul Hawco, Afrah Hamdy, and Sayed Salem, photographed at the Anantara The Palm Dubai Resort’s hammam.

Sayed: We should get together and curate something that can be taken out to the world. Spa season could be one of the months where not much is happening in the city and take it out to the market that this is the month for spa and wellness.

Paul: When I open a new spa it’s not about the rate, it’s about volume. We want people to find us and we want people to know where we are in order to build relationships with them and build loyalty and get them to come back. Maybe [with the idea of a wellness festival] we don’t have to do so many other offers during the rest of the year, which is so distracting for us. Reiterating the point about capacity, you go to a spa and say we are going to do this offer Monday to Tuesday during certain times — why? There are too many terms and conditions. We are giving people reasons not to come if you ask me, versus making it accessible to them. To me, any spa that has more than a four-hour cancellation policy is behind.

HOTELIER: What are the trends that you are seeing in your market right now?

Sayed: We have seen a significant shift among consumers for wellness and preventative health. They are expecting a more proactive approach from the spa in addressing the primary concerns of guests. So I think the consistency of the spa experience is more important than creative new treatments and that the guest journey will become very important — so not only having a good treatment but including everything from the lighting to the music.

Finding new and innovative ways to relax and deliver service will only increase as well. With the stressful lifestyle in Dubai the guests want to de-stress and the spa should reflect this ongoing trend through their offering for yoga, Thai Chi and meditation and relaxation and massage. Using technology in treatments is also a growing trend. Wellness guests will continue to seek out discounts over the next 12 months, therefore we should be able to have new and innovative promotions and new ways to ensure the guests will return back, such as loyalty programmes. Furthermore, guests are willing to pay for quality so this should remain in focus.

Lastly, all the spas will go into having online booking. We have seen that the main client area is increasing — they are now into not only having massage but also a manicure and pedicure with a treatment as well.

Afrah: There is a big demand for family-friendly spas. If we can find ways to engage the kids in the right way, not just having kids’ club facilities, as kids want to try the spa. They should have an area to play in and get educated enough about what spa wellness and healthy eating is all about. A family friendly spa is fantastic as it will be great if every couple with kids can go to one place and all socialise at the same time, particularly in this region. We know the gender policy but if we can create a space such as suites for families at which they can have a healthy lifestyle then it will be great.

Sayed: I strongly agree with that. We should open up spas to those under 16 years old so teenagers can try the spa. We’ve seen that spas in Europe and the US are offering this and when they come over here they take their children and go to spas. They want to book their children for treatments and get disappointed when we say no.

Paul: Family spa is on the top 10 trend list. We cater to those aged 13 to 16 with a medical waiver and with a parent on site or close by. But it is also important to remember that a spa is an adult sanctuary and it is important to us that we keep that first and foremost as a part of our positioning, but there’s a lot of ways we can do it. It’s a family approach and it’s a good point as Dubai is positioning itself more as a family destination with all these theme parks and if we piggyback on that with a spa season then that would be a very powerful thing.

As far as trends are concerned, wellness is a shift way beyond a trend but, inside that, expertise is outweighing facilities. So a hotel will save on build costs and ROI when it comes to that and will spend more on payroll and bringing in people who really know what they are doing. I’m not saying we don’t already but as we continue to move forward it be become more important. Payroll can be expected to increase for spa as we become more competitive.

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