[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.

Afrah: If the number of experience therapists is high you don’t need to spend as much on payroll. But if there is one in 100 with that kind of experience you have to pay them a lot.

Paul: It will start with the experts such as the yogis and as with any business model it’s a cycle that will happen. We need to invest more in training and recruitment more and in retaining our staff and ensuing it’s a good culture to work in.

HOTELIER: Are a lot of your spa guests coming from the GCC or do you also have a lot of international tourists?

Paul: We look at as many measurements as we can without getting too bogged down by it all. Measuring internal guests and external guests as the main two. Then female/male then German/Russian, et cetera, but a new KPI for us is tracking intra-country domestic guests who are truly coming from a wellness perspective.

Sayed: The majority of our guests come from Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia Kuwait and Qatar.

Afrah: For us it’s the GCC and the number one segmentation is actually the UAE.

Sayed: Yes, they are also high spenders. We have even seen an increase in treatment retail as well from this segment.

Paul: A lot of regional guests come for special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries so we need to make it more of a lifestyle option. About 50-60% of our guests for spas are from Dubai, which is very strong.

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