Dr VL Shyam
Spa director
Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates
Dubai, UAE

A highly respected senior member of the international spa management community and winner of the Hotelier Middle East Award for Spa Person of the Year 2007, Dr V.L Shyam is regional director of the Softouch Spa Middle East and Africa and the spa director at Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates.

With 19 spas currently in operation, Softouch is associated with hospitality groups across India, Europe and the Middle East, including Le Meridien, Kempinski, Hilton, Grecotels, Indian Tourism Development Corporation and Kerala Tourism Development Corporation.

In the Middle East, Dr Shyam was involved in the pre-opening and management of several prestigious spas at hotels including: Kempinski Hotel Julai’a in Kuwait; Kempinski Hotel Ajman; Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort; The Spa at the Hilton Resort & Spa Ras Al Khaimah; and Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates in the UAE.

Having worked as spa director of Softouch Spa at Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates since September 2006, Dr Shyam has played a key role in developing this property to award-winning standards, claims nominator Sanaz Ghahremani, assistant marketing manager at the hotel.

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“Apart from offering his valuable input in the planning and designing stage, Dr Shyam’s responsibilities include the development of the service concept, service menu, staff recruitments and training, and research and procurement of products. The aim is to set the spa in a class of its own, in terms of its superior quality of service and unique ayurvedic offerings,” says Ghahremani.

“As a medically trained ayurvedic practitioner, with an M.Phil in Business Management (Health systems), an MD and a degree in Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery, Dr Shyam is personally involved in the treatment process through private consultations to determine the most suitable and effective spa treatment plan for individual guests,” she reveals.

And according to Leenoe Varghese, spa manager at Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates, Dr Shyam is “a brand of his own”.

“A lady came in once with a newspaper clipping of Dr Shyam and was so excited to find he actually worked there and was at the spa. It was as if he was a celebrity,” says Varghese.