Spa manager Simone Lange has joined Amara at Park Hyatt Dubai and says that Dubai is the right place for her. Spa manager Simone Lange has joined Amara at Park Hyatt Dubai and says that Dubai is the right place for her.

German national Simone Lange has joined Amara Spa at Park Hyatt Dubai as the new spa manager, bringing her nurturing ethos and therapy know-how to the already successful Amara spa

What made you want to work in the spa industry?

I just love taking care of people. I started off as a therapist, so when you are with a guest who has issues with their skin for example, and they don’t feel comfortable; to be able to give them a facial and take care of them is great. You know that when they step out of the spa they will feel totally relaxed and confident. Seeing how much people have enjoyed themselves — that’s the best.

What inspired your move to Dubai?

What I think makes a spa very exciting is creating new things and in Dubai you have the opportunity to do that as you are working with great therapists from all over the world. Dubai is the right city to come to for spa work because things are actually happening here.

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Did you always see yourself becoming a spa manager?

I always had something like that in mind. I began working as a therapist and I think it’s very important when managing a spa that you know what that’s like, but I always wanted to do something more and make the spa even better. I wanted to put my own ideas into the spa, and as a therapist you often can’t do that. Now I am the spa manager, I make sure that I listen to the therapists’ ideas.

That is really important because they are happy to put their influence in as well, so we are creating something together.

What about the clientele of the spa — are they mostly guests?

Amara is different from other hotels because we have a lot of local residents using the spa. About 70% of people who come here are residents so you actually meet the people who live here and you can discuss things with them differently because they come back — you can ask them what works, what they like. Just knowing that most of our spa customers live locally means we must be doing something right.

What do you think sets Amara apart from other spas?

Here there are so many different nationalities working together which makes it interesting because they all have different knowledge, different influences, a different background and at Amara we actually work to bring all these influences together to create new things. Here you can do that and still be authentic, and that’s what we want —to be authentic, for us that really is the most important thing.