percentage of all spa revenue,” explains Hou- gaard. “Te employees of each spa are ours, we pay their salaries and their insurance. Tey provide the space and the laundry but otherwise it’s our baby. Te resort takes the remaining profit and benefits from getting a turnkey spa operation, without any hassle. Plus it means they can up their star rating and the price of their rooms.” When looking for a new resort partner,
Hougaard stresses the importance of the resort being high-end (typically five-star) and having the right price range because,
“you obviously can’t have a spa treatment costing more than a room for a night”. Most importantly, however, the resort
must be eco-friendly as Serena Spas is mindful of its impact on the environ- ment – it uses organic products and has many other green initiatives. When Hougaard says he can offer a
turnkey spa operation, he’s serious. As well as being able to provide a fully oper- ational spa business with a ready made team of spa therapists, the company has its own product division and spa cuisine. Serena Spa formulates (and licenses)
its own products – comprising five body oils, three hair oils and a com- plete range of facial products – which are manufactured by a partner company in Rajasthan. Sabrina says having your own product label is important in India to ensure exclusivity, “otherwise you’ll be using the same products as some disrep- utable day spa down the road”. Hougaard says that, for the past two years,
the company has also been developing an Indian version of a macrobiotic diet, which they’re slowly introducing into select resorts as part of a lifestyle concept. “We believe that the future spa is not just a place where you get massages, but where you’re inspired to live a healthier life.” Tey offer cooking classes for
A current focus of the Serena Spa team is establishing quality control within the Indian market
SERENA SPA PORTFOLIO
MALDIVES n Athuruga Island Resort n Embudu Village n Equator Village n Hulhule Island Hotel n Summer Island Resort n Te Rania Experience n Tudufushi Island Resort
INDIA n Boulder Hills Golf & Country Club (Aristo Spa) n Grand Mercure, Bangalore (Aristo Spa) n Novotel Hyderabad Airport n Novotel Mumbai Juhu Beach, Mumbai n RAAS Walled City, Jodhpur n Radisson Temple Bay, Chennai n Te Metropolitan Hotel New Delhi (Zen Serena Spa) n Hilton New Delhi/Janakpuri (opening Nov 2010) n Royal Orchid Resort, Goa (Aristo Spa opening Nov 2010)
SEYCHELLES n Enchanted Seychelles Round Island (opening Dec 2010) n Enchanted Seychelles Waterfront (opening Nov 2011)
hotel F&B staff and guests. In some instances, they can also supply organic produce.
QUALITY CONTROL Despite Serena Spa’s success, not everything has been plain sailing. In 2004, the com- pany’s two Sri Lankan spas were destroyed by the tsunami. Although they were rebuilt, tourist figures never recovered and they were shut down. At the moment, there are no Sri- Lankan-based properties. However, the business is
By 2011, there will be 17 Serena Spa facilities in operation 32 Read Spa Business online
spabusiness.com / digital
undoubtedly moving forwards. It is looking for new resort partners in the Seychelles and in May 2009 it launched the Aristo urban spa brand to target India’s business travellers. Hougaard describes it as “a little less fluffy than a Ser- ena Spa as business people have less time, so the treatments have less ceremony.” So far, there are three Aristo spas in India and the plan is to roll out 10 more in the next two years.
Another big, current focus for Jesper and
Sabrina is in establishing quality control within the Indian spa market. As the country has very few barriers to
entry, there is a large growth of unauthorised and opportunistic spa operators, so the Hou- gaards have joined forces with some other key figures in the Indian spa industry to help set a nationwide standard for spas. A major priority is to make recommen-
dations to the Indian government about guidelines for spa training, including a sug- gested syllabus. A government-approved syllabus would demonstrate that a career in the spa industry is an honourable one and would also enable students to obtain educational loans. In the longer term, the husband and wife
team have a more personal dream – a farm- house in the hills of Mangalore where they’d like to create their own destination spa with wellness and lifestyle at its core. But, for now, their focus is on maintaining their position in the market and helping their beloved India establish and fulfil its true potential. l
SPA BUSINESS 4 2010 ©Cybertrek 2010
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