As a reputable brand, WTS doesn’t suffer from staff shortages and to retain them it focuses on CPD, including WTS University – a business-training scheme for spa managers
China, in particular, has quickly become
a key market for WTS – in just over a year, it has opened a luxury day spa near Shang- hai and has a further 11 projects in the works.
“Te market there is thirsty for a company that can be a one-stop shop for design, pre- opening and management,” says Henkin. To be successful in the region, however, he is keenly aware of the need to be on the ground, and to this end the company will open a regional office in Shanghai early in 2012. Elsewhere, the company has just launched
its first spa in Australia – at Hayman, a lux- ury resort on the Great Barrier Reef – and also its first spa in Europe: the Acqua di Parma Blu Mediterraneo Spa at an exclusive yacht club in Sardinia. In coming months, WTS hopes to build its presence in Asia, Europe and Latin America in particular. Helping to drive the company’s global
expansion will be a recently announced tie-up with HVS, one of the world’s leading consulting and services organisations in the hospitality and leisure industries. Under the agreement, WTS will manage a new divi- sion called HVS Spa & Leisure Services in a straightforward strategic partnership – neither company is investing in the other, but while HVS benefits from WTS’ spa expertise, WTS benefits from HVS’ extensive global reach. So far, so positive – but how is WTS cop-
ing with the staffing and other operational challenges that go hand in hand with rapid growth? “Yes, our spa service area is grow- ing quickly,” says Henkin. “But we have a long history in the leisure industry… so our
SPA BUSINESS 1 2012 ©Cybertrek 2012
problem isn’t not having enough peo- ple – we have more great people who want to represent us than we have jobs. We have a reputation for being a very solid, secure brand, which is very supportive of its staff. I think [that] has been the catalyst for the hundreds of applications we process each year.” Te company also recruits through recommendations from staff and clients, links with univer- sities and participation in industry events such as ISPA. Among WTS’ initiatives to retain
THE WTS FAMILY
Although spa is currently the largest and fastest- growing division within WTS, the company offers a varied range of other leisure services through a number of divisions. These include a tennis division (the smallest arm of the company), a fitness division, a lifestyle division delivering social, recreational and educational programmes to resort and residential developments, and a recently launched university and college division known as CREW (Campus Recreation, Enrichment and Wellness).
staff are training opportunities such as WTS University, a business-train- ing scheme for spa managers. Uniquely, it also encourages its management staff to sup- port each other through a proprietary online system known as the Knowledge Network. If, for example, a spa director is looking for a fresh approach to seasonal merchandising, they only need enter a question and, within minutes, their peers will have responded with best practice examples and ideas.
INDUSTRY SHAKE-OUT
As the spa industry continues to grow apace, especially with the advent of inexpensive franchise models (see sb11/3 p22), Henkin believes market saturation is a real threat:
“Tere is potential for an over-built situation, much as there was for many years in the health and fitness sector… Certain markets are seeing that even now [and] that problem will be exacerbated over time.”
In this environment, he argues, there is an
even greater need for spas to deliver more than just a promise. “Five or six years ago, revenue was up, margins were up and there was very little competition,” says Henkin.
“Te economy was great and there was lots of order-taking. Today all that has changed. If you don’t have viable marketing and pro- gramming, and great management and staff delivering great services all of the time, your spa will not make it. Some spas are going to go out of business… it’s happening now.” Henkin is confident, however, that WTS
spas won’t be among the casualties. “I’m very blessed to [be supported by] a group of extraordinary people who work excep- tionally hard,” he says. “It’s a joy for me to come to work, and I’m not sure everyone who’s been in the same business for almost four decades can say the same.” l
Read Spa Business online
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