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n Asia, most spa development is about ultra-design: facilities are modern, built using the latest materials and imagined by hip


designers for trendy, rich millennials. But this consumer is a rare breed. On the other hand, the older population is the fastest growing, wealthiest and least contested consumer sector. Yet they’re just simply not being properly addressed and this is where there’s a huge opportunity for businesses, including spas. We help companies understand the


needs of older consumers and how to satisfy their demands via workshops and our age-friendly AF Audit™ tool. At 50, the body begins to creak and


groan. Muscle mass, strength and flexibility start to deteriorate. Cognitive impairment starts as early as 45 years and around the same time people begin to need reading glasses. Nearly half of those aged 65 and over struggle to take the lid or caps off bottles and a third have some form of hearing loss. The AF Audit covers 25 effects of ageing


including sensory, cognitive and physical issues. We measure these across an entire customer journey – there are 350 steps in our hotel audit covering communications, online, the property and support services. We’ve evaluated a lot of spas in hotels


and generally they’re not age-friendly because they just haven’t given thought to it. You can get surfaces that are non-slip, but they also need to look as if they’re not slippery because cognitively people will change the way they walk if they sense a change in the floor – which means there’s still the same level of potential for a fall.


The older population is the fastest growing, wealthiest and least contested consumer sector says Walker


Kim Walker, Founder & CEO, Silver Group, Asia


I can envisage a time when there will be legalised impositions for the hospitality industry to make changes


When you enter a spa you’re bombarded


with instructions that most people would struggle to remember, let alone older adults who may have cognitive issues. Staff are usually soft-spoken or have a foreign accent, making it harder for an older person to hear or to understand them. It will be up to an individual spa to


judge how far to go. It’s probably too much to design everything for people of extreme ages. Although I can envisage a time when, just as with disability laws, there will be legalised impositions for the hospitality industry to make changes – especially as the demographic grows. You certainly don’t want turn a


hospitality business into a hospital. Nobody wants assisted rails everywhere, least of all older adults because they don’t want to be stigmatised or grouped together in one homogenous ‘50-plus’ age bracket. The key is to make the experience user-friendly for all ages. Take Apple as an example. Fifty


It’s a common myth that people over the age of 50 aren’t tech-savvy


per cent of Apple products are sold to people over the age of 50 (it’s a common myth that ageing-consumers aren’t tech-savvy). Its advertising, website, retail


environment and product interface is simplistic which makes it easy for young and old people to use. It doesn’t actively exclude the older person. The lighting, phone and TV systems in


hotels are a minefield. I can’t even work out how to turn the coffee machine on! And if I had a dollar for every time an older person washed their hair with body soap I’d be a rich man… but who takes their glasses into the shower? The point is, if you made these things age-friendly everyone would benefit. The other absolutely critical thing


is staff training. Employees need to be sensitive to older people’s needs. What chair would be best for them to get in and out of? They have weaker bladders, so can you factor short breaks into a multi-hour treatment? At the end of the day, design and infrastructure changes will be useless if you can’t anticipate a customer’s needs.


Launched in 2009, Silver Group works with a number of leading product and service companies in Asia including Accor, GSK and Swiss Re. Details: http://silvergroup.asia


©CYBERTREK 2015 spabusiness.com issue 1 2015 65


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