spa trends
q&a
HEALTH
CLUB SPA
dalesauna’s sales
director talks to kath
hudson about changes
in the spa industry,
gerard
and calls for health
club operators to
make spa a more
affordable experience
mccarthy
when was dalesauna formed?
Around 30 years ago by Stephen Hipps,
who’s still the MD, and his friend John
Gascoigne. John was married to a Finnish
lady who, with a culture of saunas in
Finland, wanted to have one at home. Newcastle: we stay away from there and also become more important, like the
They couldn’t get one, so they concentrate on markets further afield. tiles and the lighting used. It’s a bit like
commissioned a local joiner to make one. The bubble has really burst in the Middle a Formula One car: you have a basic car
Word got around and they tentatively East in the last six to nine months and every year you give it a little tweak.
set up the business. Initially they sold though. Some companies opened offices Design’s become almost the number
sauna suites to local authorities, but a over there and now they don’t have two one element: everyone wants to look
few years later it became more dirhams to rub together. different and have the wow factor. About
sophisticated, with plastic steamrooms. two years ago, we employed a designer
what’s your most and she’s made a signifi cant difference
what’s dalesauna’s usp? popular product? to what we can offer in terms of fi nishes.
We made saunas, which was rocket Saunas and steamrooms are the staples The good news is that design is becoming
science in the UK 30-odd years ago! of everyone’s diet in the heat experience less themed: a few years ago, if you went
Now we have a wide range of products market, but then you add on other into a spa, you couldn’t walk fi ve paces
and a comprehensive service network: options, like feature showers, without tripping over a Balinese head.
we employ 12 engineers who are all aromatherapy rooms and ice features. Thank goodness we’ve got away from
qualified electricians and do nothing but that – we’re more comfortable with our
service and maintain the products once what’s the most recent own spa culture now.
they’re in place. Nobody else offers that innovation in the market?
kind of after-sales support. Salt inhalation: salt water infused into which sectors are most
steam. Salt water’s good for bronchial buoyant at present?
which countries do you work in? complaints and generates negative ions, The market tends to go in eight- to
The UK predominantly, but we’ve also which help alleviate headaches. 10-year cycles. About eight years ago,
worked in the Middle East, Maldives, St Heat experiences have been around nearly all our business came from
Lucia and we’re currently doing some for thousands of years in pretty much private health clubs. They’ve been quiet
work in Zanzibar. Not so much mainland the same format – you take a room, you for a few years, but are now starting to
Europe, because that’s a bit coals to heat it up – but now the aesthetics have come back again with new developments.
60 Read Health Club Management online august 2009 © cybertrek 2009
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
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