The club currently has 3,600 members, two thirds of which use the spa. Only the treatment rooms are for non-member use
needs. Other than the hammams, we don’t really offer traditional Arabic services.”
DAY RETREAT
When the club first opened, the 110 Premier Founder members received free treatments for life, and all members still receive one complimentary spa treatment on joining. Tey then receive ongoing discounts in the spa, with many regularly incorporating spa into their visits. “Women will come in and leave their kids in the crèche while they go to the spa, while on a summer weekend we can easily have 1,500 members visiting us in one day and staying all day,” explains Oliver. Davydova agrees: “Women, especially our
Premier members, come for the social aspect – they chat, have tea… It’s common for guests to book multiple treatments, but while the average stay in the spa is two hours, we have some members who come all day, every day. Tey feel Al Corniche is their home.” It’s therefore not surprising that, although
treatment rooms are also open to non- members, 80 per cent of the spa’s business currently comes from members. “People locally know the club is members-only, so they assume the spa is the same,” explains Davydova. “Our main concern is certainly to keep members happy – ultimately the
SPA BUSINESS 3 2012 ©Cybertrek 2012 ABOUT AL CORNICHE A
l Corniche Club Resort and Spa, located on the seafront in Kuwait, is a large, members-only coun-
try club-style offering. Facilities include a large 80-station gym overlooking the sea, numerous exercise studios, an outdoor pool, a private beach, tennis and squash courts, a wide array of kids’ activities, several res- taurants, a Toni & Guy hair salon – and the 1,858sq m (20,000sq ſt) spa. Designed by UK-based architect Jean-
Paul Blissett and opened in 2005, the club is owned by Tameer, which is part-owned by real estate company Al Massaleh. It was built at a cost of kwd8m (us$28m, €23m, £18m) in a BOT project – ‘build, operate
whole of Al Corniche is one big profit centre
– but at the end of the day we’re still a busi- ness, and the spa is a great way to introduce people to the club. We’re doing a marketing campaign now to promote the spa to non- members, and we hope to get their share of the business up to 40 per cent.” But, adds Oliver: “The focus for non-
member usage will be during the week, when we’re currently at around 50-60 per
and transfer’. Under these terms, the land belongs to the government and Al Corniche pays rent on it and will ultimately have to hand it back. It currently has the right to operate the club until the end of 2018, but will apply for another five years. Tere are 3,600 members – 55 per cent
women and 45 per cent men – all acquired via word-of mouth; the club has never adver- tised. Gross operating profit is over kwd1m (us$3.5m, €3m, £2.3m) a year, with only 55 per cent of this coming from membership. F&B can take £70k-80k (us$108k-123k, €88k-101k) a month – impressive as there’s no alcohol in Kuwait – while the spa takes anything from £40k-60k (us$62k-92k, €51k-76k).”
cent capacity. During our busy weekends, we aim to reach 100 per cent spa occupancy with members only.” Longer massages and sauna/steam are the
most popular treatments among men, who tend to visit more regularly than women, oſten coming for a weekly massage. “Te word ‘spa’ might be new here, but we’ve had hammams for a long time and men are very accustomed to these,” explains Davydova.
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