INTERVIEW: LEE DAVID STEPHENS
MSpa manages the Elemis Spa at The St Regis Bangkok, as well as operating 43 other spas globally. It also distributes the Elemis brand in Thailand
“The same thing has happened in the
UAE. We opened the Anantara Spa at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi in 2006 and now there are four more Anan- tara properties there with another opening in Dubai in September.”
CAREER INFLUENCES Stephens joined MSpa in June 2012 armed with a 20-year career in the beauty and spa industry. Originally from Liverpool, north England, the 40-year-old’s upbringing heavily influenced his route into the sec- tor. “My dad built a yacht when I was 10 and our family emigrated to Majorca and lived on it,” he recalls. “I have many rela- tives, eight of who were hairdressers and/
LEE DAVID STEPHENS FAVOURITES
Book: Majorca - The Island of Calm by Santiago Rusinol Film: Everything by Perdo Almodovar Season: Autumn Leisure activity: Sailing. When I visit family in Spain, there’s always a boat or two to catch a ride on What do you do to relax? I try to avoid spas! Luckily, it’s easy to escape to a small island or beach villa in Thailand Non-MSpa spa: The Barai in Hua Hin Treatment: I’m obsessed by traditional Turkish hammam treatments - I love the vigour, how it warms you to the
core and leaves you simultaneously dazed and completely wide awake Quote: “Twenty years from now you’ll be more disappointed with the things you didn’t do than the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Dream. Discover” – Mark Twain Who you admire: Without being sycophantic, our chairman and founder. Mr Heinecke’s built his empire from nothing and leads with a ‘drive culture’ that’s contagious
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or barbers and that’s what I wanted to do too. My dad, who started his own career on cruise liners, suggested I took the oppor- tunity to travel at the same time. So at the age of 20, I joined the QE2 as a hairdresser for Steiner and spent 10 years working in salons, fitness centres and spas progress-
ing from supervisor, to assistant manager, manager and department head roles.” Having travelled the world five times
over Stephens became “absolutely cap- tivated” with Hong Kong and felt it time to use his spa management skills on terra firma as the director of spas for the Beau- tiful Skin Centre Group (later becoming Paua and now trading as South China Cos- metics), which operated beauty centres, including the Elemis Day Spa and Victorian Spa at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel in the area. Then, while running his own com- pany Sol Spa Services which distributed the Voya and Somme Institute brands, the chance to join MSpa came up. “I’d known Minor for many years and seen it dramat- ically increase from eight hotels to 80 in just a few years so I saw it as a great oppor- tunity to be a part of that growth,” he says.
ROLE CALL Unlike other large hotel groups, where general managers of properties typically oversee the spas, MSpa is fully responsible for running its 44 facilities. From staffing,
Spa Business 3 2013 ©Cybertrek 2013
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