INTERVIEW: LEE DAVID STEPHENS
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Aequalis Spa (above and right) is an urban spa concept focused on ‘high tech, high touch’
We’re performance driven and we look at our spa business the way that we look at our hotels – so measuring revenue, sales and spend comes naturally
through to profit and loss – as a subsidiary of MHG and a company in its own right, its answerable to all financials which are closely monitored. This makes Stephens’ role slightly different to others who head up spas for hotel chains. He has 20 people dedicated to spas at the head office in Bang- kok who report into him including directors of HR, procurement, training and devel- opment, finance, marketing and a country manager for Thailand where the biggest cluster of its spas are. These posts are very strategic, he says explaining that the mar- keting director gets involved in helping to drive spa capture rates and average spends with targeted, localised campaigns, as well as dealing with overall marketing. He works particularly closely with direc-
tor of operations Kathryn Moore (see p38) to co-ordinate projects coming up to ensure “the right staff are selected and are in place and that the managers know what they need to do in order to open on time, on budget and on brand – I’m a guardian of the quality of the brands.”
Of course, with 450 spa staff either
employed directly by MSpa or hotel own- ers, finding, growing and keeping talent is a particular challenge. “We’re facing the same problems as everyone else – you have to grow your talent quickly because compe- tition is hot on your heels.” While it’s still not easy to keep staff – therapists in Asia typically have little loyalty to companies because they’re in high demand –Stephens feels offering a clear career path helps. MSpa categorises its spas as A, B or C prop- erties depending on their size, number of treatment rooms, location and calibre of hotel and holds monthly succession plan- ning meetings with a view of promoting C managers up to B properties and B manag- ers up to A properties. This part of the job, he says, keeps him driven: “I love seeing therapists and my corporate team develop.” Another key responsibility Stephens has is keeping a tight control on spa KPIs.
“As a public listed company, we’re per- formance driven and we look at our spa business the way we look at our hotels – so
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MINT CONDITION
Minor International (MINT) was founded in 1978 with a single beach- front resort in Pattaya, Thailand. Today, it’s one of the largest hospital- ity and leisure companies in the Asia Pacific region with a core net profit of THB3,4bn (US$105.8m, €79.8m, £68.3m) in 2012 – up an impressive 78 per cent from 2011. Fifty per cent of MINT’s revenue come from its hotel and resort busi- ness, the Minor Hotel Group (MHG), comprising more than 90 hotels, resorts and serviced suites under brands such as Anantara, Marriott, Four Seasons, St Regis, Avani, Oaks and Per Aquum. Forty per cent of rev- enue is derived from the Minor Food Group– MINT is one of Asia’s largest quick-service restaurant companies – through brands such as The Pizza Company, Burger King, Dairy Queen and The Coffee Club. The remaining 10 per cent of revenue comes the Minor Retail arm of the company which dis- tributes or franchises well-known retail brands in Thailand such as GAP, Espirit, Bossini and Tumi.
Spa Business 3 2013 ©Cybertrek 2013
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