INTERVIEW: STEVE JEISMAN
Alila Hotels & Resorts CURRENT PORTFOLIO
Alila Villas – Crafted Luxury The Crafted Luxury brand by Alila has been created for the high-end, ultra-luxe market with villas ranging from US$550-US$10,000 (€439-€7,970, £344-£6,260) a night ● Alila Villas Soori, Bali, Indonesia ● Alila Villas Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia ● The Soori Estate, Bali, Indonesia ● Alila Purnama (luxury ship)
Alila – Lifestyle Collection Alila’s Lifestyle Collection concept is more geared towards resort and city hotels. The properties are ‘stylish and relaxing’ and room rates range from US$100-US$500 (€80-€400, £63-£313) a night ● Alila Bangalore, India ● Alila Diwa Goa (including The Diwa Club), India ● Alila Jakarta, Indonesia
● Alila Manggis (including Villa Idanna), Bali, Indonesia ● Alila Ubud, Bali, Indonesia ● Keman Icon, Jakarta, Bali, Indonesia ● Alila Jabal Akhdar, Oman
The luxury live-aboard Alila Purnama can
accommodate up to 10 people and comes with its own spa therapist. It has three decks and has been handcrafted to replicate a traditional Indonesian phinisi ship
To do things properly, at the level we wish, you have to have your own brand... What we do isn’t rocket science, but it’s actually difficult to do it well
where “things were done properly,” he recalls. “It had an old-school Italian swagger where even the little handle on the coff ee cup was turned out 90 degrees.” His foray into spa came in 2002 when
The Villas, Seminyak, the Balinese property he was managing, opened one of the largest spas in the country with 27 treatment rooms. The native Australian says: “I grew up in competitive sports with a deep interest in sports and health... so when the owner decided to open up Prana Spa it was something of great interest. “We employed some fantastic
consultants such as Bryan Hoare and Judy Chapman to launch Prana Spa and it was really good, creative fun! Once it opened, I got to know my way around the spa industry a little bit and focused on knowing the spa business inside and out.” A year on, Chill, a smaller spa for
aesthetic and express treatments which was ahead of its time, was introduced. These experiences proved pivotal when
Jeisman was approached by Alila in 2006. “They were looking for someone to man- age one of their properties, at the same
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Jeisman worked with consultant Jacqueline Le Sueur to develop the Alila treatment protocols
time though, they were looking to develop their own spa concept as they were using Mandara Spa as their third party,” he says. “We discussed both roles and I took 10 minutes of private deliberation. I was sent a spa contract a week later.”
Honing the brand More than eight years on, it’s clear Jeisman still has a passion for spa even though he jokes that “I’ll be coming up for long-service soon!” He describes his role as “managing a complete turnkey solution from A to Z”: an accurate summation given that he handles everything from concept briefs, working with architects and FF&E to recruitment, revenue management and ongoing audits. He was also responsible for developing
the original Spa Alila concept, although initially converting the Mandara Spas was a baptism of fi re he recalls: “We were putting together everything from furniture plans and therapist’s uniforms to forecasts and basically turning it around overnight.” He’s been honing the brand ever since.
“To do things properly, at the level we wish, you have to have your own brand identity,” he says. And two obvious examples of this at Alila are its treatment protocols and bespoke products. “All the treatments we trialled within
our competitive set were stock standard and generic,” says Jeisman who brought
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